20th Stop - Berlin (via Bruges)

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Lyon - Brussels - Bruges - Brussels - Berlin (Train)

10-11 September

Muslims must make one pilgrimage to Mecca in their lifetime to reach the promised afterlife; Hindus must bath in the Ganges river, so to wash away their sins and be reborn into a better life and Buddhists must devote their life to study and meditation to move closer to Nirvana. If you enjoy beer - then your pilgrimage is to Bruges in Belgium where there is already heaven brewed here on earth.

The Bruges Beerje is a small ale chapel discreetly hidden in a quiet lane away from the tourist crowds shuffling along the main street. They can offer a choice of many beers with four local draughts on tap. They have an extensive bound menu of all their beers with tasting notes and detailed history. Any mention of food or bar-snacks is unobtrusively tucked in the back so as to not take any focus from the beer.

We happened upon this place quite by chance - like wandering nomads in search of an oasis. The small restaurant across the road was called the Hobbit, and another just next door was the Tolkien Bar (sadly, both were closed for a summer holiday). We entered the Beerje’s cosy room with its small bar tucked to one side and wooden tables with chairs close together. The stools at the bar were filled with smiling locals, all with pink cheeks, speaking loudly and jovially in the glottal Flanders tongue. I recalled my imagined images of hobbits in walking into the Prancing Pony on the Brandywine river in Tolkien’s LOR (and this was before I touched a drop … I swear!).

After spending some time sampling the fine draughts, we went in search of the renowned Belgian meal of sweet black mussels, steamed in pots with white wine or beer, served with crispy golden fritjes, accompanied by the moreish mayonnaise-like fritje sauce - washed down with fine Belgium Tapist beer (brewed in abbeys by certified, card carrying monks). On reflection, it was a good thing that we had taken the walking tour of the city earlier in the day.

From the tourist office, a very well priced walking tour of Bruges city was about to depart just as we arrived after our long train journey from Lyon. The guide was a life long resident who presented this tour in both English and German. There was an advantage to understanding both of his descriptions of the city’s features, as there was sometimes more detail in the German version. Bruges is one of the best-presented cities in Europe. The architecture is a mix of gothic spires and arches with distinct Dutch styled gables of the houses. This is a city of guilds, with each guild house carrying the marks of their respective trade: the stonemasons, the carpenters etc. Curiously, some houses have the figure of an animal affixed to it. This was the unique “street numbering” used so that the uneducated poor in the city could find the cat house or snail house - lion, fish, turtle and so on.

With some time to kill before taking a train to Brussels then the Nacht Zug (overnight train) to Berlin, we returned to the Beerje to confirm that we had indeed sampled some of the finest beers in the world earlier that evening. Needless to say, we both slept rather soundly on the train and arrived in the comfortable efficiency of Berlin’s Hauptbahnhof without the hint of a hangover.

This was sadly the last day available on our Eurail pass, of which we certainly have had great value and put to good use. We spent our day wandering Berlin city and lunched in a café. The next day we had our 1-euro cent airfare (plus the 50 euro of taxes) on Ryanair to London.

T

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Photos

Brugge
The very well preserved old town.

A Beer in Brugge
Trying the local varieties.

A Beerjes in Brugge
The place which serves the local varieties.