Brugge: Semi-Wordless

Posted by Lauren

The earlier #roadtoLondon posts:

- Amsterdam: Beginnings
- Amsterdam: Continuation
- Amsterdam: Extended
- Brussels: Beginning
- Brussels: Continuation
- Brussels: Extended

Brugge really is a romantic city. It has medieval architecture, cobbled streets, winding canals, windmills, and remnants of the wall that used to protect the city. I’m going to keep this post relatively wordless, but I must hit on one point:

Our airbnb experience made this trip. Take, for example, our adorable room:

Add on to the pristine accommodations the fact that Rudi (Mr. Airbnb) is a baker. When we arrived, Nicole (Mrs. Airbnb) gave us fresh “leftover” pastries from her husband’s morning shift. We ate those for lunch. Each subsequent day, there were enough pastries to pack for lunches. Delicious!!! And economical!

And Nicole (Mrs. Airbnb) hosted us for breakfast with koffie/tea, orange juice, a sliced meat platter, more pastries and fresh rolls!

On the second morning, she baked us fancy bacon and cheese omellettes!

The best part about breakfast was the rich history and anecdotes Nicole told us….

She covered the history of Brugge, how it transformed from the economic capital of Europe to the tiny tourist city it is today, the past/present lace trade, details about Belgium’s current government, the French/Flemish dichotomy, what set old Brugge apart from other towns in Flanders (godshuizens (almshouses sponsored by the rich as a place for the poor to pray for them), begijnhof (community for widowed women who could not lawfully live alone), the belfry (366 steps to the top; building housed the treasury), etc)…. and SO much more! Like, the best chocolate shops – The Chocolate Line!

Ask me about it and I’ll tell you more when we get back ;) Really though, we gained about 3 hours of knowledge!

Picture time!

Another brewery! De Haalve Maan aka Brouwerij van de Brugse Straffe Hendrik

Oldest pub in Brugge: Cafe Vlissinghe. It’s been around since 1515!

I ordered a Hoegaarden Rosée – holy moly. In LOVE. I don’t care what beer snobs say on the Internetz, it wasn’t too sugary it was perfect and refreshing.

That night we ate on the north side of town (free of tourists!) at an authentic tavern right next to our airbnb.

I’ll go into more details in a subsequent post though, how’s that sound? A little bouillabaisse teaser:

After dinner, we picked up two scoops of gelato (each ;) of course) at a place called Da Vinci’s.

We watched the market square transform from day to night…

And then walked back home…

We woke up early the next morning, ran 4.5 miles around the edges of the walled city, and then joined Nicole for the amazing breakfast I mentioned earlier.

Canal tour!

More wandering… Bed… Wake up… Awesome breakfast… More wandering… Lunch at the bus stop… Drive through countryside and cross over to the UK…

And now we are in London!!

Too much to recap. It might have to wait until we get back!!

-Lauren