Wed, 05 Nov 2003

author Liz	location Sydney, Australia
posted 09:08 AEDT 14/02/2004	section Europe2002/Europe/Belgium ( all photos )

Around Brugge ( No photos )
On Wednesday, we again had breakfast at the hostel, then packed up our bags and checked out. We then walked from the hostel to one of Brussels' main train stations, and twenty mintues later boarded a train for Brugge.
We arrived in Brugge at about 10:30am, and then took a bus from the train station through the city and got off near the hostel we ended up staying in - the Snuffel Sleep Inn.
Our first glimpses of the very pretty city were only a taste, but the bus drove through a main square which was surrounded by beautiful buildings and which a busy market going on in the middle.
We found the hostel and paid for two nights before going up a wobbly spiral staircase to our dorm room to dump our bags, then we went out to explore Brugge for the day.
Between the 12th and 15th centuries, Brugge was a very active and prosporous town. It once had a huge harbour, was a cloth-making town and also attracted a lot of talented artists. But when the Zwin estuary silted up, trade from the city ceased, and the talented and prosporous people moved away. So Brugge itself has not changed too much since the 15th century, and has one of Europe's best-preserved medieval cities. This, of course, makes it a very popular tourist attraction, but as it is no longer summer, there are less tourists around, so the town was not as busy as it may be in the summer months.
From our hostel, we walked back towards the main square that our bus had driven through, and we crossed over a lovely little canal on the way. There are lots of canals around the town, all of them very pretty, and now because it is autumn, the colourful leaves on the trees reflect off the surface of the water, making the views of the canals even more beautiful.
We came out in the main square - the Markt, and there was indeed a busy market going on in the middle of the square. At the edges of the square were lots of expensive restaurants and above them the many pretty buildings with stepped facades on the top floor at the front. We stood in the square looking around us and enjoying the sunshine.
From there, we looked down a street going off the square, and when we found a stand selling frites, we treated ourselves to a serving and sat under a tree to enjoy them.
We then spent an hour or two just wandering through the pretty streets seeing many of the canals and little bridges crossing over them. We saw lots of chocolate shops, lots of lace shops and lots of other shops selling random tourist items, but we only looked in a few of their windows.
In a small arcade, we found an "Australia" shop, so we looked in there but found nothing of huge interest.
We then found ourselves in a very touristy area, with lots of little pubs and cafés and shops. There were also some very pretty views of the canals there. From here we walked back towards the middle of town and on the way we went past Onze Lieve Vrouwekerk, a large and impressive church, which appeared to be closed so we kept going.
Back through Markt and along a lace-shop lined street, we came out onto the second big square called Burg. This too was lined with lots of beautiful buildings, including the oldest Stadhuis or Town Hall in Belgium, and Heiligbloed-Basiliek (Basilica of the Holy Blood) a church that has a scrap of cloth that is said to have a few congealed drops of Christ's blood on it.
We went into the tourist office, which was off to one side of the square, and after that we left Burg via a small archway into Blinde Ezelstraat, or blind donkey street. On the other side we found the fish market, which was packing up for the day, and some more beautiful views of the canals and old buildings.
We walked more, enjoying the beautiful weather and pretty views. By the canal was a large flock of swans, geese, ducks and even a seagull or two. We sat here to eat some bread and relax in the sunshine.
Nearby was the Begijnhof, an area where in the 13th century single or widowed women lived. There is also a convent and a beautiful old church. It was really quiet here - all we could here was the wind blowing gently through the trees. We were just walking past the locked church when a nun came and unlocked the door and invited us in. It was so quiet inside and very beautiful.
From there we made our way back past the Onze Lieve Vrouwekerk, which was now open, so we went it. Inside the church is Michaelangelo's Madonna and Child, his only sculpture to leave Italy in his lifetime. We saw the sculpture and the interior of the chruch before heading back outside. We had now covered most of the sites, and seen a lot of very pretty streets, so we decided to do another favourite Belgian thing - drink beer.
Using Lonely Planet, we found a fantastic little bar virtually hidden away in a tiny alley. It was a really cosy little pub called DeGarre, and when we sat down we were handed a menu. Thinking it was for food, we were startled and pleasantly suprised to see that one page was for food, and another ten or twelve pages were all for beer! They had three beers on tap, but another two hundered or so listed with the beer's name, the cost and whether a blonde, brown or amber beer.
To begin with, we each tried a different beer from the tap, and although mine was very different to what I usually drink, I quiet enjoyed it. With our drinks we were given a little dish of cheese to nibble, so we sat eating, drinking and chatting for a long time. Next, we had another beer each, but this time they were bottled beers. Each came to us with it's own glass with the name and symbol of the beer on the glass. It was all very new and different to us, and although my beer was again quite different, I liked this one even more.
Our last drink was a pot of tea for me and a coffee for Tim, and when we did eventually leave, it was almost sad saying goodbye to the charming little pub and the friendly proprietress!
We headed back towards our hostel, and found a supermarket to get some food. We cooked vegetables and rice in the hostel kitchen, and got chatting to lots of other friendly Aussies. After dinner, and a few beers from the hostel bar, Tim, myself, and some of our new Aussie friends headed out to find a pub.
We found a nice little place and spent a few hours drinking and talking, before Tim and I took them back to DeGarre where everyone had some more beer, and I had a very nice glass of wine.
Late at night, we headed back to the hostel to sleep.

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