Bruges, Belgium

Stop #2 on our quick European tour was Bruges, Belgium. Bruges is considered to be the Venice of the North, and historically, was one of the most powerful and busiest cities in Europe, due to the large ports that used to connect the city to the sea. Bruges did immediately remind me of Venice, with its cobblestone streets, scarcity of vehicles, and tons of canals everywhere you look, kind of creating this surreal feeling of perpetual confusion as to where you actually are, but at the same time, producing an environment so pleasing and relaxing that you really don’t care that you’re lost. Most of the local people here in Bruges ride their bikes everywhere, especially since the city is so small that you can virtually get from any one place to another within 10 minutes on a bike, not having to worry about finding a parking place. Unlike Amsterdam, Bruges seems much more bike-friendly, as there are no confusing bike lane lines running all over the streets, there is very little vehicle traffic, and trams are not constantly trying to run you over from several different directions at once.

Sitting in the Market Square, drinking our first Belgian beer in Belgium, we watched local kids race around the giant statues in the square on their bikes, narrowly missing tourists and grinning with delight. The noise and constant movement of Amsterdam seems very far away from the casual, serene atmosphere we found here.
We met a very friendly couple who offered us a place to stay, and then also gave us a quick tour of the city. We were able to see a few places that tourists typically don’t get to see, which was really cool. After our quick little tour, we sat down with them in a local pub and sampled our first Belgian beer and pub experience. The variety of beer here is truly astounding, and as someone who does not know a lot about beer in the first place, I was a little overwhelmed. Luckily, the locals helped offer their advice to us whenever they could.

Our second day in Bruges was filled with a little more sightseeing, but at a very relaxing pace. Bruges is small enough that you can just saunter through the streets, not racing around to see every little museum and church that is on the tourist walk. Our first stop was the Chapel of the Holy Blood, where some blood from the second Crusade was brought back and is kept in a chalice behind one of the altars in this church. The church itself is very beautiful, and although it no not a huge church, I found it to be among the finest churches I have seen. Below the chapel is another little basilica, carved into stone walls. It is a dark, older chapel in the ground, but was very nice and reminded me a lot of the underground chapel in the hospital in Sienna, Italy—probably my favorite church I’ve seen, period. The simplicity of it is the most impressive thing I think. There are no fancy paintings or stained glass windows. There is a silence there, but also something powerful that cannot be explained. It is hard to describe, but it is one of those things that you can only feel, but not put into words.

After the Chapel of the Holy Blood, we visited the Church of Our Lady, the largest brick building in the world. It is a huge church, with the centerpiece being a sculpture by Michelangelo, the Madonna with Child. It is one of Michelangelo’s few pieces that can be found outside of Italy. Like everything of Michelangelo’s that I’ve seen, this was incredibly impressive and another example of just what a genius the man really was. The church itself was also amazing, probably ranking as one of my favorites as well. After trying to experience a little more of Belgium through an authentic hot chocolate and chocolate Belgian waffle (that was a little too much chocolate in one meal for me, but absolutely delicious), we took a canal ride through Bruges. It was very relaxing and provided us with a different perspective of the city. We also visited a few windmills, bought some food at a market and had a picnic in a small square, and bought two big blocks of chocolate at the Chocolate Line store, rated as one, if not the best, chocolate stores in the world. However, because we bought this chocolate in blocks because it is cheaper that way, we had forgotten that we had nothing to cut them with, finally resorting to smashing the bag against the ground numerous times to try to break the block into pieces. As you can imagine, our success varied.

Later in the day, we met Lies, a really cute, friendly girl who grew up in Bruges and works as a psychoanalytical nurse. We spent the night drinking champagne, beer, and red wine (I know, quite the combination) and talking about random topics. It was a lot of fun and another good opportunity to hear about what life is like in Bruges. I hope she wasn't trying to get into my head too much. If so, she might need to drink a little more!
The best part about Bruges, besides spending the time with the friendly people we met, was just getting lost in the maze of cobblestone streets that is Bruges. In that way, it was exactly like Venice. I would love to return to Bruges a little later in life, when I have a little more money to spend (hopefully that time will come one day), and sample the fantastic cuisine and more of the mouthwatering chocolate that really sets Bruges apart from most places. Until that time comes, I will have a lot of fond memories of this place to keep me company.