Blogs from Brugge, Saint-Raphael, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France, Europe - page 17

When trying to find a place to travel to for Easter weekend, my friend Beth found some information about a chocolate festival in Belgium, so we decided it would be the perfect time to travel north and visit Belgium and the Netherlands! The chocolate festival was held in Bruges (also spelled Brugge, and Bruge…I’m not sure which one is the English version!). Bruges is a really cute city, called the “Venice of the North” because of all of its canals that run throughout the city. It is the biggest tourist destination in Belgium, and in fact I have heard that in the summer the population in Bruges is 2/3 tourists and 1/3 residents. I’m not sure if this is true but I wouldn’t doubt it! I was very surprised at all of the languages I ... read more

Seriously, this is stunning. I hqve never been in a more boring country. It is genuinly absurd. We went out last night to have a look round, and get our drink on. SO many people in the pub, and we were the ONLY ones drinking. We also went clubbing, to find that pparently dancing is outlawed in belgium, with everyone just standing round. Being the men we are, we quickly started to jive...... only to get nasty stares. Alex actually got asked to go and dance somewhere else... On the way out, Carl succesfully grabbed 26 arses, both male and female, almost getting an absoloute kicking. Fun though. The hostel here is awesome, and we've just found we are here for onne more night than we thought, but weùre spending tonight in quiet, hangover related comfort, ... read more

Ahhh Brugge. Every second shop is a chocolate shop and every other shop is overflowing with frilly Belgian lace aprons as souvenirs for the tourists crowding the streets. The whole town is set up to embrace the tourist hordes, from its (minimum) tri-lingual menus, cheesy horse and carriage rides through the cobbled streets and the Belgian chocolate/beer/lace museums. Yet it is easy to understand why Brugge is such a popular destination. We had a marvellous time exploring the charming medieval streets, drooling our way through the chocolate museum and munching our way through the many wonderful eating establishments around town. The highlight was New Years Eve, when the Brugge town council provided our entertainment by removing the barriers to the ice skating rink for the festivities (a better view of the NYE concert stage was afforded ... read more

I was just in the middle of writing an angsty letter to Robert about the distance between human beings. I cited rudeness to strangers in foreign places, religious intolerance and the way that people manage to have glazed eyes on the subway--essentially ignoring other people. I was sick of it. And then came Couchsurfing.com. I had read about this website during some of my travel research. It was a way to bring traveling strangers together by linking a traveler with a host who can provide a couch or futon or bed for the night for free. So we tried it--and its been fabulous. Adam had found and been in contact via email with our host, Griet; who we met at the town square this afternoon. She brought us back to her cozy place near the heart ... read more

I considered going to Rotterdam before leaving the Netherlands, but I decided on Bruges as my next stop after Amsterdam. I'd heard a lot of good things about the city, so I thought I'd give it a chance. I took the afternoon train from Amsterdam and after another painless border crossing found myself in Bruges at dusk. At the train station I met up with another backpacker from Boston, so we walked over to Snuffels hostel in the city center. It took us a good 40 minutes to get there because we kept getting lost in the dark, winding streets of Bruges. The streets were also totally deserted at that time of night (8!) so it was kind of cool to see without tourists milling about. After getting to the hostel we both went next door ... read more