Bruges

This weekend we took our first trip outside of France to Bruges, Belgium! It's a beautiful little storybook place full of history, chocolate, beef, mussels, beer, and windmills. The city itself really is amazing. From the narrow cobblestone streets and the sleepy rows of houses that line them, to the incredible architecture to the canals that run through the middle,  to the bridges and windmills that border the city, there is tons worth seeing. And the best part is that the city is so small that you can literally walk everywhere, although most of the locals ride bikes. I hope they have good saddles for those cobblestones (ouch!).

Our hotel was right next to the train station, conveniently located at Marie Popelinplantsoen.

We got to town around lunchtime, and stopped in a nice little place on Markt square. Now, in Paris, when we order a 'large' beer, it has always come out at 50 cl (half a liter). In Bruges, we were pleasantly surprised to learn that 'large' means a full liter. Bruges' beers are twice as big as Paris' beers! I wish I had gotten a picture of Marie's face when the waiter brought them out. It was totally unexpected but delicious.

There are a few main streets where there are lots of restaurants and shopping stores. Once you get to the center of the city there are two main squares, a large one called Markt and a smaller one named Burg. The Markt square is ringed by restaurants and shops in old buildings with beautiful facades and is the site of the enormous Belfort (Belfry) that dominates the entire city.

Burg is near Markt, still in the "city centrum," and houses the Basilica of the Holy Blood and the Stadhuis, which used to be Bruges' City Hall.

After lunch we went to see a free concert by harpist Luc Vanlaere. He was amazing, playing all original compositions on a bunch of different instruments. He had a grand harp, a celtic harp, harps from China, India, Japan, a few harps he built himself, singing bowls from around the world, and a really cool steel drum kind of percussion instrument called a hang. He offers his concerts for free because he just wants to share his music.

Sunday, after walking to the Humpty Dumpty Tea Room for delicious waffles, it was time to tackle the Belfort, 366 steps of madness! Actually, it wasn't bad at all, there are different stops along the way where you can see old bells and items from the site's history as it changed over the centuries. At the top there is an amazing panorama view, totally unobstructed since it's by far the tallest structure in the city and surrounding area. Here's a view of the Belfort from the inner courtyard:

Then we moved on to the Basilica of the Holy Blood, where they have what is claimed to be the actual blood of Jesus Christ. The building is small and has beautiful stained glass windows. It's kind of like a mini cathedral. The blood itself is kept in a glass cylinder with gold trim under a glass case, watched over by a woman standing less than a foot away, and only a couple people are allowed to see it at a time.

Taking a walk along the canals that run through the city, we got a better view of the less touristy side of Bruges, which was very relaxing and enjoyable. Not much is open on Sundays, so we had a lot of streets to ourselves as we wandered the cobblestones towards the outer edge of the city with it's bridges and windmills.

Before heading back, we stopped off for lunch in the center of the city, where we had Flemish stew and Flemmish rabbit. Both were delicious, and it was a nice end to our short visit to Bruges. Of course we also made sure to get some local beer and chocolate before heading back to the train!

Don't forget to check out the tons of other pictures in the gallery!