Exploring Brugge

We explored Brugge today, largely by foot. Our hotel was near Market Square and we started the day’s exploration there. The markets were in full swing, unlike yesterday evening when the place was rather quiet.

We got some fruits and continued our walk admiring the Belfort (belfry) and the buildings around the square. At Burg square nearby, we visited the Basilica of the Holy Blood, which was located upstairs in an obscure corner. It was a very richly decorated church.

Brugge wouldn’t be complete without a boat ride around its canals. So we did a 30 minute water-borne tour for about EUR7 per person.

At the fish market we saw lots of scampi and prawns being sold. It seemed a bit messy to eat. Then we saw a seafood restaurant that had takeaway boxes with fish, sseafood and salad. It was exactly what we wanted. The item we had reservations about in the box was the rolled-up pickled fish and that turned out to be delicious too.

After a rest in the hotel room, we explored some more, taking in St Saviour’s Cathedral and Begijnhof. The latter are the residences of begijn (somewhat like nuns but for a limited time; perhaps like Thai monks). Then came the long walk around the south and east of the former city wall along the cycle track, to get to the windmills in the north-east. We saw a couple of the windmills and decided we didn’t need to see the rest of them. That was quite enough of sightseeing for one day.

Brugge is indeed beautiful but touristy. I know some people avoid highly touristed areas and want to explore the uncharted. But there is a reason some areas are touristy, and that’s because it is beautiful. I know the experience may not be as deep as, say, going to Papua. And that is reflected in my blog; you’ll find that the posts from around Europe may be more superficial and just goes through the motions of what we had done each day.