Ruislip & Eastcote & Northwood Gazette
BRUGES OFFERS A SERIES OF NEVER-ENDING DELIGHTS FROM ANCIENT TO MODERN
BRUGES reels you in with its unique sights, smells and a soundtrack that rolls back the centuries.
Around every corner, it seems, is another medieval architectural wonder or row of quaint shops, while the glockenspiel and bells that sound in the central Market Square are punctuated by the clip-clopping of horse-drawn carriages.
Chocolatiers abound. Lace shops, too. Then there’s the Bottle Shop with its stock of a mere 900 (count ‘em) Belgian beers. The owners assured us they’d tried them all as part of their selection process. – tough work but someone has to do it. Some 2,300 hadn’t made the cut – but may yet do so.
Our hotel, Martin’s, in Oude Berg, was modern, clean and comfortable, with staff eager to please to the point of rustling up coffees even when the bar/restaurant was closed. And our room came with an unexpected bonus: more than a glimpse of Bruges’ bell tower, famed from the film In Bruges.
To get a handy feel of Bruges’ past, the Historium, on the main square, offers an hour-long audiovisual tour of the town in 1435, guided by young Jacob, a lovestruck apprentice to the painter Jan van Eyck.
The city dates back to Roman times and was a trading port linked by tidal channels to the North Sea. Around 1340, the inner part of the town housed 35,000 citizens – more than now. It has since made its fortune from tourism, a trend that began in the latter 19th century, with Brits high on the list of visitors.
Our break began in Hull with the crossing to Zeebrugge on the Pride of Bruges – less a ferry, more a small ship. We got there three hours early, and spent much of the crossing relaxing in our cabin, in the bar and enjoying a meal.