I arrived at Antwerpen at night. This time I did write down the directions to my hotel, Etap, a budget hotel for poor students like me, but once again I over-walked. The Centraal Station was, what are the odds, under construction so walking was a little bit scary. The next day I got up early in the morning, headed to the Station, bought the ticket by a combination of hand-gesturing and foreign-word-guessing. About one hour later, I was biking in Brugge. However, it turned out that biking was unnecessary for me. Like I said, most European cities were not up to my walking ability. So what would happen if I had a bike? You guessed it: I was out of map in no time.
With a medieval street plan, the city was centered at two open spaces: Markt (Market) and Burg. I reached the Markt first and there was the richly ornamented Provisional Court. But that's just the center part of the building. Over the years, they added the left and right parts. I couldn't remember what the left part was for but the right part was the post office, where I sent my postcard.
By the way, I have a travel habit of sending home postcards with local greetings. Belgium, in case you haven't known, is offically trilingual: Flemish/Dutch, French and German. So I wrote "Greetings from Brugge" in three languages on my postcard, to be politically correct.
The Markt was surrounded by gorgeous buildings with stunning façades, typical of Flemish architecture. You would keep seeing these types of façades in Antwerpen and Bruxelles, too.
Although Brugge does have museums worth visiting, many of them close on Monday. (By the way, as a highly organized traveler, I always check the opening time of the places I am going to visit in order to avoid situations of finding out they are closed until I arrive, which I have repeatedly seen other travelers were wasting their time doing on this trip.) Unfortunately I could not schedule my Brugge day trip on another day so my plan was to skip museums, also for the sake of saving time. But the Belfort, the highest building in the city, was still open for €5. I hesitated for a while but went in anyway. Turned out it was totally worth it.
The building looked like a castle plus a bell tower. In fact, that was a pretty accurate description of it. When you climbed it, you went through a narrow spiral stairs, first made of stone then wood, barely enough for one person.
The climbing part was longer than I thought but still manageable. You got to stop once at the middle of the tower, where they used to put their (medieval) arms. Then you reached the bell tower with a huge set of metal gears. The reward of this physical exercise was magnificent: a panoramic view of the whole city. It was very exciting. I took my time there, enjoying the beautiful views and cool breezes.
I didn't realize I accidentally picked a good time to climb the tower so that I could hear and see the clock working at 15.00. The bell was so loud that I had to cover my ears, like a child. After it finished, I went downstairs. It took a long time getting out, too, which reminded me how high the tower was.
In the map, Burg was just around the corner of the Markt but it took me a while to figure it out because when you were in Markt, you might thought that was the best the city had to offer because you couldn't see the Burg from there. But through a small street, you reached another square featuring yet another group of stunning buildings, among which the most prominent was the Town Hall. The center part was the Gothic Hall, whose exterior designs were usually expected from a church. Flemish Gothic churches had a lot of statues of Saints and Kings, standing under their own little roofs. You would see this type of exterior decorations on real churches in Antwerpen and Bruxelles.
This was the left part of the Town Hall. Not sure what it was for. But the gold and white color combination was a nice change from the black or grey used in other buildings. The gate on the right corner lead to a scenic bridge.
The Coat of Arm of Brugge could be found all over the city, which reminded us that Brugge used to be a self-governed, independent city. It was kind of cute to put a bear on the right side, I thought. If you look closer on the Gothic Hall, you would find coats of arms for many other Flemish cities as well, suggesting that the Gothic Hall might have been a meeting place for all those cities. By the way, Flanders was a historical region corresponding to parts of modern day France, Belgium and Netherlands.
Though the doorway I mentioned above, you would come to a bridge overseeing a large area of the canal. This was it, the most photographed place in Brugge. Being a good tourist, I did what I was supposed to do, along with tons of people on the bridge.
