Bruges, a city in northwest Belgium, was our first destination as part of our Europe tour in 2018. We decided to make a day trip to this beautiful city. It is an hour long train journey from Brussels, which is where we were staying.
We decided to start early so that we would get a full day to spend in Bruges and avoid rush too. This turned out to be a good decision as the train was mostly empty as well.
When we reached, the city was just getting ready to welcome the tourists. Since there was still some time before markets or the tourist places would open, we thought this was a great opportunity to explore the streets. Go where ever we want to, without a plan and without worrying about time and take photos! And that's exactly what we did. We diverted from our paths, went in directions that appealed to us. The cobbled roads and decorated houses along the sides of it were fascinating. Each house looked different. Their doors and windows were colorful. It had a rustic and traditional feel to it.
As we were enjoying our casual stroll, a chocolate shop caught our eye - 'The Chocolate Line'. We had heard it was one of the best chocolate store and had a great variety of chocolates with unique fillings. We bought quite a few varieties as we could not resist so many choices. Check out more on Belgian Chocolates and Belgian food at my blog Food Exploration: Belgium.
After our little unplanned adventure, we got hungry. We decided to go the market square (Markt), which is like the heart of the city and had lots of option for dining. Since we were in Belgium, so we had to had waffles and that was our breakfast! It was warm, crispy and deliciously loaded with fruits and whipped cream. Served with hot chocolate sauce and a big scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Waffles loaded with banana, chocolate sauce and cream
Waffles with strawberries, vanilla ice cream and cream
It was satisfying and fulfilling! Now we were ready for our day in Bruges. We had heard about a horse-carriage ride, that provides a short tour of the city. This seemed like the perfect idea to get started with. We checked with our server who told us that the ride starts just there at the Markt.
The Markt Square is surrounded by beautifully architected buildings. It will make you stop at the center and just look around in 360 degree to soak all of the view. The hustle of crowds, the sun warming your body, the slightly cool breeze, it just takes you to a different world. And just when you think it can’t get better, we hear the tiptop noise of the horse shoes. Coming from just around the corner were the horse carriage rides. There was a short queue for the ride which was 50 Euro for a 30 minute tour.
The tour ended quickly. Horse carriage rider shared history and information about the city on the tour. That helped us to decide where we wanted to go next. We took one of the routes out of the Markt and went towards Church of Our Lady. From there, we continued to walk to a nearby park, that looked ideal for casual picnic and relaxing under the sun. We further explored the city, even revisited few places that we had been to during the horse ride tour. After having a delicious lunch at Tom Pouce, we went to Basilica of the Holy Blood. It is a Roman Catholic basilica that has a venerated relic of the Holy Blood. It was very different experience. The church looked beautiful from inside with its painted glass windows and amazing paintings on the wall.
As the day came to an end, there was no better way to end this trip than enjoying the city by its canal tours. The city is in the shape of a oval and has canals surroundings it. Canals tour give another perspective of this beautiful city! As I bid farewell to the city, here are some memorable moments spend in this unique city of medieval buildings, canals and cobbled streets.
it is so wonderful aditi……both, the world and the plate.
Thank you!
Hi, very nice website, cheers!