Thursday, April 16, 2009
Bruges, Belgium
I had a restless night being awoken about 1 am by an unruly crowd on the street outside the hostel window, that kept me awake for a good hour. Still, I awoke at 7. 30 am, very refreshed, dressed quickly, packed and went downstairs with my backpack for my breakfast with my suite mate from Hongkong whose name I did not get. Over muesli, two slices of bread with preserves and cheese and caffe lattes (provided in the 19. 50 euros per night that it costs to stay at the YHA), I chatted with her and then checked out at 9 am. The walk to Brussels’ Central station took me ten minutes. I bought myself a return ticket to Bruges (25 euros) and took the 9. 27 am train to Bruges with one stop at Ghent.
Arrival in Bruges:
I arrived in Bruges exactly an hour later, at 10. 30 am, and followed the instructions (obtained on the website) to St. Christopher’s Inn. I took Bus Number 16 from the station (1. 20 euros for a ticket) to the Bauhaus and then walked for five minutes to the door of the hostel. Again, because check in was at 1 pm, I stashed my bags away and went out to explore the city armed with my guide book borrowed from the Holborn Public Library.
En route, I passed by several consignment stores and ending up buying a bunch of designer scarves to add to my collection (YSL, Gucci, Burberry, Christian Dior, Furla and Louis Vuitton). Only the salesgirl wouldn’t take credit cards, so I ended up giving her most of my Euros, which left me quite cash strapped for the rest of my trip.
The Heart of Bruges:
It wasn’t long before I found myself in a significant cobbled square called the Burg. From there, passing by more chocolate and lace shops, I arrived at the Market Square. Fortunately, the malaise of the day before had left me and the beauty of the city of Bruges so lifted my spirits that I felt like my old self again! Using my Insight Pocket Guide to Bruges by George McDonald, I set out on one of his three main walking tours of the city entitled “The Heart of Bruges”.
This six mile walking tour began at the huge and rather crowded market place through which tourist groups from the East were herded like cattle from one corner to the next. The square was completely taken over by an amusement arcade featuring games of skill. How crass, I thought, as I took in the ugliness of it!
After discovering, from my book, the history of the market place and the buildings that surround the square, I sat on a bench to do some people-watching (and people-overhearing!) and to take in the grandeur of the medieval buildings. Each side of the square is different in style and design. Right in front of me was the Town Hall topped by a slightly crooked flat Belfry with a clock face. On another side, is a row of vivid gabbled houses, now each featuring a fancy restaurant at the base. There is a Provincial House on the third side and the house of the Fisherman’s Guild on the fourth. These give the Market Place a look similar to that of the Grande Place in Brussels, though on a smaller scale. Horse-drawn carriages gave visitors rides around the square and the network of little lanes that radiate from it. But another, more unique, way to see the city is on a canal cruise or boat tour that at 6. 70 euros makes it one of the most affordable to be found in a European city.
It wasn’t long before I realized that Bruges must be one of the world’s most beautiful cities—and among these I count my own favorites, Oxford, Salzburg and Florence. There is not a corner of Old Bruges that does not delight the eye and my camera worked overtime as it tried to record everything: gabled houses, red brick walls, curving bridges over mirror-like canals and swan-filled lakes, cobbled squares ringed by pretty shops selling lace, chocolates and porcelain and pavement-restaurants. Official buildings are richly carved in stone, church spires rise up steeply to meet the sky, streets are completely paved with stone blocks (I finally understood why they are called Belgian blocks in the States!). I walked everywhere, pausing frequently to admire the details on the buildings and soon fell completely in love with this enchanting city. I often sat on the banks of a canal (similar to Amsterdam) or in a quaint and empty square or in an atmospheric church filled with stone sculpture and stirring paintings. It was not a sunny day but at least it wasn’t raining. Though I am something of a glutton for museums, I decided early that this medieval city was too unique and I did not want to waste my two days there being cloistered in a museum (though the city does boast at least two really good ones). I preferred to soak in every sight, every bewitching corner and but for two churches that were on my route, I did not stop indoors anywhere. One of then, the Church of Our Lady contains an exquisite Carrara marble sculpture of the Madonna and Child by Michelangelo (the only one of his major works to be found outside Italy) which was really quite lovely to gaze at.