There were a lot of churches in this rather small town. The most famous was the Chapel of the Holy Blood, where relic of the Holy Blood of the Christ were kept. Each year on certain day, they would hold a huge celebration where the Holy Blood would march around the town. The entrance of the chapel was just on the right of the Gothic Hall and the interior was beautifully ornamented, suggesting its financial well-being.
The biggest church, however, was the Onthaalkerk O.L.-Vrouw (Church of Our Lady), nicknamed "O.L.V." Not only was it the main place of worship for the people of Brugge, it housed a statue of "Madonna with Child" by Michelangelo, one of the few of his works kept outside Italy. This marked the beginning of my "Michelangelo discovery journey".
The O.L.V. stood in a tight neighborhood, without a open space in front as it was usually the case for big churches. So I couldn't even get a satisfactory picture of it from outside because I couldn't find a place. But I was inside the O.L.V. at a good time to capture some divine lights.
There was a story about the swans in Brugge, which I learned later from a dinner menu. It said that Brugge people somehow rioted against a long-necked emperor-appointed official for his bad deeds only to be punished to keep long-necked animals in their city. They made a wise decision to choose the swans, white and grey, only to boost their tourism hundreds of years later.
I walked around, sometimes outside the tourist area because of, once again, over-walking. I was tempted to go on a canal cruise but decided not to. Just watching was pleasant enough.
Comparing to the cities I would visit later on my trip, Brugge was a well-kept secret gem. In fact, many of the other cities would have been much more enjoyable if there weren't so many tourists. So I didn't realize at that time how precious it was to enjoy some quite moments in a picturesque medieval town.
I liked Brugge very much, not only as a place to visit, but also a place to live. Because its small town feel reminded me the place where I grew up. Similar to the fact that the only food I wouldn't get tired of was the kind I was raised with.
I did not know what the Begijnhof was until I came here. It was a monastery so the house were extremely simple. I even stopped by the church, where the sisters were singing hymns.
I had dinner at the Maximiliaan van Oostenrijk, a nice restaurant at a great location just near the "swan lake". I had a nice Belgian beer with a surprisingly good seafood salad. It was definitely the best dining experience so far on the trip.
By the way, the map of Brugge was the only map I paid for on this trip but it was a very nice one and definitely worth your €0,50. Get it from the tourist office.
With a medieval street plan, the city was centered at two open spaces: Markt (Market) and Burg. I reached the Markt first and there was the richly ornamented Provisional Court. But that's just the center part of the building. Over the years, they added the left and right parts. I couldn't remember what the left part was for but the right part was the post office, where I sent my postcard.
By the way, I have a travel habit of sending home postcards with local greetings. Belgium, in case you haven't known, is offically trilingual: Flemish/Dutch, French and German. So I wrote "Greetings from Brugge" in three languages on my postcard, to be politically correct.
The Markt was surrounded by gorgeous buildings with stunning façades, typical of Flemish architecture. You would keep seeing these types of façades in Antwerpen and Bruxelles, too.
Although Brugge does have museums worth visiting, many of them close on Monday. (By the way, as a highly organized traveler, I always check the opening time of the places I am going to visit in order to avoid situations of finding out they are closed until I arrive, which I have repeatedly seen other travelers were wasting their time doing on this trip.) Unfortunately I could not schedule my Brugge day trip on another day so my plan was to skip museums, also for the sake of saving time. But the Belfort, the highest building in the city, was still open for €5. I hesitated for a while but went in anyway. Turned out it was totally worth it.
The building looked like a castle plus a bell tower. In fact, that was a pretty accurate description of it. When you climbed it, you went through a narrow spiral stairs, first made of stone then wood, barely enough for one person.
The climbing part was longer than I thought but still manageable. You got to stop once at the middle of the tower, where they used to put their (medieval) arms. Then you reached the bell tower with a huge set of metal gears. The reward of this physical exercise was magnificent: a panoramic view of the whole city. It was very exciting. I took my time there, enjoying the beautiful views and cool breezes.
