A Day In Bruges

Julie and I arrived back in Brussels after our Vienna trip on Monday night. On Tuesday, Scott was working and Julie had some classes to attend. Scott and Julie suggested I either take the train to Antwerp or to Bruges. I knew people who had been to Bruges, and I had heard it referred to as the "Venice of the North" so that is where I decided to spend the day.

It was about an hour and a half train ride from Waterloo - Scott dropped me off at the train station on his way to work and I was in Bruges by about 10am. The main city is about a 15 minute walk from the train station, so there were a lot of people doing exactly what I was doing. Scott and Julie had a travel book on Bruges, and it had a section titled "A Day In Bruges" so I focused on those highlights.

I went to the Markt (Market Square) first. The city of Bruges has two town squares - the Market Square is the commercial center of Bruges.

As I was walking from the Market Square to Burg Square, I went into a little shop with that sold cuckoo clocks. These reminded me of my grandparents...many years ago when they travelled to Switzerland, they brought us back a cuckoo clock which my mom had in our house when I was younger. She actually just got it refurbished so it is "cuckooing" again. These are expensive things...anywhere between 500 and 1,000 euros!

The second town square is the Burg Square - this is where administrative Bruges exists.

Bruges has a medieval history...as is evidenced by all the architecture.

The canal district.

This is why it is known as the Venice of the North.

I stopped at a coffee shop along the canal and had a cappuccino.

Most of the coffee shops are actually called tea rooms.

This is Bruges most famous landmark, the Belfry.

I decided to climb up to the top - a total of 366 steps. This "wheel" is what causes the bells to ring. Every 15 minutes it starts turning in a circle, and the notches on the wheel are what signal the bells to move.

The carillon (musical instrument in a bell tower) in this belfry has 48 bells, ranging in size. Bruges still employs a full time carrilloneur who ensures the bells operate properly (which is every 15 minutes). The carrilloneur also gives concerts.

The Market Square from the top of the belfry.

I walked through a few more shops while I was on my way to find a lunch restaurant. The guy who was working in this shop gave me a few samples of these cookies.

My amazing lunch in Bruges. From my Bruges book, I was trying to find a place that was recommended in it (after my overseas travels, I have found it is best to go with a restaurant recommendation). I think the place I was looking for closed down, because I know I was in the right spot. However, I did find this place, Lunchboutique. It was located on a quiet street and I ate outside on the cobblestone road.

My train back to Brussels left at 3:30pm so after lunch started walking back to the train station. A great day wandering the streets of Bruges, and it is somewhere I would go back and stay a night since I didn't get to see it all.