belgium

Bruges

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Bruges

A little later than planned, but here it is – what we did in Bruges. I’ve covered how we got to Zeebrugge (‘Bruges-on-sea’) in a post about the P&O Ferries ‘mini-cruise’ posted on Tuesday, so this picks up where that left off.

After alighting from the ferry we got onto one of several coaches for the half hour journey from Zeebrugge to Bruges. It’s actually not that far as the crow flies but we were slowed down by roadworks and the coach drop-off point being to the south of Bruges city centre – Zeebrugge is on the coast to the north, so we had to go around the Bruges western bypass.

We were duly dropped off at a small island off the southern tip of the city centre – this is presumably the main coach drop off point for all visiting coaches as there were plenty of ‘Welcome to Bruges’ signs in four languages and a rather grand modern red bridge taking you over one of Bruges’ many canals. This leads into the Minnewaterpark, a nice public park that we should have walked through, it being the quickest route into the centre. Instead we got confused by a sign aimed at cyclists and took a longer and less interesting route.

The Markt

We aimed for The Markt first of all, which is one of Bruges’ two large public squares. It sits in the shadow of the Belfort, a belltower with over 40 bells that you can climb up for views of the city (we didn’t). From here you can pay €39 for a tour of the city by horse and cart (the price is set by the city council) or visit one of the many overpriced brasseries around the edge. Seriously, these places are expensive; we ended up having lunch here as we struggled to find anywhere cheaper in the limited time that we had, and I paid €22.50 for Moules Frites (mussels and chips). At almost £18 that would buy me a decent three course meal back home. Fortunately we did find some cheaper places away from the main tourist areas later on and so our afternoon tea wasn’t quite so eye-wateringly expensive.

Bruges has a number of museums and had we stayed overnight we would have had the opportunity to visit more than one. As it was, we settled on Sint-Janshospitaal, an 11th-century hospital that treated patients well into the 20th century. It’s a big building, but there’s not a lot inside – some paintings and a few old fashioned medical tools for outdated practices like trepanning. Next to Sint-Janshospitaal is the Apothek, which is the pharmacy dispensary that served the hospital. Its opening hours are more restricted than the main hospital museum but you get entry for both in the ticket price.

Belgian Beer

Afterwards we had a general wander around the city. Belgium is well-known for its chocolate and its beer, and, as you might expect, Bruges has a chocolate museum and a beer museum. We didn’t visit either – the chocolate museum had some very mixed reviews on Foursquare and Christine doesn’t like beer, and I still feel guilty for dragging her around the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin. We did, however, visit a number of chocolate and beer shops. We bought quite a bit of the former but ended up not buying any of the latter. Many of the chocolatiers produce their chocolate on the premises and you can sometimes see it being made.

A note on language in Bruges. Belgium’s official languages are French, Flemish (a dialect of Dutch), and German. Bruges is in Flanders, the Flemish-speaking part of Belgium, and so most signs are just in Flemish – unlike in Brussels, the capital, where signs are generally in both Flemish and French. So whilst Flemish is the primary language used, English is a close second. The guidebook we bought even suggested that you are better speaking English than attempting French, and we encountered a couple of situations where Flemish bar staff didn’t speak French (but their English was almost perfect). Whilst it feels odd using English in a country where it isn’t a first language, it was a bit of a relief that I didn’t need to use my rather rusty French vocabulary.

Another thing that we didn’t expect in Bruges was the lack of pigeons. They’re the scourge of most cities, but we didn’t see any in Bruges. There were crows, ducks, swans and a few collared doves, but no pigeons. Whether this is deliberate or not, I don’t know.

Minnewater Park

All in all we had a lovely time. Bruges is a really nice place – it is to Brussels what York or Chester is to London, in that it’s much smaller and more manageable, but still full of history and interesting attractions. It was Christine’s first visit and my second, but my first time was over 20 years’ ago when I was only eight years old and so I don’t remember much about it.  If I were to go back I’d like to stay there a bit longer and do the bits that we didn’t have time to see this time, possibly as a wider visit to other parts of Belgium as well. Despite what Nigel Farage says, Belgium is far from being a ‘non-country’.

Things I like about Belgium

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This post is prompted by remarks by Nigel Farage, an MEP for the UK Independence Party, in which he described Belgium as a “non-country“. I think the criticism levelled at Belgium by Mr Farage is unfair and reeks of a ‘my country is better than your country, so nyah’ attitude, which I feel is unacceptable for a supposedly respectable politician.

As a Brit, I feel it is therefore my duty to do my bit to show Belgium that we don’t all think that your country is insignificant. I personally think that the country has several things that are great about it, and once I have some more cash I plan to make another visit to the small but interesting nation.

1. Brussels

Brussels is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of European Union. I visited in 2002 (back when this blog was barely a month old) and found it to be a great city. It’s well worth a visit and is (usually) less than 2 hours by train from the centre of London.

