We started our day by having a traditional Belgian breakfast, prepared by Denis O'Dwyer, along with a traditional Bahraini one with eggs and tomato, which is what the people of Bahrain usually have in the morning. 

Then we contacted the Bahrain embassy in Brussels and asked if we could come and meet the Ambassador, H.E. Muhammad Abdul Ghaffar. We had an immediate response back: Not only would the Ambassador be more than happy to meet up with us, he was also aware of the Friendship Arabia Tour.

After the meeting, Denis presented Mr Ghaffar with his book Colours of Bahrain. The meeting lasted an hour and we were very grateful to Mr Ghaffar for making the time and meeting us at short notice. 

Mr Ghaffar even invited us to have lunch or dinner with him tomorrow, but we had to decline as we will be on our way to France.

Later in the day, we decided to visit Brugge, a town described as Little Venice. After parking the Land Rover and buying our boat tickets, we met a Bahraini who initiated a conversation after noticing I was wearing a Bahrain International Circuit T-shirt.

We introduced ourselves during the tour - his name was Sheikh Nawaf Hamad bin Abdulla Al Khalifa - and we had a good talk and took pictures with him.

After leaving Brugge, we drove back to our accommodation, had dinner and went to bed. We are looking Forward to our next destination, France, especially the Anncey area, which is close to Geneva.

Ali Mushaima