Not quite sure of the correct way to spell the town as it is writen all three ways so we'll stick with Bruges for this post.
Today was our much anticipated
trip to Bruges so we headed to the station for the 10am train. We heard Bruges was a touristy spot but
nothing prepared us for the hordes of tourists we encountered! There were clearly more people per square
meter in Bruges than in Brussels. It was
definitely not the quaint little lace-making town I read about many years ago.
After taking the bus to Market
Square, we attempted (and I do mean attempted) to follow Rick Steves’ walking
tour of Bruges…I love Rick’s tour books but this is the first time I’ve ever
tried to actually follow one of his walking tours. Now Julie and I are two very intelligent women
but either Rick is really bad with maps and directions or Bruges is one
confusing town! We think it was the later
as it did seem quite challenging to get around the town.
Somehow we ended up at Burg
Square and found a little café for lunch.
They had a nice prix fixe menu and for just €16 we had a salad,
waterzooi with chicken and chocolate mousse.
Waterzooi is a classic Flemish (or Flemisch) stew with a heavy cream base…yum
yum!
After lunch we tried to
pick-up the walking tour to find the Basilica of the Holy Blood. Legend has it the church has a vial of Jesus’
blood…not sure how accurate the legend is but we thought it was worth a
look. We wandered all over town and just
before arriving at a church, we saw a lacemaker in a doorway…she was making
bobbin lace (a dying art in Europe).
We ended up at what we thought
was the Basilica only to discover it was the Church of Our Lady. As luck would have it, we arrived just before
a concert for a group so we were able to enjoy the music for a bit before
heading back out.
Of course a day in Belgium would not be complete without some chocolate so we stopped off at Dumon for a little treat. Dumon gives little samples to help you make your decision...really can anything be better than chocolate samples?!
One last attempt to find the
Basilica and as it turns out, we were sitting right in front of it during out
two hour lunch! Now, don’t laugh because
to our defense, the entrance looked absolutely nothing like a church
entrance. Unfortunately photos were not
allowed in the church and the funny thing is, had we realized the church was
there while having lunch, we could have gone in while they were doing the
Veneration of the Holy Blood but we just missed it when we arrived around 4:30…go
figure! **Note the very small doorway to the left of the red awning...that is the entrance to the Basilica..no wonder we missed it!
As you can probably tell,
Bruges was not one of our favorite spots so we decided to head back to the
train station and get back to Brussels a little early. To the town’s defense, I’m sure when it is
not swarmed with tourists, it is a charming little place.
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