Bruges - Belgian Tourist Mecca

  Bruges, Belgium
Tuesday, October 3, 2006

Click Here to see photos of beautiful Bruges. Captions hopefully coming soon!

Rick Steves says that Brugge is a good stepping stone into the European mainland. This is true for many reasons, the main one being that this place is wildly popular with Brits so they are well prepared for English speaking tourists. Also, it is quaint as all get out. There are miles of 600 year old brick buildings with flower baskets and cute but not tacky shops.

Wall of Beer

Also, they have delicious foods and the beer! We can't say enough about Belgian beer.

Our hotel was a good budget place run by a kind-faced man who chain smoked all day at the reception desk. He gave good advice on where to go and what to see in the city. One "It's a small world" story - when we were eating breakfast at the hotel we met a girl from Australia who just spent the summer working with her aunt in Seattle, at a camp for Autistic kids. We were chatting about Seattle then the next couple to come in was from Edmonds and Everett. Very weird coincidence.

The first night we arrived we made a stop for some roasted meat (a regional speciality) then on to what the hotel owner called "The most dangerous place in Bruges". The bar that had, in stock, 300 Belgian beers. And at reasonable prices mind you. We were overwhelmed but luckily the bartenders knew exactly what we would like. We would say "I want something dark and strong, but not bitter" and they would whip out some Trappist beer that was exactly that.

Other specialities we had to try while in Bruges included more fries, ganache chocolate and waffles with whipped cream and jam. Our favorite chocolate shop was "The Chocolate Line" where they has everything from mint filling (real mint leaves) to saffron curry to lemon grass which was our favorite. We visited the windmills nearby, watched women make lace which totally blew our minds

Lacemaking Lady

 and even went on a cruise of the canals through the city. One informative tour we went on was the tour of the local brewery. It was very informative, plus it finished with a free beer.
So, the city was packed with tourists, but not annoyingly so. I just can't imagine July or August!
As sad as we were to say goodbye, we wanted to keep going and head to Amsterdam. A train ride away to a very different city!