Weekend in Brugge
Last weekend we celebrated our 7th Anniversary, so we went for a romantic weekend in Brugge (yes, Belgium again - We love Belgium).
It's also known as 'Little Venice' as it has canals running through and around it.
Being Belgian, it also has plenty of beer, moules et frites (mussels and chips - the national dish), waffles, lace and chocolates. Compared with Brussels though, there seemed to be a many more chocolates shops around than beer places. Or maybe we weren't looking hard enough as we'd gone out the previous night with our Kiwi housemates to the Kiwi Kitchen where we had (sort of) trad NZ meals and plenty of drinks. But enough of that, Brugge was excellent. It's sort of stuck in the past in that it used to be a big trading hub hundreds of years ago, and then the river silted up so the merchants could no longer make it through to there and so it was kind of deserted for another couple of hundred years until someone decided to fix up the water flow there or something and people decided to go back cos they liked the nice old-style buildings and everything. The travel guides also say that it's not as it seems though, and lots of new buildings have been done up to keep the old facade.
We were a bit worried before we got there as the weather forecast for the weekend was looking quite crap. We arrived at lunchtime on Saturday and made our way to our hotel (which was this amazing 4* place right next to the Burg and Markt).
We dropped off our backpacks and after laughing that we would have fitted in more at the Backpackers Hostel across the road than at our hotel we setted off for a bratwurst hot dog and frites in the Markt. The sky was still clear, so we grabbed the first chance and went for a canal ride, which isn't as tacky as some people may say. Brugge is a tiny tiny city, and small enough that you can walk, cycle, take a canal ride, or horse and carriage ride anywhere. It's so beautiful, with the Flemish architecture and greenery, and an idyllic romantic setting.
The place is, however, jam-packed with tourists. Apart from the shopworkers, we couldn't really spot any locals. The weather stayed good for us for our stay and Sunday was a brilliant beauty of a day allowing us to explore more of Brugge and visit the Minnewater (the Lake of Love).
We even took in a tour of the local Henri Maes' Half Moon Brouwery where they explained to us how they made beer and all other interesting facts about beer and took us up to the top of the brewery where they have an awesome view of the small city.
At the end of the tour, they even let us have some of their new brew, the "Brugse Zot", which was not bad at all.
We had a fantastic time there and bought lots of choccies, ate some of the best lamb chops ever, had some delicious ice cream, moules et frites, and flemish stew.
Some Belgian treats...
They also had some brilliant (yet scary) Halloween chocolate window displays, but the witches freaked me out too much. They also have scary toy and doll shops (where they come to life when the lights go out). This picture is cool as they've got little chocolate Mannekin Pis' (bottom-right) :)
It's also known as 'Little Venice' as it has canals running through and around it.
Being Belgian, it also has plenty of beer, moules et frites (mussels and chips - the national dish), waffles, lace and chocolates. Compared with Brussels though, there seemed to be a many more chocolates shops around than beer places. Or maybe we weren't looking hard enough as we'd gone out the previous night with our Kiwi housemates to the Kiwi Kitchen where we had (sort of) trad NZ meals and plenty of drinks. But enough of that, Brugge was excellent. It's sort of stuck in the past in that it used to be a big trading hub hundreds of years ago, and then the river silted up so the merchants could no longer make it through to there and so it was kind of deserted for another couple of hundred years until someone decided to fix up the water flow there or something and people decided to go back cos they liked the nice old-style buildings and everything. The travel guides also say that it's not as it seems though, and lots of new buildings have been done up to keep the old facade.
We were a bit worried before we got there as the weather forecast for the weekend was looking quite crap. We arrived at lunchtime on Saturday and made our way to our hotel (which was this amazing 4* place right next to the Burg and Markt).
We dropped off our backpacks and after laughing that we would have fitted in more at the Backpackers Hostel across the road than at our hotel we setted off for a bratwurst hot dog and frites in the Markt. The sky was still clear, so we grabbed the first chance and went for a canal ride, which isn't as tacky as some people may say. Brugge is a tiny tiny city, and small enough that you can walk, cycle, take a canal ride, or horse and carriage ride anywhere. It's so beautiful, with the Flemish architecture and greenery, and an idyllic romantic setting.
The place is, however, jam-packed with tourists. Apart from the shopworkers, we couldn't really spot any locals. The weather stayed good for us for our stay and Sunday was a brilliant beauty of a day allowing us to explore more of Brugge and visit the Minnewater (the Lake of Love).
We even took in a tour of the local Henri Maes' Half Moon Brouwery where they explained to us how they made beer and all other interesting facts about beer and took us up to the top of the brewery where they have an awesome view of the small city.
At the end of the tour, they even let us have some of their new brew, the "Brugse Zot", which was not bad at all.
We had a fantastic time there and bought lots of choccies, ate some of the best lamb chops ever, had some delicious ice cream, moules et frites, and flemish stew.
Some Belgian treats...
They also had some brilliant (yet scary) Halloween chocolate window displays, but the witches freaked me out too much. They also have scary toy and doll shops (where they come to life when the lights go out). This picture is cool as they've got little chocolate Mannekin Pis' (bottom-right) :)
posted by DnT Blog Guest at
7:35 PM
1 Comments:
ooohhh...congrats guys
that sounds so nice, and Brugge is beautiful. maybe i'll get to visit it one day with a 'lucky' person (lol. where are you???)
glad the weather held out for u guys...
and des, what can i say - i'm sticking to my own species thank you very much! (but thanx for the WoB, very very funny)
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case-in-point, at 11:14 PM
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