2. Belgian beer

We Brits are quite good at making beer, and the explosion of micro-breweries over the years has been very welcome. But the Belgians are also worthy contenders and I particularly appreciate their fruit beers such as those by Früli, Timmermans and Liefmans. Leffe is also particularly good, as is the amusingly-named Kwak which comes in an interestingly-shaped glass. Budweiser is also now owned by a Belgian company, but unfortunately that doesn’t stop it tasting a bit like a urine sample.

3. Bruges

I really want to visit Bruges again, as it’s been almost 2 decades since I was there last. It’s a gorgeous city, full of canals and old buildings.

4. Belgian chocolate

While I will always have a soft spot for Cadbury’s Dairy Milk, the Belgians have chocolate making down to an art.

5. Belgian waffles

Belgium is the country that introduced the concept of a sweet waffle, perhaps with a Belgian chocolate sauce or some ice cream. I’m genuinely pleased that Wetherspoon’s have started serving these again.

6. French Fries

They’re actually Belgian, not French.

Back from Brussels

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A photo of the main square in Brussels

Hiya! Yup, I’m back from my weekend in Brussels – I had a great time.

Friday

We set off very early – the train we were talking was a 6am train out of York. The journey down was okay – since it was still early it wasn’t busy, though once we got to King’s Cross it was a bit of a hustle getting onto the Tube since it was rush hour. Handily there was a sign that gave a suggested route to London Waterloo – we would have taken the Victoria to Euston and then the Northern to Waterloo, but actually it recommended the Victoria to Oxford Circus and then the Bakerloo, since there were no stairs or escalators to climb to change platforms. And when you’re carrying heavy cases, it sure is useful.

We arrived at Waterloo much earlier than anticipated – we actually had to wait for check-in to open at 9am. We then passed through the airport-style security checks without problems (as we wouldn’t :)) and then had an hour and a half to wait for the train to arrive – I spent most of the time drinking Tango and reading the Guardian. Because there were trains to Brussels and Paris leading at roughly the same time, there was quite a rush for the platforms, but we got on in good time. The train was about 40 minutes late on arrival – we were delayed slightly in Kent, which then meant we missed our slot for the Channel Tunnel, and then in Lille, one of the passengers had to be treated after falling ill. And then we were stuck again in Belgium. But once we got to Brussels-Midi station, it was just a case of going through Passport control, finding the taxi rank and jumping into a taxi. Because mum had to drop a report off at the European Commission (the reason for our visit) this was our first priority. Although our driver drove like a Formula 1 driver (I did have to cover my eyes on a couple of occasions), he was able to get us to where we wanted to be, and even waited for us at the EC before taking us to the hotel. That said, I think most of the drivers there were driving equally as recklessly, so it was a good thing someone else was behind the wheel.

The hotel was very posh, arguably the poshest I’ve ever stayed in. It was a five star place – all the rooms were ensuite, and the TVs had 40 channels with a PlayStation and internet access, as well as a minibar, safe and kettle. After dropping our luggage there (which was kindly brought up by one of the porters) we did a little sightseeing and window shopping in the centre, before encountering the Lop Lop Café. This was a pub that served 150 different beers, most of which were Belgian. They even had a list of all of the beers available, which was promptly handed to my father when he used his “Pigeon French” to ask for ‘un biere’. Most of the people there seemed to be British or Canadian, and the TV was showing BBC One, which gives you an idea of the clientele. Another, to use the American term, ‘quaint’ aspect of the pub was that many of the beers came with their own glasses, so for example if you ordered Leffe you got it in a Leffe glass. That may have not been such a big deal if it weren’t for the fact that each glass was profoundly different from the others, including the interesting-looking Kwak glass (for Kwak beer) which looked like some kind of test-tube and came with its own wooden stand. Me? I just had a Pepsi. Call me unoriginal, but I needed a drink and having spent the equivalent of 6 hours on trains I wasn’t in the mood to be adventurous.

I also got the chance to buy a new CD – a record shop that looks like a former Virgin Megastore was selling the Belgian release of ‘Underwater (Rank 1 Remixes)’ by Delerium for €2.50, or £1.79. I wouldn’t have been able to get it at that price back home.

We then set about finding dinner. Like in Paris, many of the restaurants are congregated around a small area, so finding one was no problem. We only spent about 10 minutes in the first – there were some rather grim sounding noises coming from the kitchen, and then the owner told us to leave before the police arrived. Ho hum…

Anyway, every cloud has a silver lining, and so the restaurant we actually ate in was actually better than the first – I had a fillet of Scottish smoked salmon for starters, followed by moules marinière (one of my all-time favourite dishes) and then chocolate mousse for desert (hey, I couldn’t come to Belgium without having some of the chocolate, now could I?). The mussels were a little rubbery, but the salmon was nice, and the chocolate mousse was sublime.

Although it was only getting on for 9pm, we then headed back to the hotel (you would do too, if you’d been up as early at 4:45am).

