Day 52

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Today we caught a local train for a look around the city of Bruges.

Only an hour from Brussels, Bruges is a medieval town built in the thirteenth century with a current population of less than 200,000.

The old town surrounded by canals is sometimes known as little Venice.

Arriving at the station, it was a 10 minute walk on cobblestone laneways to reach the town centre.

With no map in hand, you just look for the biggest church and head towards it.

After exploring the streets, we took the canal boat ride. No gondola's, just overcrowded power boats.

There are no private boats on these canals, so the twenty or so tourists boats are a licence to print money, as they don't stop all day.

The clock tower in the middle of town is worth climbing if you can handle the 388 steep spiral stairs.

They only let 70 people at anytime, so there is a wait as it is one out, one in.

Reaching the top we discover 47 bells of all sizes and a huge musical drum all designed to make the bells ring four different tunes each 15 minutes.

We watch the workings of the huge clock slowly ticking and wait for the bells, which were almost unbearably loud next to them.

Back down for a late lunch, before the stroll back to the train

Walking back to the train we pass many more chocolate shops and think we have seen over 50 of these speciality shops.

Arrived back to Brussels around 6.30, our day was done.

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