After our museum trip we made it into Belgium and to Bruges, however the weather was so bad we booked ourselves last minute into a basic triple room in a cheap hotel. The positive of this was we had wifi and plugs to charge everything! Luxury. We had a bit of trouble as when we got there the office was closed and under construction, however the long-suffering but kind builders directed us to the number to ring and how to get our key - I was impressed he spoke English, French and Flemish depending on the nationality of the panicking guest who came to ask him how to check in.
My scenery photos were from my first trip to Bruges with Yannick, Necia, Tessa and Christophe, and the weather at that time was still under a heat wave: beautiful and bloody hot. Our second trip the weather was not so amicable.
Although Bruges had a plethora of chocolate shops, they were all aimed at tourists and none of them ticked our fancy. Lonely planet suggested Brussels as the home of good chocolate, so we decided to wait and simply enjoy looking at the chocolate sculptures and fountains. These hyper realistic chocolate tools (with perhlas cocoa powder applied to resemble rust?) were my favourite.
The tower that was the centrepiece of Bruges and located in the main square was very impressive. Most things like this we enjoyed from the outside however, as they were all overpriced to enter.
The maze of waterways wending through the town were very picturesque and reminded me of the last time I was here when Shyla and I had a cheap canal ride with the depressed boatman.
There were some swans sailing peacefully down the canal at some points, looking so innocent from the biting hissing monsters I knew lurked just beneath the surface.
In Belgium pharmacies are called apotheeks which I thought was really cool. I kept expecting to see potion bottles and strange animal parts hung up in the windows but was continually disappointed.
Our one splash out for Bruges was to see the art gallery called Groeningmuseum which according to Christophe was rather impressive. It was actually quite macarb in places which was interesting. The creepy face in the background here drew your eye instantly.
This one was especially horrific although there were others of beheadings and other such unpleasantness this one of a man being flayed alive was pretty bad. I couldn't look at it for very long.
I thought this painting was so interesting to look at, as the woman drew her own shadow on the wall.
These guys reminded me of the Nazgul-ring wraiths- from Lord of the Rings. They also made me think of the Fates in Greek mythology, ready to cut your life string.
Lonely planet had suggested a little tapas bar in Bruges called Est Wijnbar which we found tucked away and we would never have seen on our own. Our waiter spoke excellent English, was attentive without hovering, and informed us that if we wanted to wait to begin dinner in twenty minutes, we could enjoy a drink and then have dinner over live music that was about to begin. Not only was the atmosphere lovely and the music great, but the food was also brilliant. I began my beer journey of Belgium here, with Zot the creepy jester. It was a lovey fruity beer reminded me of Leffe and I very much enjoyed it.
From here every chance I got I tried a Belgium beer, so expect many beer photos!
And then came the meal, and what a meal! Necia had ordered a meditarean salad (far right of the photo) and not only was it the biggest most impressive salad ive ever seen (none of that nothing but a pile of lettuce leaves leaving you still hungry business) it was also the nicest I'd ever tasted, full of feta and other good things. Yannick and I had a shared antipasto platter and it was easily the nicest I'd ever had, the Gouda was phenomenal, and they even had Manchego - one of my favourite Spanish cheeses! Yannick and Necia washed it down with lovely rosé. The moment we finished our bread bowl, another was instantly placed down in front of us (all included in the antipasto platter price) the service was impeccable.
No comments:
Post a Comment