beauty and brugge

to say i like brugge would be a terrible understatement. i LOVE brugge, and it took all but less than half an hour to fall in love.

i arrived early at 7:30 am to a peaceful, cold, and foggy brugge, just starting to wake up from a good night's rest. the city center is small enough to explore on foot so i didn't buy a day pass ticket for the public transportation. i took a 9 minute walk to the minnewaterpark, passing by locals taking their morning walk with their pets, or jogging, or cycling (there are cyclists anytime, anywhere. brugge is like the cycling capital of belgium). arriving early afforded me the time to appreciate brugge without the distraction of other tourists and i have never said "wow" and "kireiii~" so many times in less than an hour in my life.

brugge station

onze lieve vrouw kerk (church of our lady) as seen from the brugge station.

still and silent.

minnewater park

the park actually holds a canalized lake where the river, reie, enters the city. at one end is a gate controlling the height of the canals on the other side and separating the minnewater park from the lake of love.

(left) view of the lake from the bridge. (right) messy scarf.

begijnhof

a few steps from the minnewater park is a cloister for the nuns of the order of st. benedict. the field of daffodils and leaning trees surrounded by white-washed stone houses is, in every way, breathtaking. and at 8 in the morning the park was all mine.

belfry of brugge

"In the market-place of Bruges stands the belfry old and brown;

Thrice consumed and thrice rebuilded, still it watches o'er the town."

-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

i was there when they opened the tower for viewing at 9:30 and it's definitely wise to be there early before the whole place is riddled with tourists. otherwise, you'll find yourself having to wait in (a loooooong) line because they allow only a limited number of persons into the tower due to its size. as a matter of fact, the stairs are extremely steep and small only one person can take the stairs at any time. i was there at the top when the bells played a melody the moment the clock struck 10.

boat tour

in a way, yes, brugge has become quite a touristy city with gift shops and tour perks everywhere. but the wonderful thing is, the touristy part hasn't gone overboard and they have not transformed the city into a giant amusement park. so i took a little boat tour but i didn't get too many pictures since i was too busy enjoying the view. i have a blurry picture of our captain/tour guide, though, who's very accommodating and funny and looks like tintin's captain friend.

(left) aye, aye captain! (right) hotel used for filming the movie 'in bruges'.

basilica of the holy blood

after the boat ride i went back to burg square to the basilica of the holy blood. the basilica houses the relic of the holy blood of christ and i was lucky enough to be there when they brought it out for veneration.

"the kiss"

after a short lunch of fries which the whole belgian community seems to be proud of (i tried and i'm really sorry but i couldn't find anything special about it), i set out to look for fidel.

lovely view from the seat by the window.

fidel

fidel could be everyone's average pet. what makes him special, though, is that he has this habit of hanging out by his window overlooking the canals every sunny afternoons without fail. and i guess that's how he got noticed by the boat tour guides who passes by his window everyday. i looked for him right after i had my lunch but he wasn't there. i thought i'd never be able to see him but when i came back later in the afternoon, there he was! i practically ran down the bridge in my excitement. he ignores everyone though, except for the occasional swan that passes through. he did make a short cameo in the 2008 movie 'in bruges' which means he's been looking out over his window for at least 6 years now.

volkskunde museum

the city of brugge is a museum in itself. every step you take through the cobbled streets and the stone bridges is like walking through a carefully preserved 12th century artifact so there's not much point in actually confining yourself inside dark museums when you can enjoy being outside in the open. but, nevertheless, i decided to have a look inside the volkskunde (folklore) museum. because they have a resident cat. teehee.

this way to the volkskunde museum!

when you hear "folklore", you think about fairy tales and legends and children's stories yet the volkskunde museum isn't like that at all. it's literally "folk" and "lore" and shows replicas of life in brugge (or europe, in general) through the years. there's a room showing a typical schoolhouse, a shoemaker's shop, an apothecary, a typical living room, a pub, a tailor's and a hat maker's shop, and a lot of other things. on top of that they also have a display of various laces. brugge has a good reputation for its laces in the middle ages and they make laces out of anything and for anything.

typical schoolhouse

collection of various laces

tailor's shop

and they have a resident cat named aristide. i was looking forward to meeting him but after 20 minutes and still no sign of the cat, i almost gave up and busied myself with the displays. i was in the tailor's room when i heard the meows and it took me a while to realize "omg, the cat!". when i turned around there he was pacing by the door, LOOKING at me and meowing. awwww, hello aristide :)

(left) hallway inside the volkskunde museum, (right) aristide

after the fated meeting with the cat i still have three remaining must-see places on my bucket list. 5-minutes walk away are the windmills of brugge.

sint-janshuismolen

the windmills are constructed at the edge of the city center around the end of the 13th century. there were quite a number of them made and all but four remains. sint-janshuis mill was constructed in the 1700's and is still operational, grinding grain, even today.

sint-janshuismolen (left) and a neighboring mill (right).

it's a beautiful park right by the edge of the city center's outer canal with bike lanes and walkways. i must have spent a good amount of time just lying on the grass by the mill, basking in the sun because my feet has started to ache from all the walking i've done. good place for a picnic. and people-watching ^^,

view of the other side of the city center's outer canal where modern architecture is allowed to be built.

outside looking in.

gentpoort

if you walk along the river bank for twenty minutes from the mills, there you'll see gentpoort. this medieval city gate faces gent, hence the name, and was crucial to the city's defenses. it also serves as a passageway where goods are delivered in and out of the city.

onze lieve vrouw kerk

last but not the least, i wouldn't forgive myself if i miss the chance to see a work of art by michaelangelo with my own eyes and they have one right here in brugge!

madonna and child by michaelangelo bounarotti

"the 'madonna and child' (1504-5) by michaelangelo buonarotti is carved in carrara marble. originally it was intended for an altar in the cathedral of sienna but the muscron family of bruges bought it and gave it to our lady's church. it is one of the few works by michaelangelo outside the city." (inscription by the statue)

and i've accomplished my objectives! :D except one --- beer! >:)

there are beer shops all over belgium, belgians are very proud of their beers, and brugge is definitely no exception. you can drink beer anytime of the day and no one would discriminate you, haha. so i grabbed a beer. tagay ta bay!

beer wall

the weather in brugge is normally cold and cloudy even in the summer but i was so blessed the sun was actually shining the day i went there. all in all i had a fantastic time in a very lovely city and i'm contemplating about going back for the procession of the holy blood which takes place yearly on holy thursday.

brugge, they say, with all its canals and bridges and cobbled pavements and centuries-old charm is a very romantic city. and by romantic they mean it would be quite a waste exploring it on your own. i beg to disagree. i do not doubt it would be best enjoyed with your significant other but it's not the people you explore it with that makes the whole thing romantic because the city, ITSELF, is romance embodied. it is so romantic, in fact, it inspired men to write poems about it and create songs.

to end this post, here are random photos from all around brugge.

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