Belgium: The Beauty of Bruges

We walked the streets of Bruges, Belgium today.  Like Amsterdam, it is a city of canals and bridges.  Its beauty really needs no words.

This is our hotel, with a beautiful view of the canal.

Bruges is medieval grandeur and quaint cottages at the same time.  It was built by the Vikings in the 9th century as a harbor on the River Zwin.  By the 12th century, the river had gotten too much silt, but Bruges was still known for its Flemish cloth.  Now it is a cultural city for Belgium, evidenced by its examples of modern art and architecture shown below.

An outdoor classroom

Model of a proposed skyscraper for modern living. Each box is a dwelling unit.

One of the proposed homes from the proposed skyscraper

You can find shade in this interesting public plastic patio

The only modern bridge in town

This whale sculpture is made of plastic containers, illustrating the state of our oceans

The whale, close-up

We also saw windmills in Bruges, and we had some Belgian food and beer as well!  We walked around the outside of the city to see the windmills, as well as the various city gates.  Our walk had made us hungry and thirsty.  We selected a restaurant on the markt (the square, or marketplace) and asked for tap water.  Our server said, “You can have a bottle of water for 6 Euros, but the real Belgian water is beer.”  I’m not a beer lover, but I have now tried several beers, and somehow they are better than paying 6 euros for water!  We’ve tried Jupiler, Leffe, Zot, Delirium Tremens (served in a ceramic bottle), and my ultimate favorite, Kwak (shown in the extra large glass that looks like a work of art in itself).

Bill gave rabbit a thumbs up!

Try some Kwak, but don’t pronounce it wrong or people will worry!

There is so much to see in Bruges but really none of it requires that much explanation.  For this beautiful city, a picture is definitely worth a thousand words.  I’ll let it speak for itself.