Soon, I found myself on the ancient brick Bridge of St. Boniface, which spans a narrow canal filled with shaded timber-faced buildings and a flowering cherry tree. It was one of my favorite parts of the city and I took many pictures here.
By 2 pm, I was tired and needed a rest and a good meal. I chose a restaurant recommended by McDonald in his book—Maria von Boergondie) where I chose a typical Belgian dish called a Waterzooi (explained to me by the Belgian couple seated next to me). This was a delicious chicken stew with cream and vegetables served with boiled fingerling potatoes. A two-course meal with boring vanilla ice-cream for dessert cost me 16 euros and since the restaurant does not serve tap water, I ordered a Perrier, which upped the bill to almost 20 euros! Bruges is not an inexpensive city, I discovered rapidly.
Artistic Heritage and Lake of Love:
A good hour later, I was ready to launch on my the second installment of my explorations and chose to do McDonald’s second walking tour entitled “Artistic Heritage and Lake of Love”. This tour took me to the Memling Museum, which I skipped in favor of outdoor scenes. I took in the quiet environs of St. John’s Hospital (of which the Memling Collection is one part) then proceeded towards the Spanoghe Almshouse built in 1680 which took me to another delightful square called the Walplein. This square contained one of Belgium’s best-known breweries: makers of Henri Maes beer. I decided not to take the tour which included a sample to taste and proceeded instead to the Godhuis de Vos, another almshouse that dates from 1713—so tiny, charming and picturesque are these almshouse (how mainly pensioner’s homes) that I felt as if I had strayed into Disney world!
At this point, the tour took me to the Princely Beguinage of the Vineyard that is reached in a very unique way—across a bridge over a canal and through a Renaissance gateway. As if this were not enough, the most uplifting sight awaited me as I entered the Beguinhof—I saw a vast green covered with daffodils in every shade of yellow, a virtual filed filled with them! Visitors were so charmed by what they saw that they sank down on their knees to be photographs among the frilly flowers against a backdrop of white faced Belgian houses that are now home to the Benedictine nuns as the Beguines (a monastic female religious order) no longer exists. The order of the Beguines were founded in 1245 by Margaret of Constantinople and attracted many fervent women through the centuries.
After strolling through the cloistered garden, I visited the museum at Number One that is furnished in the simple manner of the 17th century women of the order. I also visited their small Church of Our Lady of Consolation in Spermalie. Indeed, Bruges was so beguiling that my flagging spirits of the previous day lifted completely and I was filled with so much renewed energy that I wanted to cover every corner of it on foot.
Leaving the serene environs of the Beguinhof behind me, I found myself facing a red brick gabbled building—the Sashuis or Lockkeeper’s House on a long rectangular lake called Minnewater or Lake of Love. Swans and ducks sailed majestically by as I walked along the lake’s banks towards one of the Powder Towers (so-called because it was once used to store gunpowder). I then crossed the bridge over the lake and arrived at lovely waterside Minnewater Park where tulips would very shortly bloom profusely. I rested there for a while with my umbrella held open against a slight drizzle that made pretty circles in the water. The very end of the walk took me past another lovely gated courtyard square that now houses the Municipal Fine Arts Academy.
At this point, having walked for miles around the town, I was seriously tired and started to pick my way home, stopping only occasionally when something caught my attention. Then, at 7pm, I checked into my hostel, found my room and bunk bed and started to write my blog when I was introduced to my room mate—a Seattle student who has taken a Gap Year off to discover the world. I joined her to eat a light supper down in the restaurant attached to the hostel—delicious hot leek and pea soup with bread. For dessert, we ate some of the Belgian chocolate that I had bought in the morning. Then, I showered, brushed and flossed my teeth and went to bed at about 10. 30 pm after what had been an exhausting but enchanting day.