Damme!

---

Sunday 6 March 2011

Going down to breakfast each morning has been a great way to start the day: the room is tastefully decorated, we've had good company, and we've really enjoyed the soothing classical music (in stark contrast to the 'worst of the 80s' that we were subjected to in Vianden). This morning, our hostess Annemie suggested that since we like walking, we might like the short hike (7km each way) to the nearby mediaeval village of Damme. This is where the ships to Brugge used to enter the canal system before the sea channel (the Zwin) silted up. Most of the walk is along the big canal (the former Reie River) - straight (apart from one tiny bend) and flat - certainly an easy one! Once out of Brugge/Bruges, the path is local traffic only which meant it was pretty well all bikes and pedestrians. Later, you can also walk on the grassy area between the rows of trees. We passed through mainly farmland, where the sheep and horses looked quite different from those to which we're accustomed in Australia.

The sheep were a mixture of white, brown and black (and combinations thereof), and although we get white, brown and black sheep in Australia, these looked quite different in a hard to define (too-much-like-a-stuffed-toy kind of) way! The horses were REALLY cool! As far as we can tell, these were Flemish draft horses (although the ones we saw were a bit on the short side), originally bred for use by mediaeval knights, they were the preferred breed until crossbows and guns made them obsolete. They were then put to work as beasts of burden. Interestingly, Flemish draft horses were bred with the newer English 'Shire' horse by a Scots nobleman from the Clyde Valley (no prizes for guessing the name of the resulting breed!).

Enough said about livestock (did we mention the honking geese?)! Damme is a 'damn fine town' (sorry, we just had to say that!). It is very small, but packed with wonderful old buildings and churches (not to mention restaurants and bars - it's obviously on the tourist map). We actually both had the best meal of our trip to date in the brasserie, Tante Marie. We've just found out there's another just up the canal from where we're staying, so we're hoping it's not a chain!! We were thinking of taking the bus back to Brugge, but we decided we should walk off our lunch. We're glad we did, because the sun came out and it was gorgeous (we even got 'hot' and had to remove our hats and gloves!).

---

Photos

Breakfast
(spot John)

The canal walk to Damme
(spot John)

Horses
...aren't they cool!?

From the bridge at Damme
...looking back towards Brugge/Bruges.

Damme
...the middle of town.

Cool sculpture in church yard
...sorry, don't know any details

The walk home
(we know it looks crooked - but that's how the trees are!)