Somewhere between the French and the Dutch is a place named Belgium. They speak Flemish (which is an offshoot of Dutch), French and English. The country is also a common place for international students from the US to spend a semester in. I was fortunate to spend a day in Brugge (not the movie) in September, 2008.
Brugge is about an hour south of the Dutch border. It takes a while to get there because of the low speed limits and round abouts (it’s ~60km away) on the road. There is no direct highway to get to Brugge when coming from the north. The city is quite large, and the center center is where it’s at if you want to walk around, shop, eat, or just relax.
The city center is often cordoned off to control traffic. I noticed similar things done in The Hague and Antwerp. My guess is it’s to control the number of cars in the area as during the weekends (when I was there) pedestrian traffic is very heavy. If you come in from the north, chances are you’ll park near this windmill and walk to the town center. Part of the city is cut off by a river, so getting around can take a VERY long time as the traffic is not very forgiving when there’s only one lane and 50 cars at the light. It’s a ~10-15 min walk from this windmill to the city center.
The walk to the city center is like any other walk through an old European town. Cobble stone roads, a handful of pubs, lots of people trying to sell crap to tourists (it’s common for people to have “garage sales” in front of his/her respective apartment building on the weekends), among other things. We passed a number of antique shops, one which was selling stamps from different African countries that I considered buying. It takes a while, but you’ll know once you reached the city center.
Once you get to the city center you’ll see it’s a zoo of people. souvenir shops, restaurants, chocolate shops, etc. French Fries are a big thing between the Dutch and Belgians, with the option of 10-15 different sauces. Horse drawn carriages to take people on tours, and no shortage of tourists to use them. The below three images are from the city center.
There’s almost too much to do if you only have one day in the city. Lots of museums and castles to visit, lots of food to try, and lots of sights to see. Overall, the people in Belgium are very friendly and English was widely available.
A favorite food in the US is a Belgium Waffle. It’s typically a breakfast food, but in Belgium, it’s an all purpose food (maybe just for tourists, but it was well worth it). The options of toppings are fairly extensive, and the results are simply outstanding. Don’t plan on this for dessert, it’s EXTREMELY filling. Aside from waffles, Belgium is also famous for chocolate, and that’s no stretch. I have no idea what they do, but something makes it simply delicious. Before heading down for the day from The Netherlands, I asked if anyone could recommend a chocolate shop, being new to Belgium. Someone told me (this is what I heard) “New House is the best.” So I set out to find New House.
Well, I didn’t quite get the spelling right, but I did find the store, and it was well worth the search. It’s a bit pricey (15 Euros for a small box), but the quality and flavor simply put it above the rest. It’s a pretty posh store, the fixtures and the store layout was much better than other chocolate shops. The lady inside was very helpful as I had no idea what I was selecting. I purchased chocolate from a number of other shops to get a variety, but by a long shot, Nehaus was the best.
A constant joke about both The Netherlands and Belgium is don’t spill any water because you might flood the country. While it’s a joke, one really sees where it comes from when you get there. Much of the seaboard, among other parts, of both countries were historically under water. Over time, a large intricate system of locks, dikes, canals, etc were put in place to create trading posts inland, connecting these places to the sea. This also provided access to land closer to the sea, which people settled on as the water levels were now controlled to a certain degree. When you get close to the water, you see some buildings are planted right in the water. Boat tours are a big thing all over both countries.
Belgium is a great place to visit. Nice people, great food, lots of sights among many other things.
Noted hostel costs: 10-35 Euros
Noted hotel costs: 50-200 Euros
Average meal costs: 8-20 Euros
All transport in the city done on foot
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