Belgium
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The round trip, according to Google Maps.
In March 2007 I journeyed with Lena to Belgium. The round trip was 718 miles, traveling by bus, ferry, tube and train. I actually met Lena just a few weeks before embarking on the trip with the express intention of going on holiday with her. We joked that she could have been a dangerous stranger, and so could I, and how much more interesting it could have been if we were both dangerous! The Google map for the whole trip is here.
Bruges
A typical postcard view.
Our Lady`s Church (referred to as OLV) at night.
The Markt, with horsedrawn carriages waiting for toursists.
Some pretty buildings.
Bruges
The canals at night.
The Beguinage.
Bruges at night.
One of the windmills.
The Dining Room at Hotel Van Eyck, where we stayed. It was a beautiful place, great value and the owners were lovely.
Ezelpoort, one of the gatehouses of the mediaeval fortifications.
Bruges from the Belfort with OLV on the left and St Salvator's Cathedral on the right.
More pretty buildings, that look like a cross between a cardboard cutout and a Lego model.
Bruges is a beautiful mediaeval town that, other than developing a healthy tourist trade, has not change a great deal in 700 years. The economy in the middle ages was dominated by the wool industry, with the Zwin Channel providing Bruges with a main connection to external trade routes. Impressive canals for transportation and walls for defence were built. Bruges enjoyed prosperity until around 1500, when the Zwin Channel eventually silted up and the economic boom collapsed. Bruges remained largely uninhabited and unimportant until the late Victorian era when it became a tourist town. Today there are many hotels, shops and restaurants, but the town still feels like something from a mediaeval fairytale.
Culturally and historically the town has depth and richness. There was a Roman settlement in the area and the Dark Ages saw the Franks taking control and new fortifications being built in response to the Vikiing threats. Since Lena is fascinated by archeology, Bruges made a perfect holiday for her! There are plenty of museums and galleries including the Groeninge Museum and the Arents House (art galleries), Bruggemuseum (Museum of the history of Bruges) and Hospitaalmuseum (two historical museums).
The skyline is dominated by three large towers- the Belfort on the Marketplace, the Church of Our Lady and St Salvator's Cathedral. The architecture of Bruges is beautiful and reason enough to visit. The views from the top of Belfort are spectacular. The smaller buildings sometimes look as though they'd been built out of Lego and they've got their own charm.
Bruges is also home to a Beguinage, which is similar to a convent. These developed in the Low Countries in the 13th century. The members of the Beguine took vows of chastity and obedience (but not poverty), but were allowed to break the vows. Many spinsters joined the Beguinage and enjoyed the community and support they found there. The Beguinage is still active today.
The local restaurants and shops specialise in the local produce- mussels and Belgian chocolate. We had excellent food every night in Bruges, and it wasn`t as expensive as I thought it would be. Lena showed me where to go to the real, high quality Belgian chocolate and not the cheap stuff, and we both had quite a few boxes by the time we left Bruges.
There`s more than pretty buildings, history and chocolate though. The hospital museums showed how ailments had been treated in the past. Obviously it was just a mixture of bedrest and superstition, but it did add an extra dimension to the history and added a touch of realism to the impression of Bruges over the ages.
Bruges is certainly one of the most beautiful places I've ever been to and I'd recommend to anyone who passes through the area to visit for a couple of days.
Antwerp
Our Lady`s Cathedral from the distance.
One of the pretty buildings in Antwerp.
Our Lady`s Cathedral from below. It's hard to capture the magnitude of this building.
Antwerp station roof.
Saints on a rollercoaster- the entrance to Our Lady's Cathedral.
The Grote Markt, Antwerp.
The Meat Hall.
The statue of Brabo in the Market Square.
We went to Antwerp to see one of the art galleries. While my holiday in Florence showed me how the fine arts developed from relatively crude mediaeval religious art, Antwerp showed me how the styles and techniques developed in religious art.
A lot of the architecture in Antwerp is striking, from the Grotemarkt to the Church of Our Lady. However, my favourite building was the train station, with its bold, red, Victorian, iron girder roof.
The main reason for travelling to Antwerp was the Royal Museum with its huge collection of art. At the time there was an exhibition of triptychs, which adorned church altars in the middle ages and were rich in religious symbolism. I spent ages listening to the audio tour, but Lena was already eager to move on the next part of the gallery, so we did. Eventually I found the 20th century gallery and spent a long time there, but that wasn`t Lena`s idea of fun.
There is a statue of Brabo in the Market Square. Legend has it that there was a giant called Druoon Antigoon, who used to charge a toll for any sailors crossing the nearby Scheldt, and cut off the hand of anyone who refused to pay. Brabo was a Roman soldier who'd had enough of this policy and slew Druoon, severed his hand and cast it into the river. And that's where Antwerp gets its name from: "Ant" from "hand" and "werp" meaning to throw.
After having waffles and ice cream at the local Ben and Jerry`s we headed off and made our way back to Bruges.
Brussels
The Town Hall.
St Michael and St Gudula Cathedral.
Bascilica of the Sacred Heart.
While we were in Brussels we met up with Rami who was working for the European Comission at the time. Rami`s and Lena`s expressions are typical of both and look beautiful juxtaposed like this!
While waiting for the bus home we got bored, so I spent the time taking pictures of some of the very shiny buildings that surrounded us.
The Eurolines bus waiting to take us home. (Actually, this wasn`t our bus, but I got a photo of it anyway!)
Our trip around Bruges started and ended in Brussels. We arrived at 5:30am and, sleep-deprived, I had to drag my wheeless suitcase across the capital of Europe in darkness. By 6am we arrived at the Town Square. It was very picturesque, and more importantly empty of tourists! We were very tempted to stay around until one of the local cafes opened and get some breakfast, then take some photos as the sun rose over the building tops. Alas, we saw sanity and pressed on to the main station.
We journeyed back to Brussels for the final evening and spent a night in a very dodgy youth hostel with the worst breakfast in the world. We ventured to a huge bookstore in search of comic books, but weren`t impressed by the offerings. So for the rest of the day we walked about doing the usual (pointing at buildings, taking photos, talking rubbish) and then met Rami for lunch.
It`d been a long time since I'd seen Rami, so we spent ages talking. It was mostly about code. We`re so geeky. When the trip was finally over we headed back to the coach station and went on our way.