Bruges is 150 miles southwest of Amsterdam, 58 miles northwest of Brussels and 29 miles west of Ghent. It was the first
town we visited on our first trip in 2002. We had shipped our motorhome from Jacksonville, Florida to the port of Zeebrugge
on Belgium's western seacoast. The town of Bruges is just a little inland from there. We had flown to Brussels.
Then we took the train to Bruges where we had reserved a hotel room. The next morning we took a taxi to Zeebrugge to pick
up the RV. Then we drove back to Bruges, found a campground in the city, and took a bus into town. It was an absolutely lovely
introduction to our European tour. Bruges is among the prettiest, and most interesting towns we have ever visited.
The things
we like especially in Bruges, which we have visited twice, are:
The whole look of the city with its ornate buildings on the main
square where there was an open-air market on our first afternoon, and on the nearby square where the Council building, the Gothic
Hall and the Tourist office are located, its many beautiful canals, its pretty shops displaying fine lace, chocolate, ice cream
and other foods.
And the city's liveliness, perhaps due to the many tourists that visit as well as the horse and buggy
rides they take. During the day and into the evenings one hears a chorus of
clip-clops throughout the city center as the horses
trot very quickly around and sometimes slow to a walk before stepping up again. Another contributor to the general hubub are
the many restaurants with tables jutting out into the streets where you can relax over a meal or a coffee and watch the action.
Our
enjoyment of Bruges consisted mainly of walking its pretty streets, with stops for coffee and chocolate. We visited one fine
museum, the
Memling. It is housed in one of the oldest preserved medieval hospitals in Europe, St John's, and contains many
works of the 15th century artist,
Hans Memling, hence the name of the museum.
