Bruges: the perfect escape for all
We put one Rule Breaker and one Road Tripper with her family on a ferry from Hull to Belgium to enjoy the canals, the beer – and, of course, the chocolate of beautiful Bruges
MARIE-CLAIRE CHAPPET, 27, headed to Zeebrugge from Hull, aboard P&O Ferries’ Pride of York, with her boyfriend, for a Belgian adventure to Bruges.
Full disclosure: I have never taken a ferry before and I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. My boyfriend and I were off to Bruges and boarded (with our car) the Pride of York from Hull. We would sail overnight, reaching Zeebrugge the next morning at around 8am. Our cabin was clean, cosy, warm and I was overzealously delighted that we would be sleeping in bunk beds. (As an only child, I had fruitlessly begged my parents for bunk beds.)
We spent a large portion of the evening exploring. The ferry had a surplus of bars and restaurants, an on-board shop bursting with bargains, a kids’ area and even a quiet room. I humoured my boyfriend by playing a few of the arcade games on board and surprised myself by growing addicted to a shooter game. Dinner at the Brasserie restaurant was a slightly more mature affair – though the waiter did give in to my bizarre request to eat from the children’s menu. Spag bol, come on!
After breakfast the next morning (great fry-up), we arrived at Zeebrugge and disembarked seamlessly for Bruges, barely a half-hour drive away, feeling like our adventure was already well under way.
The town is worth the hype. At every turning there is a postcard view, from willow-fringed lakes and canals to soaring medieval architecture and cobbled streets. Our hotel, Relais Bourgondisch Cruyce, was minutes from the main square, on one of the main canals. Once we checked in, and I had cooed over the Marie Antoinette cupcake of a room, we headed straight for one of Belgium’s prime attractions: beer. This was De Halve Maan brewery, to be exact, which offers highly informative tours of its historic premises every hour. Included is, of course, a free glass of a freshly brewed beer. This was De Halve Maan brewery, to be exact, which offers highly informative tours of its historic premises every hour. Included is, of course, a free glass of a freshly brewed beer. We soaked up ours with some traditional Belgian cuisine – Flemish beef stew and moules-frites.
The next day we rented bikes and played a game of windmill bingo. Four historic windmills are situated in the east of Bruges and are an easy bike ride away through the lush parkland and canals which encase the town. Afterwards, we indulged in a vitally important museum for Belgium: Choco Story, which traces the history of chocolate and even provides edible tickets. Yes – chocolate ones.
After a late lunch by the Church of Our Lady’s cathedral, one of Bruges’s most stunning landmarks, we hit the road again to board our ferry back to England. We took the Calais to Dover route, which got us back to the UK in just 90 minutes.
No bunk beds this time, but I did beat my arcade-game top score.