Bruges, Belgium

This is my last post about my trip. Promise. Before we went there,  the only thing I knew about Bruges was that it was the setting for the 2008 film “In Bruges” starring Colin Farrell. It’s a dark comedy (which I thought was hilarious) and the scenery was spectacular. And our friends Katie and Gene had been there in 2009 and raved about it.

We took the train from Paris to Bruges and arrived in this totally picturesque, amazing place. It’s so quaint and perfect that you almost feel like you’re in a movie set. There is a canal that rings the town plus other canals running through it. Belgium is known for it’s chocolates, lace and beer, so our first order of business was to sit down to lunch and have a beer.

Each beer has it’s own special glass and the restaurants can only buy the beer if they buy the glasses as well. And I must say that all the beers I had there were delicious.

We took the tour of the only brewery that is still active within the city limits. It’s called the Half Moon Brewery.

The brewery building is very old and on several different levels. There are some stairs that were so steep and narrow that you had to walk down them backwards on the way down. You did get to go all the way to the roof where we had great views of the city.

We stayed in a lovely B & B that Jeff had heard about. The house was 400 years old! Isn’t that incredible to think about? How many lives have been lived there, the joys and sorrows. It just boggles the mind. It’s called the Bed and Breakfast Absoluut Verholst.

The owners are a charming couple who have run it for 8 years now. The husband is a painter whose work is all over the house. And they served the most amazing breakfast in the morning.

On our second day, we went to the St. Johns Hospital/Memling Museum which I enjoyed. There were pictures from it’s day as a hospital for plaque victims,  religious artifacts and  paintings by Memling and  other Belguim painters. We also walked around the Beguinage, which is a courtyard surrounded by small attached buildings as well as a wall seperating it from the town. It was built as a home for nuns and is still used for that today. There were signs asking all visitors to respect the quiet and I found it very peaceful and inviting.

I would highly recommend Bruges if you’re heading to Europe. I would have liked one more day there as there were other things to see.