It's been a little over two years since Aaron and I were last in Belgium. We didn't enjoy Brussels as much as other places we've been, so we thought we needed to give Belgium another go. This time we decided on a smaller, picturesque town which brings me to... Bruges!
On Saturday morning we took the Eurostar from London to Brussels and then transferred on a train to Bruges. A smaller city located in the Northwest part of Belgium near the coast, Bruges is more tucked away. It's a city with cobblestone streets, horse-drawn carriages touring through town, medieval buildings and small canals.
We dropped off our bags at our B&B, and then headed out to explore. The first thing we stumbled on was The Church of our Lady. Inside is a small, white marble statue of Madonna and Child that was created by Michelangelo in 1504. The statue has twice been stolen and returned - once by French revolutionaries and then again by the Nazis.
Afterwards, we went to the Christmas markets and browsed through the stalls. There were two market locations to peruse through, and we ended up getting a Belgian waffle smothered in chocolate that was just as good as you are imagining it to be : )
Next stop was a local pub for a drink before dinner. It was 5:30pm, but it was packed. There were 300 beers to choose from at Brugs Beertje - all different and many with very high alcohol content! This seemed to be a theme in Belgian beers- the majority were served in bottles and almost all of them were pretty heavy. Later we headed to a recommended restaurant for some dinner. We had Vlaamse Stoofvlees or Flemish stew - braised beef with vegetables slow cooked in dark beer that is local to the region. Yum!
The next morning we started off with a short walk to Princely Béguinage Ten Wijngaerde, now a priory of Benedict nuns. You are supposed to remain silent while walking through so it was very peaceful but eerie. From there, we continued to the nearby Minnewater Lake or the 'Lake of Love' which is home to many swans. Aaron even had a staring contest with one of them ...stop looking at me swan! : )
Afterwards, we decided to take a canal cruise. We beat the crowds by going early and it was a great way to see the city, but it was freezing! Upon disembarking, we just began wandering around the city and we ended up in The Burg square (where City Hall is). It was packed with people all drinking beer before noon! We never found out what it was for, but it seemed like some festival gathering.
That evening we headed to another pub for a beer tasting, and then to a very small bar located in an antique shop. There was a lot to look at since it was filled with knick knacks that were very eclectic and unique! For dinner, I had mussels (you may remember my mussels in Brussels post haha) and Aaron had prawns. Then on our way back to the B&B, we stopped in at a wine bar that had live music.
We had taken Monday off work so we got to sleep in the next morning while everyone else was going back to work in the New Year! After a leisurely morning, we went to Belfort or the Belfry of Bruges, a medieval bell tower. It dominates the Bruges skyline, and you can climb 366 stairs to the top for a spectacular view. The staircase is extremely narrow and there are people going up and down in it at the same time, but after some maneuvering, we made it! The view was well worth the climb.Our last stop was for some chocolate: one of the many chocolatiers along the small winding streets of Bruges. The chocolatier picked some of her favorites for us and after tasting them, both of ours was an amazing vanilla creme white chocolate one. Then we headed into a tea shop to warm up. I got an herbal tea, but Aaron had hot chocolate: a spoon with chocolate on the end that you stir into a cup of hot milk. Seriously authentic and so good.
Then we caught the train back to London - our taste buds very satisfied after a weekend of beer and chocolate in Bruges!
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