In Medieval Times

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Hello my fellow travellers!

So, this day started kind of weird. As me and Ante had woken up and eaten breakfast together with Dimitri (his girlfriend hasn't really been around that much during our stay here) he went back into the bedroom to her for a while after which he came out and asked us not to return after our day out in Bruges and Gent. We asked if something was wrong and he told us that he was going to a concert and he hadn't checked with his girlfriend beforehand and she didn't feel safe alone with two guys she doesn't know. There's nothing strange with that and it is their home so of course we packed up all of our things and left. Just feels strange though, we were planning on being away the whole day and return about the same time that Dimitri would have returned himself. Oh well.

So, this put a bit of a dent in our plans of course so we ended up spending quite some time trying to find new accommodation in Brussels but we were unable to do so and finally we just decided to head for Bruges and take it from there. On our way to the train station we passed by the Grand Place again and there was a small parade of sorts in 18th century uniforms. We stayed and looked at it for a while before we hopped on the train to Bruges.

About Bruges, well, me and Ante both loved it! We found it to be the most charming town any of us have visited in a long time. The city is extremely well preserved and (except for all the tourists) it feels like walking around in a medieval city, just amazing! I can not recommend this city highly enough!

We took it in a quite leisure pace, without any sort of tourist map or the like, just walking around in the city. Our walk started as we passed through one of the Old City Gates and went into the Old Saint John's Hospital which is such a tranquil place. From there we went to the beautiful Church of Our Lady which houses a stunning carved wood crib. From there we went of to the Market Square to take a look at the City Hall with it's amazing belfry as well as the old Provincial Court before we rounded our small tour of with the Saint Salvator's Cathedral. During our walk we of course sat down to eat some delicious Belgian waffles!

Due to our poor planning and, well, shaky start due to this mornings events at Dimitri's we unfortunately missed the Beguinage and the Basilicia of the Holy Blood though. If you go here you should plan it a bit better than we did. I'll definitely come back here though, it's quite easy to reach from where I live and it would be cool to participate in the Procession of the Blood!

Well, suffice to say Bruges is wonderful, even if we missed a couple of the sights here! This is the kind of place though were you don't really need to go looking for sights, simply because the entire central town is a sight in and of itself. We felt really relaxed here, despite the other tourists. The air is fresh, there is not only a good medieval feel here but also beautiful nature with the canal and the river flowing gently nearby.

Accommodation here is hard to find though so be out in good time! We did our best but we had a hard time finding a place to stay, thankfully we managed to snatch the last room at the Ibis Budget Hotel, it was their most expensive room though but at 79 EUR we felt that it was well worth it! It had a nice TV with a good selection of channels as well as a nice bathroom. (Although Ante managed to contaminate that one quit remarkably with something that will live in infamy for as long as the both of us shall live).

Bruges has been a really nice finale to our time in Belgium and I'm very glad that we decided to go here. Tomorrow me and Ante will leave Belgium behind and go to the last stop of this trip, Luxembourg. I'm really looking forward to it, to be honest I've read very little about it and I have no plan what-so-ever.

Until tomorrow I wish you all peace and happy travels!

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Comments

[taracloud]

My favorite city ever!
Brugges is the best! I've been there several times and never got tired of wandering, admiring the architecture, and eating chocolate in the little artisan shops. I always stayed in a pretty cheap dorms in a hostel in the center, but I think prices have really gone up since I was there eight years ago. Hope you get to walk in the Ardennes Forest in Luxembourg--the leaves should be changing color now.

[A Small Swede in the Big World]

My favorite city ever!
Oh we really loved Bruges as well and I'd love to go back there. :) Luxembourg was our next stop, I'll try and have the blog up from there the next couple of days. :)

[Dancing Dave]

Brugges
The closest I've got to Brugges are some travellers in Mali who filmed my hijinks at the Djenne ferry. They painted a picture with their stories of medieval charm in their home town. I regard you as lucky to have experienced it firsthand...wandered its streets...dreamed of centuries past...breathed it in.

[A Small Swede in the Big World]

Brugges
I do indeed consider myself very fortunate to have been there and experienced this beautiful place first-hand. :)