Saturday

Breakfast isn’t one of my favourite meals of the day, mainly because I hate the traditional English breakfast that most hotels over here serve. But, remember, we’re at a five star hotel here, so the choice was immense. I could have had my bacon, eggs, sausage, mushrooms, baked beans and tomato if I wanted to, but instead I could have had cold meat, pineapple, grapefruit, peaches, yoghurt, cereal, croissants… The hot chocolate was also nice – I’m not a tea or coffee drinker (I sleep instead), and there was plenty of fruit juice available too.

That morning we went to see an exhibition of paintings by Breughel at the Belgian Museum of Fine Arts. Normally I’m not really one for art, but this was interesting because it showed the originals among copies made by members of the Breughel family, and how the copies differed – for example, in one a man had a red coat, then he’d have a grey one, then a blue one, and so on.

After descending on an Italian restaurant for lunch, where I had a very nice pizza with Parma ham as the topping, we did a spot of shopping. My mum bought my uncle a T-shirt – about drinking beer, no less (it’s one of his favourite pastimes) – and I went into Fnac, where I bought another Delerium album (“Odyssey” – a double CD of remixes) and a new mouse – I’ll come onto that later.

We then returned to the Lop Lop Café, where my dad was able to watch the rugby game on the BBC while drinking Kwak – he later bought a bottle of the stuff to take home, but fell short of buying the presentation pack with the weird glass in it, mainly because it weighed a tonne. By then it had started raining, so we made a beeline for the hotel and put our feet up for a couple of hours, before heading out for dinner.

My mum walked out of the first restaurant we went to, since it was too warm and stuffy – we’d been put upstairs since there was no room on the ground floor. Like in Paris, the restaurant owners are very keen to get you in, so it was perhaps ironic that we went to one where there was no-one outside trying to push us in. Although I had the same starter as before, I went for steak and chips for my main course, which came in a green pepper sauce, and was very nice. For desert we all got crème caramel, which was also very tasty.

We then had a brief walk around the centre of the city, taking night photos of some of the buildings – I was the only one with a camera, so my dad borrowed it for taking photos – his is somewhat larger and heavier (though much better).

Sunday

After breakfast, we took a taxi from the hotel to the station, where we put our luggage into the Left Luggage section, then took a metro back into the town. I have to say that the metro system wasn’t as good as the systems in Paris or London – there are only two lines, though Brussels does have street trams that serve much of the city, so that is perhaps why. The escalators actually require a button press to work them – though I think this is for saving energy and not because they are old.

We actually took the wrong line and ended up in a different part of the city than expected, though we still got chance to take photos and see things. We then headed back to the station, where we picked up our luggage and bought some lunch, as well as an English paper to read, plus a French computer magazine (Windows News – I buy a copy every time I’m in France/Belgium) and a French newspaper, as requested by my French teacher.

We didn’t have quite so long to wait around this time – only about half an hour, and we arrived in Waterloo on time at about 2pm. We then took the tube back to London King’s Cross, where we met the 3:30pm train back to York.

All in all, it was a very enjoyable holiday – Brussels was a city that I haven’t visited before, and it has been almost 10 years since I last visited Belgium properly – I can’t really call changing at Brussels airport a visit to the country. I found it interesting how the two official languages (French and Flemish – like Dutch but with more similarities to German) co-exist – all signs are in the two languages, and even some of the streets have different names – ‘Rue d’Argent’ (Silver Street) was also called ‘Zilverstraat’. Although this exists in Wales, where English and Welsh are both official languages and therefore both appear on signs, only a handful of the population speaks Welsh as their first language and almost everyone understands English. While I think most people in Belgium speak both languages, it was interesting how in one shop I was served in Flemish and others I was served in French – these were all high street stores in the same city.

English is also a third language – many shops had English names and a lot of the people spoke English when one of us struggled with vocabulary. I guess that is simply the dominance of the language – I think if someone where to choose a ‘global language’ it would probably be English (even though the largest proportion of the world’s population speaks Chinese).

I was also surprised how Europhillic the country is. I obviously live in the UK, where there is a lot of silly opposition to European matters such as the Euro. Yet in Brussels (which does happen to the main home of the European Parliament), I counted at least 4 ‘Euroshops’ which sold gifts and souvenirs with the 12 stars and the € symbol on them. Statistically, the country is the most Europhillic behind Luxembourg, and has one of the largest proportions of people who are happy with using the Euro as their currency, instead of the Belgian Franc. If only the UK was similar…

I also noticed a lot of beggars around on the street. While no major town is without them, they seemed to stand out more there – they open doors for you at churches for example. Although I am in support of helping homeless people (the postcoded park bench in Bristol was a very good idea, for example), I don’t give money to beggars since you can’t be sure they’re for real – having a mother as a magistrate means I’m aware of the cases where beggars travel in from other towns, get changed in the toilets of the station, beg on the streets and then go home to their families while claiming job seekers allowances…

I also found a little difficult to take the city seriously after seeing one of its popular attractions – the ‘Manequin Pis’. Well, you would have a doubts about somewhere that had a urinating cherub as its emblem, wouldn’t you?