Before we start, 10 points if you can name the movie I’m quoting in the title of this weeks blog. Ok now to start. Another week, another travel destination! The Oster parentals have returned from their adventure to Milan back to Amsterdam so we could head to Flanders in Belgium to visit the scenic cities of Bruges and Ghent. We took the train from Amsterdam Central after work Friday and headed west. Train travel in Europe is so easy. Don’t get my wrong, getting in and out of Schiphol is pretty easy but trains you don’t have to worry about how many liquids you have, you don’t have to allot time for long security lines, there is just less stress in general. Anyway, after about 3 hours and one train switch we made it to our first stop – Bruges. Earlier this week Bill had me watch the movie En Bruges in preparation for our trip. The movie was weird AF but the second we got off the train all I could hear in my head was Colin Farrel repetitively saying “In f-ing Bruges”. Not really related to our trip at all but if you have seen the movie you can probably hear Colin Farrel saying that exact line. We took a short taxi to our Airbnb which was extremely nice. I don’t know why people stay in hotels anymore. Our Airbnb was huge, allowed us all to stay together, had a central location, and was less expensive than a mediocre hotel. We even had little chocolates on our towels when we arrived. Shortly after “checking in” we were all off to bed to prepare for a full Saturday.
We woke up early Saturday to try and start the day before too many tourists were awake. We walked into the historic center for breakfast at a place called Sanseveria Bagelsalon which served you guessed it, bagels. The cafe itself was super cute. There were little nick knacks all over and every time you looked around there were new treasures to be discovered. The food was also too notch. We each got breakfast bagels mine with scrambled eggs, avocado, bacon and cheese. Dad got a hot chocolate and it was super fun. They serve you a mug of hot milk then a big chunk in chocolate on a stick that you dip into the milk and transform the drink into hot chocolate deliciousness.
Our bellies full, we left the bagelsalon headed for the bell tower which opened at 9:30. On the way, we stumbled across an extremely picturesque spot. This is actually the spot if you’ve seen the movie En Bruges where Colin Farrel jumps from the hotel window onto the boat into the canal. Anyway, we had the whole spot to ourselves which was apparently very lucky. We learned (and experienced) later on that this spot is one of the most heavily photographed in Bruges.
Aside from this spot, we also encountered more views along the way – enjoy.
So back to the Belfry. In our preparation for the trip we read you want to be there early to be at the front of the line which is very wise advice. First, as you would imagine the 366 step climb up the tower to views of the city is a popular tourist activity so it gets crowded. Second, the way up the tower is the same as the way down the tower. By arriving early you can make it all the way up without having to pause every 10 steps to allow people space to come down the steps. Finally, while the platform at the top has spectacular views it’s not an exceptionally large space. Being amongst the first people up there were were able to enjoy a peaceful experience not crowded by hoards of other people. On the way up (or down) there are a few interesting things to see. We saw the largest bell of the tower on its own floor. You were also able to go onto the floor where the inner workings of the clock were housed. There was also a big wheel which turned to play the 47 bell carillon. A carillon is basically a bell instrument. It can be played with that big wheel I mentioned similar to a music box and also can be played manually by an organ type thing. It looks similar to an organ but with handles and pedals as opposed to keys.
Now the views – worth the 366 step trek in my opinion.
Post workout (i.e. tower climb) we met our guide Anna at the base of the tower. Anna was an excellent tour guide and reasonably priced (€150 for 3 hours). I would highly recommend her to anyone traveling to Bruges or Ghent. Here is her website for your convenience if you’re ever interested: https://www.guide-for-ghent.com. Anyway, tours are very informative and I don’t want to overwhelm you with information so here are some of the most useful/interesting pieces of information I took away from the tour:
- The heyday of Bruges was the 1400’s. The city was located on the sea so it became a port where goods from all over Europe were traded. With all these different countries trading with one another, you needed a reliable facilitator of currency exchange. Out of this need the first “stock exchange” was formed.
- At the end of the 15th century the people of Bruges pissed off the king and as punishment the king took away the tax incentives of trading in the city. Without the incentives, trade moved up the river to Antwerp and Bruges started to decline. It declined to the point that 60% of the people at one point relied fully on public aid. Because the city became poor, it became a sort of time capsule as there was no money to build new infrastructure. All the untouched medieval architecture began to attract tourists in the late 19th century. Now, there are only 129k people in Bruges, 40k in central Bruges and they anticipate 7 million tourists will visit this year.