I didn't realize I accidentally picked a good time to climb the tower so that I could hear and see the clock working at 15.00. The bell was so loud that I had to cover my ears, like a child. After it finished, I went downstairs. It took a long time getting out, too, which reminded me how high the tower was.
In the map, Burg was just around the corner of the Markt but it took me a while to figure it out because when you were in Markt, you might thought that was the best the city had to offer because you couldn't see the Burg from there. But through a small street, you reached another square featuring yet another group of stunning buildings, among which the most prominent was the Town Hall. The center part was the Gothic Hall, whose exterior designs were usually expected from a church. Flemish Gothic churches had a lot of statues of Saints and Kings, standing under their own little roofs. You would see this type of exterior decorations on real churches in Antwerpen and Bruxelles.
This was the left part of the Town Hall. Not sure what it was for. But the gold and white color combination was a nice change from the black or grey used in other buildings. The gate on the right corner lead to a scenic bridge.
The Coat of Arm of Brugge could be found all over the city, which reminded us that Brugge used to be a self-governed, independent city. It was kind of cute to put a bear on the right side, I thought. If you look closer on the Gothic Hall, you would find coats of arms for many other Flemish cities as well, suggesting that the Gothic Hall might have been a meeting place for all those cities. By the way, Flanders was a historical region corresponding to parts of modern day France, Belgium and Netherlands.
Though the doorway I mentioned above, you would come to a bridge overseeing a large area of the canal. This was it, the most photographed place in Brugge. Being a good tourist, I did what I was supposed to do, along with tons of people on the bridge.
There were a lot of churches in this rather small town. The most famous was the Chapel of the Holy Blood, where relic of the Holy Blood of the Christ were kept. Each year on certain day, they would hold a huge celebration where the Holy Blood would march around the town. The entrance of the chapel was just on the right of the Gothic Hall and the interior was beautifully ornamented, suggesting its financial well-being.
The biggest church, however, was the Onthaalkerk O.L.-Vrouw (Church of Our Lady), nicknamed "O.L.V." Not only was it the main place of worship for the people of Brugge, it housed a statue of "Madonna with Child" by Michelangelo, one of the few of his works kept outside Italy. This marked the beginning of my "Michelangelo discovery journey".
The O.L.V. stood in a tight neighborhood, without a open space in front as it was usually the case for big churches. So I couldn't even get a satisfactory picture of it from outside because I couldn't find a place. But I was inside the O.L.V. at a good time to capture some divine lights.
There was a story about the swans in Brugge, which I learned later from a dinner menu. It said that Brugge people somehow rioted against a long-necked emperor-appointed official for his bad deeds only to be punished to keep long-necked animals in their city. They made a wise decision to choose the swans, white and grey, only to boost their tourism hundreds of years later.
I walked around, sometimes outside the tourist area because of, once again, over-walking. I was tempted to go on a canal cruise but decided not to. Just watching was pleasant enough.
Comparing to the cities I would visit later on my trip, Brugge was a well-kept secret gem. In fact, many of the other cities would have been much more enjoyable if there weren't so many tourists. So I didn't realize at that time how precious it was to enjoy some quite moments in a picturesque medieval town.
I liked Brugge very much, not only as a place to visit, but also a place to live. Because its small town feel reminded me the place where I grew up. Similar to the fact that the only food I wouldn't get tired of was the kind I was raised with.
I did not know what the Begijnhof was until I came here. It was a monastery so the house were extremely simple. I even stopped by the church, where the sisters were singing hymns.
I had dinner at the Maximiliaan van Oostenrijk, a nice restaurant at a great location just near the "swan lake". I had a nice Belgian beer with a surprisingly good seafood salad. It was definitely the best dining experience so far on the trip.
By the way, the map of Brugge was the only map I paid for on this trip but it was a very nice one and definitely worth your €0,50. Get it from the tourist office.
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