Fri, 07 Nov 2003

author Liz	location Sydney, Australia
posted 09:41 AEDT 14/02/2004	section Europe2002/Europe/Belgium ( all photos )

Bus out of Brugge ( No photos )
On Friday, the weather was still perfect, but it certainly wasn't getting any warmer. We fixed our own breakfast at the hostel again, and then packed up our bags. We went out for a last walk around Brugge and bought a couple of typical Belgian things - lace, chocolate, beer glasses. We bought frits with mustard and sat in the middle of Markt to eat them.
Back at the hostel, we got our bags and then walked to the train station. Our walk took us through some lovely quiet streets, and past more pretty canals with colourful views.
At the train station, we bought bus tickets, but we still had fourty minutes to wait for our bus, so we lugged our bags into a nearby bar. There was just enough time for one last beer in Belgium!
Just before 1pm, our bus left and we waved goodbye to Brugge. It was quite a slow journey, as the bus stopped regularly to pick up and drop off passengers, and it took us an hour and a half to get to the coast.
Along the way, we crossed the border and found ourselves in The Netherlands.

author Liz	location Sydney, Australia
posted 09:33 AEDT 14/02/2004	section Europe2002/Europe/Belgium ( all photos )

Cycle Tour out of Brugge ( No photos )
On Thursday morning, Tim and I organised our own breakfast of tea and bread with peanut butter, and the we spent a couple of hours at the hostel trying to catch up on our journals.
Some time after 11am, we headed out to explore a bit more of Brugge. We looked around more of the streets, and spent a while looking in a few of the lace shops and other tourist shops. We also bought a serving of frites and sat in the middle of Markt to eat them and enjoy the sunshine.
For the afternoon, we went on a bike-ride tour that took us out of Brugge, through the pretty country-side, into the villages of Damme and Ostkirke, and almost as far as the border with the Netherlands. Riding through the country-side was great. The guide told us about the farm crops, and the nearby cows, the many canals we rode over or alongside, and an old German gun bunker that we stopped at. The countryside around Brugge is packed full of interesting history, most of which I knew nothing about, so apart from enjoying the ride, we learnt heaps.
The villages we stopped in were small and simple, but very pretty and again we learnt a lot about the history of these villages. We saw a couple of old flat-topped towers that we learnt were once used as light houses when boats had been able to come much further before the land silted up.
About half-way through the ride, we stopped in a small village to chat, and Tim and I had another Belgian tradition - waffles. They were much lighter and tastier than I had expected, and I really enjoyed mine.
Back on the bikes, it was now getting very cold outside, so it was good to get moving. We stopped a few more times to learn more, enjoy the gorgeous views and take a couple of photos. We got back to Brugge shortly after sunset, and although we had ridden close to fifty kilometres, I was suprised that both Tim and I felt quite good and not too tired out.
We stopped at a supermarket to get some food, and then back at the hostel we cooked and ate our dinner. Later on, Tim, myself and Daniel (a guy from Brisbane who we had met the day before) went out to a couple of pubs together. The second pub was nicer than the first, and we tried a few more Belgian beers before heading back to the hostel for a good night's sleep.

author Liz	location Sydney, Australia
posted 09:08 AEDT 14/02/2004	section Europe2002/Europe/Belgium ( all photos )

