Travel (II) - Europe 5 - Bruges, Belgium

Click here to view some pictures in Bruges 

Bruges, or Brugge, is one of the big three in Belgium, together with Antwerp and Ghent.  All of them are quite close to each other.  Bruges is arguably the most touristy place in Belgium, also probably the most authentic.  It's a small town to the west of Brussels.    

In the movie "in Bruges", 2009, one quote goes like this "if I grew up on a farm, and was retarded, Bruges might impress me.  But I didn't, so it doesn't".  Well, ironically, it ended up attracting a lot more tourists, just like in 1892, when a popular book "Bruges la Morte" described the city as a dark, poor, ugly place, more and more tourists saw romance in it and started visiting Bruges more.  Quite interesting, isn't it?!

Never pretending to be less touristic than what I really am, first day in Belgium, I, together with Athena and P, took a morning train from Brussels Midi station to Bruges.  It was a ride of less than an hour.  We each rented a bike to tour around in Bruges.  That was a rare day, and the last, for all three of us to hang out together.  P would take a flight back to US the next morning.

Bruges is also called by some "Venice of the North".  Same as Amsterdam, it has many canals, accompanied by beautiful architecture.  Differently, Bruges has wider canals, wider roads, clearer water, cleaner roads, and the color of the houses and the roads are much brighter.  So although smaller in scale, Bruges brings out a more pleasant and brighter feeling.  That day the weather was sunny and beautiful, and the air was clear and fresh.  Riding the bike along canals, I felt like a flower blossoming in spring breeze, filled with joy.

At some places, we took a stop to hang out.  The central square (or the markt, as in Flemish, Belgian Dutch), the city center, has been carefully built since the Middle Ages and is remarkably preserved today.  Gothic buildings are part of the city identity.  Church of the Holy Blood is situated on the east side of the central square.  Legend says that it has a remnant of the holy blood of Jesus Christ.  It was not open that day so we only had a look at the magnificent facade.  Belfort tower, at the north of the square, is a 13th century building.  Tourists have to climb the super narrow and windy 366 steps to reach the top.  At two different levels, one can admire the impressive clock mechanism which as 47 bells, each with different sounds and functions.  The climax is a panoramic view of the city from the top of the tower.  We also hung out in a local flea market, and a couple of old churches, and took a refreshing bike ride along the river side where there are a few beautiful windmills.

In the middle of the day, we savored our lunch sitting outdoors.  I, for the first time, tried snails, together with a fish soup.  Nothing too special, I'd say.  Snails do not taste much different from their cousins that are served on Chinese dinner table.  And we wrapped our tour with some crepe with tea in Pancake Heaven.  Despite the sub-par friendliness from the hostess, the crepe was one of the best that I had had.

In Amsterdam, almost everybody speaks English.  However, in Belgium, it's extremely English unfriendly, in Brussels or in Bruges.  Most of the signs are marked with French and Dutch, therefore, no space for English.  Few people speak much English.  West-Flemish is the dialect in Bruges.  

In summary, I was impressed by Bruges.  It's a cute place to chill out.