Beautiful Brugges!

Day 1

Back on the road again – a whole 47km towards Brugges. We checked in at Camping Memling on the eastern side of the city and only 3k’s away.

After doing the washing and having some lunch we were able to head into the city by bus.

Brugges, another beautiful little city filled with al things typically Belgian – chocolate, beer, waffles and lace. WE had head it would be busy but we found it not too bad.

We arrived in the centre – once again the Grote Markt (city market) in which was the city’s famous Bellfort or bell tower, which incessantly plays musical tunes on its bells.

The famous bell tower

More of the Grote markt

Next we went in search o the Basilek of the Holy Blood where a few drops of Christs coagulated blood are kept under guard 24/7. Finding what you would think would be a fairly well visited church was a another challenge all together. Eventually after several wrong turns we found it built into the border buildings of the Burg Square. It was well worth it as the day and time we visited the sacred relic was available for viewing so we could get up on the side alter and lay our hands on the vile holding the drops of Christ’s blood (well almost, it was covered by a little Perspex screen well polished by the priest guard between every pilgrim – some people kissed it – ewww germy).

The entrance (just in case you are ever looking for it)

The guardian priest with his precious relic

Finishing here much earlier than we anticipated, (it was only a tiny church with not much to it) we had time to visit another Brugges treasure – Chocco Story, the museum of Chocolate. Although we thought this would be the same as the German one in Cologne it was much different also telling the story of chocolate in Europe – first as a drink of the rich and famous and then moving to solid form and also told us why Belgium is so famous for doing chocolate well. The Belgians being the first ones to invent chocolate moulds, filled chocolates or pralines and pretty much perfecting the whole chocolate making and boxing process. They have also ben involved in several studies showing the health benefits of chocolate – mood enhancers for depression (due to serotonin and endorphin release) and vasodilator assisting with management of heart disease, blood pressure and migraines. All in all we got the message – KEEP EATING CHOCOLATE! We then got to watch a chocolate praline making demo and then of course got to taste the end result – YUMMO!

This was a giant egg made of real chocolate!

Picking the cocoa beans

Ahhh the return of the manekin pis

A chocolate Barack Obama

The end product of all our labours

After all of this chocolate we wanted MORE and went in search of a bargain chocolatier. We ended up getting 5boxes for 10€ to eat for the rest of our trip (or as long as they last).

Some of the options we had to choose from
(Sorry fathers and friends - no chocolate boobies for you)

We settled on a more sedate 5 boxes of choccies

Still not satisfied it was more waffles – delicious.

Hey there was fruit on them we're not THAT unhealthy :)

Now full we headed back for a light dinner and bed.

Day 2

Back in Brugges again, to the Halve Maan brewery – the only Belgian brewery still brewing beer inside the city of Brugges.

A traditional Belgian Brew

We had a guided tour of both the modern brewing plant and the old brewing plant where beer was cooled by wind on large copper rooves and fermentation and maturing vats were cleaned by young boys (they were the only ones who were small enough to fit inside) who often emerged drunk form the alcohol fumes. After the tour we were rewarded with one of the beers – The Brugse Zot, and sat with a fellow Aussie and 2 Hawaiian-Italians for some company.

Tasting the malt

A cutaway of the fermentation tank

The view from the brewery rooftop

Beer drinking done we made our way back into the centre of the city for some traditional Belgian lunch cuisine. Dave opting for rabbit done Flemish style (cooked in a dark beer stew) and me opting for a chicken watersooi (a creamy chicken stew). Both were delicious and topped off the day in Brugges.

Making our way back toward the campground and just when we were thinking the city could offer no better we stumbled upon a cheese festival! 100’s of cheeses all in one place for us to try – soft cheeses, hard cheeses and ones with yummy fillings – pestos and herbs. Luckily they were only giving out tiny samples or we might ot have fitted back onto the bus on the way home.

CHEEEEESE!

Massive cheese chopping knife

Once again we made it back to the campground just before a storm hit, we managed to find a cosy spot in the annex of the Page’s (a Aussie family on a 9month tour of Europe) annex. We sat chatting, drinking beers and eating choccys with what turned out to be a group of Australians all congregating at one caravan park and nearly all right next door to each other – what are the chances?

A great night was had thanks to Ray, Daphne and family (our hosts) as well as the other Aussies Sandy and Don and Margaret and Terry.

Ghent

We were planning on staying for 2 days in Brussels, however having covered what we wanted alreadya we had a free day to spend on the way towards Brugges in the city of Ghent.