Around Brugge ( No photos )
On Wednesday, we again had breakfast at the hostel, then packed up our bags and checked out. We then walked from the hostel to one of Brussels' main train stations, and twenty mintues later boarded a train for Brugge.
We arrived in Brugge at about 10:30am, and then took a bus from the train station through the city and got off near the hostel we ended up staying in - the Snuffel Sleep Inn.
Our first glimpses of the very pretty city were only a taste, but the bus drove through a main square which was surrounded by beautiful buildings and which a busy market going on in the middle.
We found the hostel and paid for two nights before going up a wobbly spiral staircase to our dorm room to dump our bags, then we went out to explore Brugge for the day.
Between the 12th and 15th centuries, Brugge was a very active and prosporous town. It once had a huge harbour, was a cloth-making town and also attracted a lot of talented artists. But when the Zwin estuary silted up, trade from the city ceased, and the talented and prosporous people moved away. So Brugge itself has not changed too much since the 15th century, and has one of Europe's best-preserved medieval cities. This, of course, makes it a very popular tourist attraction, but as it is no longer summer, there are less tourists around, so the town was not as busy as it may be in the summer months.
From our hostel, we walked back towards the main square that our bus had driven through, and we crossed over a lovely little canal on the way. There are lots of canals around the town, all of them very pretty, and now because it is autumn, the colourful leaves on the trees reflect off the surface of the water, making the views of the canals even more beautiful.
We came out in the main square - the Markt, and there was indeed a busy market going on in the middle of the square. At the edges of the square were lots of expensive restaurants and above them the many pretty buildings with stepped facades on the top floor at the front. We stood in the square looking around us and enjoying the sunshine.
From there, we looked down a street going off the square, and when we found a stand selling frites, we treated ourselves to a serving and sat under a tree to enjoy them.
We then spent an hour or two just wandering through the pretty streets seeing many of the canals and little bridges crossing over them. We saw lots of chocolate shops, lots of lace shops and lots of other shops selling random tourist items, but we only looked in a few of their windows.
In a small arcade, we found an "Australia" shop, so we looked in there but found nothing of huge interest.
We then found ourselves in a very touristy area, with lots of little pubs and cafés and shops. There were also some very pretty views of the canals there. From here we walked back towards the middle of town and on the way we went past Onze Lieve Vrouwekerk, a large and impressive church, which appeared to be closed so we kept going.
Back through Markt and along a lace-shop lined street, we came out onto the second big square called Burg. This too was lined with lots of beautiful buildings, including the oldest Stadhuis or Town Hall in Belgium, and Heiligbloed-Basiliek (Basilica of the Holy Blood) a church that has a scrap of cloth that is said to have a few congealed drops of Christ's blood on it.
We went into the tourist office, which was off to one side of the square, and after that we left Burg via a small archway into Blinde Ezelstraat, or blind donkey street. On the other side we found the fish market, which was packing up for the day, and some more beautiful views of the canals and old buildings.
We walked more, enjoying the beautiful weather and pretty views. By the canal was a large flock of swans, geese, ducks and even a seagull or two. We sat here to eat some bread and relax in the sunshine.
Nearby was the Begijnhof, an area where in the 13th century single or widowed women lived. There is also a convent and a beautiful old church. It was really quiet here - all we could here was the wind blowing gently through the trees. We were just walking past the locked church when a nun came and unlocked the door and invited us in. It was so quiet inside and very beautiful.
From there we made our way back past the Onze Lieve Vrouwekerk, which was now open, so we went it. Inside the church is Michaelangelo's Madonna and Child, his only sculpture to leave Italy in his lifetime. We saw the sculpture and the interior of the chruch before heading back outside. We had now covered most of the sites, and seen a lot of very pretty streets, so we decided to do another favourite Belgian thing - drink beer.
Using Lonely Planet, we found a fantastic little bar virtually hidden away in a tiny alley. It was a really cosy little pub called DeGarre, and when we sat down we were handed a menu. Thinking it was for food, we were startled and pleasantly suprised to see that one page was for food, and another ten or twelve pages were all for beer! They had three beers on tap, but another two hundered or so listed with the beer's name, the cost and whether a blonde, brown or amber beer.
To begin with, we each tried a different beer from the tap, and although mine was very different to what I usually drink, I quiet enjoyed it. With our drinks we were given a little dish of cheese to nibble, so we sat eating, drinking and chatting for a long time. Next, we had another beer each, but this time they were bottled beers. Each came to us with it's own glass with the name and symbol of the beer on the glass. It was all very new and different to us, and although my beer was again quite different, I liked this one even more.
Our last drink was a pot of tea for me and a coffee for Tim, and when we did eventually leave, it was almost sad saying goodbye to the charming little pub and the friendly proprietress!
We headed back towards our hostel, and found a supermarket to get some food. We cooked vegetables and rice in the hostel kitchen, and got chatting to lots of other friendly Aussies. After dinner, and a few beers from the hostel bar, Tim, myself, and some of our new Aussie friends headed out to find a pub.
We found a nice little place and spent a few hours drinking and talking, before Tim and I took them back to DeGarre where everyone had some more beer, and I had a very nice glass of wine.
Late at night, we headed back to the hostel to sleep.

author Liz	location Sydney, Australia
posted 08:52 AEDT 14/02/2004	section Europe2002/Europe/Belgium ( all photos )

