Beautiful Bruges

by Rosemary

Bruges is the most picturesque city we have visited. A rich trading center from the 11th century until the harbor silted up in the 1500s, the city was once inhabited by the Dukes of Burgundy and hosted some major artists. When its prosperous commerce came to an end, it languished for generations. Today it is a walkable, well-preserved Gothic city that thrives on tourism.

The bell tower on Market Square has been there since around 1300 (and made taller in 1486). There are 366 narrow, winding steps to the top. We didn't climb them. The 47-bell carillon plays automatically each quarter hour, and can be heard at quite a distance.

The Basilica of the Holy Blood is famous for its relic, a crystal tube that supposedly contains the blood of Jesus, brought from Jerusalem after the Second Crusade. The day we visited, there was a special ceremony going on, and believers were allowed to make a donation and pray with the relic.

The gold-trimmed Renaissance Hall was once the courthouse and now holds the city archives. It dates to the early 1700s, and is topped by a statue of Justice.

City Hall was built around 1400. Its facade is decorated with statues of saints, knights, and local bigwigs.

Narrow, medieval streets lead to mysterious destinations.

A fancy bridge crosses the alley near the spot where the city's south gate and moat once were.

This statue depicts Jan Breidel and Pieter de Coninc, heroes of a 1302 uprising against the French king.

All over town, it is important to look up, look sideways, and look around, to spot decorative features on the old buildings.

This dark patch was left on the wall to show what things looked like before centuries of grime were scrubbed from the city in the 1960s.

Horse and buggy tours make their way through town. We could hear the clop-clop of horseshoes on cobblestones as they approached, giving us plenty of warning to get out of the way.

The horses have their own drinking fountain.

We enjoyed a relaxing boat ride on the canals.

There are over 50 bridges in Bruges, most of them old and made of stone or brick. This one is a contemporary art installation by Jaroslaw Kozakiewicz. Unlike the others, it leads to a dead end.

Another modern art installation is this whale sculpture by StudioKCA, made from plastic trash collected on beaches.

Most of the art we saw in Bruges was more traditional. This marble "Madonna and Child" by Michelangelo sits in the Church of Our Lady. After the artist's "Pieta" in St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City, was attacked in 1972, this statue was placed behind bulletproof glass and a guard rail that keeps the public at a distance.

The former St. John's Hospital is now a museum with displays of medieval medicine, a shrine to St. Ursula, and a collection of paintings by Hans Memling, a German painter who became a leading artist in Bruges during the 1400s. His enormous altarpiece, a triptych called "The Mystical Marriage of St. Catherine," was dedicated to the patients here.

At the Groeninge Museum we saw works by a number of Belgian, Dutch, and Flemish painters. In "Death and the Miser" (c. 1515) by Jan Provoost, we see a merchant making a bad deal, getting some extra cash from Death and handing over an IOU for a few years of his life.

James Ensor's series on the seven deadly sins (1904) includes this portrayal of Pride.

A stroll in Minnewater Park was a pleasant way to end the afternoon.

And, of course, waffles.

Brussels: Hungry?

by Steve W

A short post about one of the aspects of Brussels.

After two weeks in Paris, with some great food, we found Brussels to have a few local specialties worth mentioning.

Chocolate: some of the world's finest chocolate comes from Belgium. Everywhere we went, we saw numerous chocolate shops of various brands, some of which are international and some of which are local. The first Godiva store opened in 1937 in the Grand Place, the main plaza in the center of town. Other chains, such as Neuhaus, Pierre Marcolino and Leonidas, also circle the Grand Place as well as the galleries (malls) and streets surrounding the Grand Place, sometimes with multiple stores of the same brand within a block of each other. There are also many stores of local chocolatiers, who offer high quality chocolate made in smaller batches.

There is even a chocolate factory with a chocolate covered elephant out front.

Belgian Frites: do NOT call them French fries! Almost every dish we ordered for lunch or dinner came with frites. What makes them unique is that they are fried twice and traditionally served with a mayonnaise based sauce instead of ketchup. To be honest, I didn't see them as all that special, although that didn't stop me from eating them.

Belgian beer: there are allegedly over 300 beers manufactured in Belgium. So many, in fact, that they have their own museum. And the name of one version caught my eye.

The name of this place says it all.

Lastly, Belgian waffles: I'll confess to not being a waffle enthusiast previously, but these are amazing. Light, fluffy, and covered with your choice of different toppings; fruits, chocolate sauce, Nutella, and whipped cream. There seem to be as many waffle shops as chocolate shops. You would see people walking the streets, eating them out of a small, handheld paper container, using a very small fork to try to cut off pieces with gooey toppings, as pictured below. More napkins, please!

Waffle with banana and chocolate sauce.

A replica of the Mannequin Pis outside The Waffle Factory

Picture of a man who has obviously had a waffle or two (or five)

Next up: Bruges.

A Short Stay In Brussels.

by Steve W

Leaving Paris behind, we took a short train ride to Brussels, the capital of Belgium. We could always tell when the train was passing a small village, as every one of them had a church steeple that could be seen from the train.

Sharing borders with France, Germany and The Netherlands, Belgium uniquely combines aspects of all of these cultures, especially in the languages spoken by its people. Signs are usually in more than one language, making it confusing for someone who doesn't speak or read any of the languages of these countries. Add Flemish, the native language of Belgium, to this mix and it's a wonder anyone understands anyone else.

Our hotel was just a couple of blocks from the Grand Place, the largest market square in the city (and one of the most beautiful in Europe). The site of buildings that go back to the late 17th century, including City Hall and the King's House, as well the headquarters of a number of guilds, the Grand Place is always crowed with tourists. It is lined with shops (many of them selling Belgian chocolate), restaurants and museums. These buildings are Gothic in style, with ornate columns, statues and gold-leaf covered decor, highlighting the splendor of days gone by.

Around the corner from the Grand Palce was the Place d'Espagne, featuring a statue of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza.

For some reason unknown to me, there is also a statue of Hungarian composer Bela Bartok in the same square.

What's he doing here?

A few blocks from the Grand Place is the Manneken-Pis, a statue of a small boy urinating into a fountain. First created in 1619, it is a symbol of the Belgian sense of humor. The statue is nude, but is often dressed in costume to celebrate a particular event. One source said that during European Prostate Cancer Awareness Day, the the flow of water slows down to a trickle.

Belgium has a long history of children's stories and cartoons, of which the most well known are Tintin and The Smurfs.

Outside the entrance to the Belgian Comic Strip Center

All Tintin, all the time.

Mural on a building.

As in all European cities, there are many old churches. St. Michael's Cathedral was built between 1200 and 1500. St. Nicolas' Church has been rebuilt several times due to battles fought in the area. And the gothic Notre-Dame du Sablon Church (below) retains some of its original stained glass windows.

The Museum District is home to many types of art collections. At the top of the hill overlooking the city is the Place Royale, with a statue of Godfrey de Bouillon, who led the first Crusade.

In this area are the Musical Instrument Museum, the Royal Museums of the Fine Arts of Belgium and a museum dedicated to the art of Rene Magritte and his followers.

The exterior of the Musical Instrument Museum

"The Natural Graces" by Magritte

"The Bad Doctors" by James Ensor

Near the museums is the Place de Petit Sablon, a small park that features a sculpture of two friends, one Catholic and one Protestant, who were beheaded for preaching tolerance during the inquisition.

As mentioned, this part of town overlooks the city below and offers some great views.

Although only in Brussels for a couple of days, we managed to squeeze in a lot of the key sights in the city and had a great time (for proof, see the upcoming post on food in Brussels).