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| Grote Markt Bruges, West Flanders Belgium |
Bruges goes by a few different names - Bruges in French, Brugge in Dutch, Brügge in German.
Whatever you want to call it (or however you want to spell it) it's the capital and largest city of West Flanders, which is the Flemish region of Belgium, up in the northwest. It has a population of 117,073 (thanks, wikipedia) and, at one time, it was the "chief commercial city" of the world thanks to it's port.
But more importantly, it's really pretty, has eight gazillion chocolate shops, a lot of good beer and so many canals that it's referred to as "the Venice of the North." It also served as a setting for In Bruges, with Ralph Fiennes and Colin Farrell, and The Nun's Story, with Audrey Hepburn and Peter Finch.
You might be wondering what possessed us to go to Bruges, of all places...
Katrina and I decided to make the most of our journey from France to Germany, taking the train and stopping in a few places along the way. There were a lot of preliminary phone calls in which we discussed where we'd stop, and as we stared at our separate maps from our respective coasts, I suggested Bruges. "Sounds good," Katrina said.
Katrina and I travel really well together for numerous reasons, but high on the list is that we're both really laid back and game for pretty much anything. We also have similar methods of selecting travel locations.
The night that we stayed in Bruges, we were sitting at a cafe on Geernaartstraat, when a very friendly Dubliner claimed a seat at our table. After telling us all about the party scene in Antwerp, he asked us why in the world we chose to come to boring old Bruges (Bruges is one of the few places that does not have a red light district, and thus, no party scene. And we're twenty-something girls from New York and California, so obviously the only thing we'd want to do in Europe is check out the, like, totally awesome party scene. Did I mentioned I love techno? Because I do. I LOVE techno.) (I don't love techno.).
Katrina shrugged, "I saw it in a book once. It looked pretty."
"I saw it in a movie," I said.
And that - unbeknownst to one another - is how we chose to go to Bruges.
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We were in Bruges for a whopping twenty four hours, and while the Dubliner swore it was the most boring place on the planet, we had no trouble filling our time. The place is gorgeous and we had beautiful weather, so after settling into our really awesome hotel, we started exploring.
Grote Markt (the Market Square) is where most of the action was. We had our first beer and a bite to eat there (more on that later), and Geernaartstraat (which contains ALL of Bruges' happening nightlife!) is right off of it. The square was packed most of the time; at one point there were thirty teens in matching t-shirts playing leap frog in a giant circle next to the statue of Jan Breydel and Pieter de Coninck. ...Wait -- what do you mean you don't know about the famous weaver and butcher who are credited with leading the violent uprising against Philip the Fair in May of 1302?! (thanks again, wikipedia).
Anyway, the square also has lots of horse drawn carriages which you can ride around in, the Provincial Court and the Belfry Tower (below).
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| Provincial Court // Belfry Tower |
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| Cutest driver EVER. // horse drawn carriage. |
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| Provincial Court |
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| No smoking, no ice cream, no coffee, no terriers and absolutely zero love allowed in the Belfry Tower. |
Belfry Tower. On our second day there, we had to (had to) climb the Belfry tower. The tower was built in 1220 and caught fire in 1280, and then they reconstructed. Then, it caught fire again in 1491, so they reconstructed again. And then, in 1781, there was yet another fire, so they did some reconstructing then too. All of those fires inspired a gentleman by the name of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (you may have heard of him) to write a little something that goes like this (please read in fanciest voice possible):
In the market-place of Bruges stands the belfry old and brown; Thrice consumed and thrice rebuilt, still it watches o’er the town.
It's been a bell tower, a watchtower and a market; and at 833 meters high, it offers one hell of a view of the city - a view that'll cost you a few euro and some sweat as you climb all 366 steps to the top. It's totally worth it, and if you ever find yourself in Bruges, I'd definitely recommend making the trek. The views are awesome, there's a lot of history and plenty of places to admire the architecture. I was most interested in standing inside the fencing and reading how far all of the different places in Europe were in the distance, and then, of course, trying to take decent pictures of the city through said fencing. I managed.
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Canal Tour. We also signed up to check out the city via boat, because pretty much everyone we spoke to told us that if we had to do one thing while we were there (besides eat chocolate and drink beer) it had to be a canal tour. I learned more about Bruges on that 45 minute boat ride than I did throughout planning the trip AND the other twenty three hours, fifteen minutes that I spent in Bruges. It was also super relaxing and, as is the common theme in Bruges, tremendously lovely.
Fun fact: many buildings in Bruges are a dark reddish-orangish-brownish color. 'Why are so many buildings in Bruges this color?' one might ask, to which they would be pleased to find that way back when, people mixed cow's blood into paint to give it a little pop! Pretty, huh?
On our canal tour, we saw lots of bridges (one we barely fit underneath), De Halve Maan brewery, most of the city's twenty two churches, the house that appeared in The Nun's Story, a lot of different architecture, some swans, and a woman leaning out of her hotel window taking pictures in nothing more than a bathrobe and towel turban.
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| This is one of my favorite streets - there are seven neighboring houses, each of which was built in a different style of architecture. |
Since we were only there for a day, we missed out on the chocolate and cheese museums, brewery tours and organized walking tours that a few kind people recommended to us. We did happen upon a photo exhibit in the second city square, the Burg and I may or may not have squealed at first sight of the huge hanging canvases.
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| genuine Belgian NY bedroom furniture! |
We had a bit of time before we had to head to the train station, which we spent wandering through the quaint streets, grabbing a few souvenirs, and checking out some of the shops. Then we found a Zara and parked there for a solid hour and a half, cat-walking for each other in 90% of their merchandise.
Finally, we called a cab and headed to the train station. Our cab driver was a young Chechnyan fellow studying abroad in Bruges. He, like our friend, the Dubliner, found Bruges incredibly boring due to it's lack of raves. As he went on about it, Katrina and I sat, clutching each other, in the backseat. What probably should have taken us twenty minutes took us approximately seven.
My least favorite thing about Bruges is that it's kind of a tourist trap, which isn't really my cup of tea. All in all though, I'm really glad we chose to visit the city. After two nights in Paris, Kat and I were ready for something low key and Bruges provided just enough picturesque scenery to remark on, quaint streets to stroll, canals to float through and one really freaking awesome hotel to collapse in after a long train ride.
Go there if you want quiet and quaint. If not, I hear Antwerp is great.
Next up: food in Bruges!
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Oh, and here's a trailer for the Colin Farrel/Ralph Fiennes movie I mentioned earlier. I definitely recommend watching it, but as with every trailer ever made (ever), all of the funniest parts are featured here:
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