As a smaller city we were able to drive in and find a park close to the centre to make it easy for us to explore.

The lovely city of Ghent

Ghent was a beautiful little city/town on the River Leie. We made our way to the town centre to go into the Baafskathedral where one of the earliest known oil paintings is displayed – the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb.

Random wedding pic

The cathedral

From here we headed to St Michielsbrug (St Michael’s Bridge) which gave us a great view of the city’s buildings as well as the cafes and restaurants along the river.

Posing on St Michael's bridge

The bridge's guardian

Next it was off in search of 2 of the city’s famed eateries. 1^st was Slagerij Hooiard – a butcher shop come deli and sandwich shop which sells baguettes stuffec with meat for 1€.

On the lookout for out food places

Oh look - Dave's found it!

2^nd was our favourite, the Frituur which has been in the marketplace selling chips since 1898. Chips with Aioli or “looksauce” – YUM!

And the frits too!

And more Belgian delights - hanging hams and...

Oh wait this ones not Belgian... So this is where the Great Australian Icecreamery went to.

On our way back along the river we literally ran into the Gravensteen, the city’s castle right in the centre!

The Gravensteen aka the Castle

Strolling through the castle wall

Back on the river we found a spot for some people watching, relaxing and beer appreciation – cherry beer for me and Augustijn for Dave. Even better was the fact that the city was a free wifi hotspot so I managed to post a blog while there – BONUS.

Me and my Cherry Beer

Great spot for a brew

...and watch the locals go past in their home made bathtub boat

Goodbye Ghen (and goodbye locals in your bathtub)

We were certainly glad we had made the pitstop in this lesser known city and would definitely come back again!

We drove out of town to Blaarmeesen, the sports centre to find our campground right within its grounds.

Brussels – the Muscles of Belgium

We pulled into camping Grimbergen our next stop, and were met by a grumpy Belgian who nearly sent us packing as he thought we were camping in a tent and didn’t want his grass to get ruined. Dave convinced him we would be harmless to his grass and we settled in for the night with some of our 1€60 for a 6 pack of 0.5L beers – what a bargain for 3L of beer!

The next day we travelled in to Belgium’s capital by bus. Apparently the only city in Belgium that straddles the French/Dutch fusion line. We arrived in the north of the city and began walking to the centre, on the way stopping at a handy Maccas for some wifi calls home – Happy Bday Carol and Louise!

Brussells - home of pissing boys and...

...CHOCOLATE SHOPS!

We continued on, heading to the heart of the city – the Grote Markt (Grand Marketplace). The beautiful guild halls (halls of the merchant guilds) around its perimeter were truly breathtaking, it was just a pity about the odd urine odours we got on our way there.

Grote Markt of Brussells

Next stop was lunch – pitas in the Rue du Marche aux Fromages + beers as accompaniments (Leffe blonde and Duvel).

After refuelling the sightseeing continued with a visit to the Mannekin Pis fountain – the famous Brussels fountain of a little boy peeing. Interestingly enough it was a lot smaller than we had anticipated... the fountain not the...

Tiny statue that all the fuss is about

The fountain was right in the corner of the Rue del ‘Etuve a colourful street bursting at the seams with chocolate and waffle shops – very Belgian. We gave into temptation having waffles with banana, strawberry and dark chocolate from the Leonaidas chocolate shop. As a side note Leonaidas was one of the chocolatiers involved in the first pralines (Newhaus were actually the creator of the first ever praline), his version covered in white chocolate. He was also one of the first to open a street store, paving the way for the 100’s of shops you see on the streets today – good man!

The famous shopping arcade

Belgium Beers and...

Chocolate

Lots and lots of chocolate!

Not sure of the actual refined way to eat these - but they were just so delicious that this is how I decided to eat it!

Continuing walking we found the Rue de Bouchers, the city’s famous dining street with surprisingly wasn’t that expensive – we had been warned not to eat there, bum steer from Lonely Planet, it looked great.

This being one of the largest cities we had walked around we had pretty sore feet by now and began to head back to the bus station. On the way we headed back through the market and found them setting up for a beer festival in the square which unfortunately wouldn’t start until the following afternoon – so we missed out.

Setting up for the beer festival

Some of the local produce
 (we later found out that in Belgium Stella is considered an old man's beer and this is why it is so cheap - they really suckered us poor idiots back home in)

We made our way back home sweet home to watch a movie.