Around Brussels ( No photos )
On Tuesday morning, we had a good breakfast at the hostel, and then went out to explore Brussels for the day.
On first impressions, Brussels was probably one of the most un-interesting cities I have seen. It is full of ugly high-rises and a dozen or more cranes building more high-rises. And the cloudy and misty weather didn't really help to improve things. We started out by walking through the botanic gardens, which was really pretty. There was lots of colour from the changing autumn leaves, and statues and fountains scattered here and there. We walked out of the bottom end of the gardens, past a large construction site, and then turned down a wide pedestrian street lined with clothes and shoe shops.
A little further on, we started getting into the older part of town, with nicer buildings and cobble-stone streets. Then we came to the Grand Place. This, as the name suggests, is a very grand looking square surrounded on all sides buil beautiful old buildings topped with golden statues, and these buildings were once the rich craft guild halls.
Next we walked out of one side of the square and here we found a statue of Everard 't Serclaes, a 14th century hero, and we rubbed his shiny torso for good luck. Now we were in the pretty part of town, and the obvious tourist spot too, judging by the number of tourist, Belgian chocolate and Belgian beer shops.
We saw Manneken Pis, a statue of a little boy peeing, and after seeing all the tourist parephanalea based on him, he seemed to be Belgium's biggest tourist attraction!
We made our way back to the Grand Place, and then out the other side into Galeries St Hubert, Europe's oldest glass-covered shopping arcade, and more importantly, the place that contained Neuhaus, one of the oldest chocolate shops. We went in and looked at the huge amount of expensive chocolate, and bought a small taste of chocolate to share between the two of us.
We walked through the arcade and out the other end, and then through a few more of the old streets. From there, we started going up hill, through Mont des Arts, a very pretty little park, and then higher and higher up some steps. The view out over the city from here was actually quite pretty. At the top of the hill was a large square, with trams and cars running through it (a tram driver even tooted and waved at us!) and a large church looking out over the city.
We sat on the church steps eating a snack and enjoying the view, but moved on quickly - it was cold!
We went up the road and around the corner to see the front of Palais Royal, which had a couple of guards marching out the front.
Next, we re-traced our steps a short way back to the Musée des Instruments de Musique. It boasts the world's biggest collection of musical instruments, many of which were very interesting. We were given headphones and as we walked around the museum, various songs by instruments in nearby display cases were played through the headsets. It was great to hear so much music and to get an idea of the sounds made by instruments I had never seen before.
We spent a few hours in the museum, and when we got back outside, we walked down to the Mont des Arts park to eat some food and rest our feet. We then went to a train station to find train times and prices for the next day, and then to a supermarket to get some things for dinner and a couple of incredibly cheap beers.
From the supermarket, we walked to Parc de Bruxelles, where we sat on a bench to drink our beers. It was about 3pm and we looked like homeless people, which we thought was quite hilarious! The beer wasn't nice. Mine was a raspberry beer that tasted awful, and Tim's was a 12.5% alcohol beer that tasted worse. We tried to drink them but they both got tipped out!
From the park, we slowly wandered back to our hostel, we bought some frits and mayonnaise and sat in the garden of the hostel to eat them and relax. When it got colder we moved inside.
Dinner was pasta and more cheap beers from the bar, then we sat playing cards before having a game of chess - and I actually beat Tim!! After a quick shower in the lukewarm water we went to bed.

author Liz	location Sydney, Australia
posted 08:48 AEDT 14/02/2004	section Europe2002/Europe/Belgium ( all photos )

Into Brussels ( No photos )
(Continued from France 2)
We arrived in Brussels, the capital of Belgium about an hour after we had left Paris. We had driven through Belgium earlier in the year when we drove Rosie to London, but we hadn't stopped anywhere then, so it was almost like being in yet another country.
From the train station, we caught the Metro to the other side of the city (and up the hill!) Once here, we spent a little while hunting around the streets for the hostel, and eventually we found it. It was a nice hostel, and we even got to be in the same dorm. Even better, it had a kitchen - the first once we had seen since Barcelona!
We dumped our bags and walked about fifteen minutes to the supermarket. Dinner was a delicious combination of chicken wings, chicken soup mix, rice and veges, and it really filled us up. Accompanied by a few nice cheap beers from the hostel bar, it was very nice meal. We decided to save a night of drinking Belgian beers on the town for another night, and went to bed early.

(customised)