Charming Brugge

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September 18th 2011

Published: September 21st 2011

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Double GandT

German Bunker

Used by German soldiers duringWWII to hide from Allied Planes. Camouflaged by growing grass on the top of them

Brugge is often described by many as the city of beer and chocolate, but there is more, much more to this unique place, there's waffles and frites as well. Oh, and did I mention, some of the most amazing and ornate historical buildings that you will ever see. It is no wonder that Brugge probably has one of the highest densities of tourists per square metre than anywhere else in the world. Having said that, I haven't been to Rome yet, but that report is still to come!
The easy 35 klm ride in from Gent turned out to be closer to 40 and fairly tough as we had strong head and cross winds for the entire trip. Fred, our guide, does love a detour and, had we always travelled in a straight line, we would be closer to Iceland than Brugge at the moment!
Our visit has coincided with a once a year event referred to as "Car Free Sunday". As the name suggests, the streets in the centre of town are free of automobiles for the day so the only risk that the humble pedestrian faces is the prospect of being run down by one of the

Jazzercise in Brugge

thousand of cyclists that frequent the area. If you survive that, don't worry, you are still a chance of being cleaned up by a horse and buggy that tear up and down the narrow streets. It really was a fabulous day, though, with a band playing on virtually every street corner and street theatre everywhere. This place really is a wonderland. You could be forgiven for thinking that you have stumbled onto a film set but these buildings are real. We are staying in a B&B tonight that was built in the 17th century. The entire building has been renovated, except the spiral staircase up to our room which is as rickety as all get out but, what the hell do you expect for something that old. All in all, Brugge is a wonderful place but totally inundated with tourists. We had dinner in a restaurant last night and there were four conversations going on around us in four different languages. Very hard to eavesdrop, but I think that they were all discussing the NRL finals series!
Off to Italy tomorrow where we catch up with Taryn & Davis, should be a hoot. Will report from there so, bye

Brugge's Treasures

During 16th century all the town's wealth was stored in the Belfry in these chests behind locked iron gates. * people had keys and all had to be present to unlock them

for now.

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