A Beautiful City Worth Everyone's Time
Bruges is the former capital of Flanders, keeping a long historic record. I would recommend a visit to anyone seeking a snap-shot of what Amsterdam may have been, prior to millions of tourists trashing the place and changing the commerce base. Bruges literally has everything structurally, that you may be looking for in Amsterdam, minus the throngs of tour bus crowds.
In doing some reading, I found out why the staff of the Bauhaus Hostel was so eager to party the night away, at anyone else’s nocturnal expense. Belgium has the second highest suicide rate in Europe and the drab gray skies don’t help this situation much. In recognition of the problem local government officials declared Langestraat the provencially sanctioned party street of Bruges. Over 200 bars and clubs popped up in this sleepy historic burg and faded quickly, with only a handful remaining. So, in this capital of indigenous boredom and self-elimination, maybe the locals needed the “party of 5” more than the paying clientele recognized.
Bruges is the former capital of Flanders, keeping a long historic record. I would recommend a visit to anyone seeking a snap-shot of what Amsterdam may have been, prior to millions of tourists trashing the place and changing the commerce base. Bruges literally has everything structurally, that you may be looking for in Amsterdam, minus the throngs of tour bus crowds.
In doing some reading, I found out why the staff of the Bauhaus Hostel was so eager to party the night away, at anyone else’s nocturnal expense. Belgium has the second highest suicide rate in Europe and the drab gray skies don’t help this situation much. In recognition of the problem local government officials declared Langestraat the provencially sanctioned party street of Bruges. Over 200 bars and clubs popped up in this sleepy historic burg and faded quickly, with only a handful remaining. So, in this capital of indigenous boredom and self-elimination, maybe the locals needed the “party of 5” more than the paying clientele recognized.
(Party street below...)
Now, back to why Bruges is worth every effort as a tourist and maybe not as an “Eor” local. The old city is shaped basically like an egg, the circumferance of which can be walked in about two hours. Simply walk from anywhere in town to the main canal’s edge, turn left or right and start wandering. The canal scenery is great, with active well maintained windmills.
Despite the blinding gray skies, the trees were putting on their best efforts to add some color to the landscape.
Detail remains in Bruges, complete with cast dragons supporting the bench work.
Did I mention windmills? Lots of great windmills…
Similar to Amsterdam, Bruges is a port city. Renovated barges even serve as upscale hotels and restaurants.
As well as being surrounded by a main canal, the city is also connected internally by smaller, local traffic, waterways. The morning is still and crowds absent, allowing for a casual pace to enjoy this World Heritage Site.
The placid canals provided great opportunities for reflection.
Maybe, after 13 months of travel I have become jaded, but the peace of the Bruges canals, reflecting images, and autumn setting was so much more preferred to dodging Europe’s tour groups, adventure stoners, and overt hooker seekers in Amsterdam.
The leafs were blazing Technicolor down the narrow streets.
Look at all the variation in a single leaf!
Leafs must fall into the canals, over the years, providing a black humus layer to this natural reflecting mirror.
Here is a vision, not to be seen in Amsterdam at 12:30pm. It is pretty nice to be able to explore the city and find it for myself, watching the locals go about their daily activities, while walking right, smack, down the center of the street.
A local guide recommended the restaurant "bar choc" for lunch, given that Belgium is among the chocolate centers of Europe.
I took their suggestion all the way to ordering the specialty, rabbit in beer and chocolate sauce. This was another “first” for me, in trying rabbit. Everything was actually quite good, once you got past the idea of eating chocolate pasta.
Continuing the Amsterdam comparison, if you are hankering for a boat ride in Bruges, yep, they’ve got them too.
The “old college try” was given at the Church of Our Lady, where the only Michael Angelo sculpture to have left Italy during his life time (the Madonna) is housed. The entrance was not obvious after one lap of the perimeter, so it was on to other structures.
Also given "a pass" was the Church of the Holy Blood, which is supposed to house a vile of Christ’s blood brought back during the crusades. We don’t even have to go into the scientific and logistical impossibility of this…
The true prize of the afternoon was town hall, ...
the square, ...
... and clock tower.
Eighty-Eight meters high and 366 steps later, the clock tower provides an outstanding view of Bruges. The cityscape is dominated by towers of the major churches…
… because structures rarely creep above four stories at the peak.
A lone tree added an accent to the former governing buildings along the canal, providing a perfect end to a great day of wandering a historic old city.
Now, back to why Bruges is worth every effort as a tourist and maybe not as an “Eor” local. The old city is shaped basically like an egg, the circumferance of which can be walked in about two hours. Simply walk from anywhere in town to the main canal’s edge, turn left or right and start wandering. The canal scenery is great, with active well maintained windmills.
Despite the blinding gray skies, the trees were putting on their best efforts to add some color to the landscape.
Detail remains in Bruges, complete with cast dragons supporting the bench work.
Did I mention windmills? Lots of great windmills…
Similar to Amsterdam, Bruges is a port city. Renovated barges even serve as upscale hotels and restaurants.
As well as being surrounded by a main canal, the city is also connected internally by smaller, local traffic, waterways. The morning is still and crowds absent, allowing for a casual pace to enjoy this World Heritage Site.
The placid canals provided great opportunities for reflection.
Maybe, after 13 months of travel I have become jaded, but the peace of the Bruges canals, reflecting images, and autumn setting was so much more preferred to dodging Europe’s tour groups, adventure stoners, and overt hooker seekers in Amsterdam.
The leafs were blazing Technicolor down the narrow streets.
Look at all the variation in a single leaf!
Leafs must fall into the canals, over the years, providing a black humus layer to this natural reflecting mirror.
Here is a vision, not to be seen in Amsterdam at 12:30pm. It is pretty nice to be able to explore the city and find it for myself, watching the locals go about their daily activities, while walking right, smack, down the center of the street.
A local guide recommended the restaurant "bar choc" for lunch, given that Belgium is among the chocolate centers of Europe.
I took their suggestion all the way to ordering the specialty, rabbit in beer and chocolate sauce. This was another “first” for me, in trying rabbit. Everything was actually quite good, once you got past the idea of eating chocolate pasta.
Continuing the Amsterdam comparison, if you are hankering for a boat ride in Bruges, yep, they’ve got them too.
The “old college try” was given at the Church of Our Lady, where the only Michael Angelo sculpture to have left Italy during his life time (the Madonna) is housed. The entrance was not obvious after one lap of the perimeter, so it was on to other structures.
Also given "a pass" was the Church of the Holy Blood, which is supposed to house a vile of Christ’s blood brought back during the crusades. We don’t even have to go into the scientific and logistical impossibility of this…
The true prize of the afternoon was town hall, ...
the square, ...
... and clock tower.
Eighty-Eight meters high and 366 steps later, the clock tower provides an outstanding view of Bruges. The cityscape is dominated by towers of the major churches…
… because structures rarely creep above four stories at the peak.
A lone tree added an accent to the former governing buildings along the canal, providing a perfect end to a great day of wandering a historic old city.
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