so i just got back from a wonderful trip to japan and i can’t wait to share photos from that trip!  but in the meantime, let’s flash back to last summer’s backpacking trip.  i shared photos from the first leg of our trip, brussels, here and here.  after brussels, we made the short trip over to bruges [the “s” in “bruges” is silent, in case you were wondering…and the “e” is kind of silent too.  it ends with that soft “j” sound].  bruges was a small town compared to the rest of the cities we were visiting, and i heard somewhat mixed reviews on it, but my grandmother had loved it and i’d seen her photos, so we decided, why not?

we only spent one night there, but it was great and i’m glad we did it.  bruges is such a fairytale town!  like brussels, it felt so medieval, with a beautiful town square and horse-drawn carriages and lots of buildings that looked like castles and cobblestone streets and canals and beautiful old churches.  you can pretty much see the city in a day or two, so staying one night was the perfect amount of time.  we walked around the little shops and toured the de halve maan brewery, one of two breweries in the city [the other brewery has only been around for a few years, but de halve maan was started in 1856].  the crazy thing is that bruges once had over 54 breweries within its fortified walls – in the 15th century, when the city was at its most powerful.  after WWI, the large-scale-production breweries took over and put an end to the small breweries.  we had been on two brewery tours thus far on our trip, and we had already realized that european brewery tours are much more robust in terms of learning about the beer, the brewing process, etc. than any brewery tour we’d been on in america, which we really liked.  and we still got to drink a substantial amount of good beer, too. :)  anyway, we’re glad we did that and we’re also glad we made the side trip to bruges because we loved its quaint charm.

{we stayed at hostel lybeer bruges.  it was very nice and in a good location.}

{we each got our own bunk bed!  we were happy to have another private room, but we did have a community-style bathroom.}

{the view from our room}

{the hostel also had this cool rooftop terrace.  unfortunately our trip was so short that we didn’t really have a chance to spend any time up there.}

{the town of bruges!}

{just your average-looking mcdonald’s…} ;)

{the markt, or market square}

{the belfry, or bell tower, built in 1240 [although a large part of it was rebuilt after a fire].}

{yep, the town squares in belgium are officially GLORIOUS.}

{this.}

{we got a picture in front of the horse-drawn carriage!}

{one more of the belfry…}

{…aaaand one more in front of this beautiful white building because i love it so.}

{bruges is a city known for its beautiful lace.  we went to a cute little store and saw the traditional way that lace is made, pictured above.  the store was actually going out of business, and we were able to get the grandmothers handmade lace handkerchiefs for a very good price, but the lady at the store told us that no one appreciated the handmade lace items anymore and that’s why they were going out of business.  it was so sad to me!  i think it’s a beautiful craft.}

{bruges was a very expensive place to eat – there are actually a lot of michelin-star-winning restaurants, especially for as small as the town is.  but we had a whole long trip ahead of us and weren’t looking to drop a whole bunch of money, so we found the place on the left, which was a little off the beaten path but turned out to be a nice place for lunch and was a little less expensive.  mike had a croque monsieur with a fried egg and i had a goat cheese panini.  and then, several hours later after the brewery tour, we shared those fries with a ridiculously large dollop of mayo.  we wanted to try that combo, and it was surprisingly good.}

 

{canals in any city are beautiful, and then add castle-like buildings…and it feels like something straight out of a disney movie.}

{in fairytale land.}

{the beguinage of bruges, a monastery of sorts for the benedictine sisters who still live there today.  but the difference between a benguinage and a true monastery is that these nuns do not have to retire from the world and are not confined to the monastery, and they can leave the order to get married [but cannot return to be a nun again].}

{a pretty view from the rooftop of the brewery!}

{the funniest thing that happened at the brewery was that we ran into our friends that we’d met at the cantillon brewery in brussels – eric and jessica from austin, the ones who were on their honeymoon!  such a hilarious coincidence – we hadn’t even known that they were coming to bruges!  so we sat with them again while we drank our beers.} :)

{canals and swans!}

{everything was so picturesque…}

{we went back to the hostel to take showers and then decided to get some dinner around 8, and already things were starting to die down in the town.  the pub we ate at was crowded, but they forgot about us so we didn’t get our food for over an hour after we ordered.  they did give us free drinks on the house though! [and i had that arend double in the picture, made by de ryck brewery, which was really cool because arend is the first name of my great-grandfather and my cousin, and it’s a very uncommon name in the U.S.].  anyway, by the time we were finished eating, it was around 10:30 and we were basically shutting the place down.  the city was completely dead at that hour, so we just headed back to our hostel.  we were leaving early in the morning anyway.  i understand now about why there were mixed reviews on bruges – it’s not a good place for nightlife if that’s what you’re looking for, but it IS a beautiful city with lots of character and we’re so happy we went.}

more photos of this lovely city [from my nikon] will be posted next, and then onto amsterdam we go!  xoxo