Jeremy and I are truly in love with Bruges! The past two days we've spent looking through museums, wandering beautiful side streets, eating Belgian chocolates, and drinking delicious (and strong) Belgian beer. Our host has been a wealth of knowledge and shares pieces of history that we haven't read in any of our guide books. We noticed from our first past the canals that there are a lot of swans here, and we now know that this is no accident. During the 1400s, Bruges had a mayor named Pieter Lanchals (means "long neck"), who was hated by the townspeople. After asking the duke to remove him from office three times without success, the townspeople put the mayor on trial and then beheaded him in front of the duke. The people of Bruges had three punishments instilled upon them. First, they had to pay increased taxes to the duke. Second, they had to build a church named after Lanchals, which is still standing today. And lastly, they had to keep at least 52 swans, or "long necks," in the city at all times. There are many more than 52 right now, but the city still replaces them if their numbers drop below 52.
Friday was a rainy day until early evening, so we toured the Groeninge Museum. We saw many Flemish primitives, but the most famous painting (featured in the movie "In Bruges) was loaned out so we didn't get to see it. From the museum, we headed to a brewery tour. The De Halve Maan (The Half Moon) is the only brewery in Bruges that makes beer to sell off site. We've done a brewery tours the last few summers on our annual baseball road trip, so we know the basics of brewing, but it was interesting to see how they brewed beer back in the middle of the 1800s before modern technology. We got to taste the brewery's "light" beer, which is still 6% alcohol. It was a good beer, but we had many more delicious beers to come later that night!
We wandered the streets a bit more, and bought some chocolates from the Dumon shop. It is operated by a family, and everything we tried was delicious! We also tried waffles later with our afternoon coffee. I got mine with caramel and Jeremy had his with sugar. There are several types of waffles here in Belgium, and they are typically eaten plain, with sugar, or a chocolate or caramel syrup. You can find lots more toppings in tourist areas, but these are not traditional or how most Belgians eat their waffles. Also, waffles are eaten as an afternoon snack and not as a breakfast like we eat them in America.
After a bit of wandering and window shopping (two very popular activities in Bruges), we headed to a recommended pub, called De Garre. They have a beer list that looks like a book and brew several of their own beers that are only sold at the pub. We started with one of the house beers and then moved to the beer list. Jeremy has been trying all of the Trappist beers that he can find. These beers are brewed by Trappist monks, and they are considered to be of very high quality. I won't say too much more about the specific beers because Jeremy is preparing a strictly beer post, so watch for that in the next few days! The waitress at the pub was impressed with our taste in beer, so she brought us one of her favorites. We split five beers between the two of us, but then realized that all of these beers were between 7-11% alcohol. This is much heavier beer than we are used to, and we could definitely tell a difference when we stood up to leave!
We headed out for supper and tried a couple dishes that Belgium is known for. I tried the "Moules Frites," which are mussels steamed in white wine sauce with french fries on the side. Jeremy tried the Belgian version of boeuf bourguignon, called "Boeuf Braise Flamande." This version is much sweeter than the French version because the Belgians add brown sugar to the gravy and use beer instead of wine. They were both tasty and the ambiance of the city was surrounding us on the patio.
We headed back to the B&B and admired the beautiful city. We had learned from our host that the city enforces building codes very strictly. You must have a permit to demolish a building, and they will only allow it if you keep the original front of the building. Bruges was part of a "gentleman's agreement" during WWI and WWII, where both sides agreed to that it would not be bombed. Great care has been taken to maintain the legitimate look of the city and it truly shows! The city employs enough people so that at least 140 people are cleaning the streets each day, and they have strict laws against begging. In fact, you must have a permit to do any kind of street music performance and all other types of begging are forbidden. The city council set these kinds of laws in motion back in the 1950's and it has helped to create and maintain a gem of a city!
Saturday was another rainy day until about 5pm, but we tried to make the best of it (again). We headed to the morning market, where we bought a handmade vase from an artist. There were many other things that I would have liked to buy, but we have limited space in our luggage. We bought some chocolate for souvenirs and then found a place called "The Chocolate Line." The owner has been featured in magazines and on T.V. throughout the world for his inventive (and delicious) chocolate creations. They were quite a bit more expensive, so we only tried a couple pieces. My favorite was the Earl Grey tea chocolate and Jeremy loved the saffron curry.
We avoided the rain by wandering through the Memling Museum. It is an old church that was used as a hospital starting in the 1200's and lasting until 1978. We saw some artwork depicting various saints associated with healing, and then we went into the pharmacy which is still set up as it was when it was functioning. It was interesting, but I would have liked to see more of the old medical equipment and instruments.
We headed back to the main city square, and waited in line to climb the old Bell Tower. It was built in 1240, but has had portions of it rebuilt twice. We climbed the 366 stairs to the top, but because of the cloudy skies, we didn't get expansive views of the city. It was still worth the climb, though, as we were able to see and hear the bells. There are 47 bells in the tower and the tune that they play changes every two years. In Medieval Times, the bells were used to indicate the top of the hour, the half hour, and they could also indicate if there was a fire, accident, etc. that the townspeople needed to be aware of. The bells weigh a total of nearly thirty tons!
We did a bit more window shopping, but decided no to buy any lace, which the city is known for. Supposedly, people still send their children to Bruges to learn to make lace in the summer, but years ago, it was a driving industry in the city. People came from all over the world to Bruges markets to get the best goods, including lace. Bruges was the largest and most important city in Europe for many years until a huge storm shut down the river to the North Sea. So much sand accumulated, that they were unable to reopen the main ports and the markets moved to Brussels. The only people left in Bruges were too poor to move or too rich care, so the rich women would buy the lace from the poor women for just enough money to keep them alive. Then, the rich women's husbands would take the lace and sell it on business trips for lots of money. Still today, there are lace shops on every street selling everything from placemats to clothing.
We wandered onto the patio of a pub and sat down for a beer. A very nice couple next to us began talking to us. Their English was not perfect, and I'm sure a few things were lost in translation, but it was wonderful to get another perspective on Belgium. It was very clear that Rebecca and Emmanuel were very proud of their country's beer and recommended some of their favorites.
We headed to dinner at Restaurant Sint Barbe, where we had some more traditional Flemish cuisine. I had a fish stew with salmon, sole, and mussels. Jeremy had squash soup and rabbit with, of course, french fries. The restaurant required reservations, but we got there as they were opening and allowed us to sit down. It was unusual and delicious. I wouldn't order rabbit myself, but it wasn't terrible. It was a dark, gamey meat and the sauce was sort of sweet. The squash soup was delicious, and my stew was perfectly cooked. We walked back to the B&B very slowly as we knew it would be our last night views of the beautiful city.
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