- There is a brewery in Bruges (Half Moon or Halve Maan) that actually has a beer pipeline. It is 3,200 meters long and takes the freshly brewed beer from the brewery in the city to the bottling facility just outside the city. They have a beer called the “Brugse Zot” which means the Bruges Joker. The legend goes that after Bruges started to fall they asked the king for money to build a mental hospital. His response was just wall the city and you would have a mental hospital. Since then the people of Bruges are known as jesters. We ended up circling back to the brewery post tour and the beers were quite good. They also have a nice outdoor space.
- Chocolate first came to Europe from the Americas following Colombus’ initial journey across the sea. The chocolate of that day was not the same as the chocolate that you and I know. It was extremely bitter and used mostly for medicinal purposes. It wasn’t until the 20th century that the first chocolate candies appeared. Belgium as you may know, is a center of chocolate so of course we had to stop for some treats.
- There is a church in the center of Bruges – Church of the Holy Blood- which houses a relic. During the Crusades a knight brought back a piece of cloth with drops of Christ’s blood. You can see the relic each day but it is only on display at certain times so if you’d like to see it do a little online research ahead of time.
Ok enough facts. We learned a whole lot more but I will save you. After the tour we went for lunch at a hole in the wall spot called soup serving, soup. The Flemish are apparently quite similar to the Dutch in the sense that this far the naming of establishments thus far has been pretty self explanatory. The place was packed which is generally a good sign. Although the weather was pretty nice it was pleasant to have a nice warm bowl of pumpkin soup to warm me up on a fall day. We went to see the relic I mentioned above them decided to go to the Historium museum right on the main square after a recommendation from our guide. I am not sure I agree with the recommendation. The museum takes you through a day in the 14th century heyday of Bruges but it’s a cheesy romance story that was hard to follow and did not really do it for me. There is a beer bar attached to the museum which you can go to without a ticket that looks out over the square. I would recommend doing this. There were also a few exhibits at the end of the museum which were ok. My personal favorite was the photo op – see Bill below.
There is also a virtual technology experience which had technology from about 3 years ago but did allow you to see what the city looked like in 1435. David loved it.
Post museum we got chocolate, went to the brewery then ventured to dinner at a restaurant called Mojo. There are no shortage of highly rated restaurants in Bruges but everything had 4 euro signs on TripAdvisor and had fixed menus. Mojo was near the top of the ratings list, allowed you to order for yourself, and was more reasonably priced. We did less of a good job ordering different items and 3 people ordered the Beef Stew while I got the lamb and sausage with couscous. Everything was tastyyyyyy. We of course had to get dessert and the special of an apple blueberry crumble with vanilla ice cream was calling our name. A great ending note to a beautiful day in picture perfect Bruges.
Sunday morning and it was off the Ghent, 30 minutes south of Bruges. Immediately getting off the train you could tell this was more of a living city with more actual residents and fewer tourists. We met up with our same guide from the previous day and it was off to the races. Our guide lived in Ghent so you could really feel her passion for the city. Similar to Bruges, I won’t bore you with all the facts but give you a few bullet points if facts:
- Similar to Bruges Ghent was a city of trade. They mainly traded grain, fish and cloth. The city is between two rivers the Lys (the lady) and the Sheldon (the male). There are symbols of the male and female figures throughout the city
- The clock tower in the city had a ground level that was used as a market for cloth. When wool went out of fashion, the market was no longer being used. In need of tenants, they let the second level to the guild of fencers. Today, 400 years later, the fencing guild still rents the space… For the same cost as 400 years ago. Talk about rent control. Our guide took us up to the level of the guild and we were able to see a few of the beginners in a match which was very neat. Everyone was extremely friendly. They were a little confused why we were there but they were telling us all these facts and even offered to show us their “museum”.
- Ghent is a city of students. Of the 259K residents, 70K are students.
- There is a lighting installation in the square near the fortress that is connected to the Ghent maturity ward. Every time a baby is born, the family gets to press a button that will illuminate the lamps in the square.
- In the main church there is an alter piece by the famous Flemish artist Van Eyck (don’t feel bad if you don’t know who that is I didn’t either). There is a lot of symbolism and meaning in the alter piece (I’ll spare you). The alter piece throughout history has been stolen and returned and stolen and returned. It was one of the pieces saved by the Monument Men during WW2. Currently, there is still one panel missing. It was stolen and the church was prepared to pay the ransom but the police said they would find it. Well they took too long and now the man who stole the painting has died and they still don’t know where it is.
Have Passport Will Travel 
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