Hotel Portinari In Bruges Brugge

... bit bigger than Bruges and has a similar feel to it. Brussels has a nice centre square, streets full of restaurants, and a royal palace. <br>Each day we returned to Bruges and wandered around the city. The centre market square is beautiful at night- all little buildings in a row all lit up. It would look beautiful with snow I would imagine. We strolled along the canals and popped into little pubs for a drink and had a great time.

... here. "A church!" you say. I know I know you would think that i got my fill of churches in Italy and Spain however I have not been to the church that boasts to be the proud owners of a vile of Christ's actual blood! Yep you read correctly, they claim that they house the DNA and blood of Christ. Now, I'm no doctor, I gave that dream up a while ago, but I'm pretty sure that 2000 year old blood would have evaporated by now. But ...

... sister Bec! We spent the rest of the day with them, wandering around, saw the wizzing girl, ate choc strawberries (sooooo yum), had hot chocolates, visited HEAPS of chocolate shops, and then went back to their hotel room for a bit before heading out for dinner. Apparently they are famous for their mussels, so Jac, Bec and I shared a big bucket of them and then had some pasta. Turns out I had a BAAAD mussel, or my stomach just really doesn&#8217;t like them, because I ...

... into a chocolate store and get free samples during a chocolate-making presentation. By this point, I had introduced everyone in our group to the VanAcker family-style vacation, so we had walked basically over the entire area of Bruges and seen everything our Bible/Europe on a Budget had listed. For dinner, we were planning to eat at a place called the Hobbit (right next door to Tolkein &#8211; this place is great for nerds), but after walking around ...

... is another cute little bar. So after we ate we went across the street and had a couple beers. We also saw our tour guide from earlier that day there.<br><br>The next day it was rainy but we walked around the city anyway. It was just too cute to not explore. We walked to the edge of town and saw the dutch windmills then walked back into town for some chocolate and went on a shopping ...

... it took me a day or so to get into Amsterdam, but it's amazing after you start to settle in you then start to appreciate a place and get into the swing of things. Amsterdam is lots of fun, the first night went to a comedy show called Boom Chicago, a whole comedy show based on improvisations, where the audience give random suggestions and they do skits out of them, it was hilarious. Saturday checked out the sites in Amsterdam and went on a pub ...

... locked metal and glass cannister attached to a chain around a minister/chaplain/nun's neck so noone can steal it. They sit at the top of a podium to one side of the church, you make a small donation, climb the stairs, and you can place your hands on top of it and pray etc. Im not religious but i went up and had a look, it was just a tube of dried blood. I havent really decided if i believe its real or not yet. Making my dinner in the hostel kitchen I started chatting to ...

... When he pays them a visit, hilarity, blood and mayhem ensue. <br><br>In the 14th century Bruges was an economic giant; one of the world's largest cities. Bruges - Brugge in Flemish - acted as a middleman port for northern and southern Europe. Then the harbour silted up and the economy went into an unforgiving spiral. For the better part of 300 years Bruges sat a mysterious, dead city. <br><br>Today, like in the movie, Gothic Bruges thrives as Ellen and I and several ...

... stuff you get back in Australia.. You definitely have to try a freshly made one if you go here!!! Yes, the 3rd thing that we tried today was Belgium chocolate from Dumons.. Sounds like a very healthy day, hah? =P Well, to be honest, we walked into the shop and managed to score literally a flake or crumb of chocolate each as a sample. Now this was kinda disappointing for me. Not because it was only a crumb of chocolate, I actually found ...

Following a couple of days in Brussels we took the train to Brugge, an easy trip aside from hauling our suitcases. We got good advice from the woman in the bus ticket booth "you don't need a pass in Brugges....once you get to town everything is very close". So that trip into town, and a bus ride to another hotel to start our tour were the only times we used the bus. Using advice from online sources we booked ...