Easter in Bruges

Forget chocolates or beer, Bruges seems to have a number of fabulous shoe shops (no – I wasn’t expecting that either!). As I was ahem a bit financially challenged at the time, I decided it would be most sensible if I didn’t actually buy, but that didn’t stop me from spending a lovely couple of hours on Steenstraat ( one of the main shopping streets in Bruges) admiring the wares. They were very nice…

But the biggest highlight was probably the food. I wanted a fairly relaxed weekend, so didn't exert myself too much - and I indulged my every whim. This really meant frites and mayonnaise with every meal (OK - not breakfast) and a fat rush that took some getting over once I got home!

The beer was good too :-)

Quick Tips:

I found it a bit frustrating finding anywhere to withdraw money from a cash machine/ATM. There are lots around, but most of them are only for a specific bank and did not accept general cirrus/maestro/visa/whatever cards. The ones you have to look out for are called Mister Cash or Bancontact and the most prominent one is just outside the post office in the Markt itself. I wouldn’t recommend that one, however – I spent a good 15-20 minutes in a line waiting ot use it before getting to the front of the line and finding it wouldn’t accept my card! I got a bit worried then that my card wasn’t compatible and I’d be forced to spend the weekend relatively cashless (I had some UK pounds I could exchange, but not many). Fortunately a bit of searching turned up another Mister Cash about halfway along Steenstraat. This one had a virtually non-existent line and, more importantly, gave me money ;-)

Best Way To Get Around:

Bruges is not very big. You can easily walk around and, frankly, I think their rather confusing one-way system would make driving a pain. I walked to and from the train station as well - it was maybe 20-30 minutes from my hostel, which was on the other side of the city. If walking isn't your style - or your bags are too heavy - there is a very good bus system and lots of them go to the Markt, the centre of town.

The Bauhaus is a fairly standard hostel. Nice bar downstairs, and the room (I was in a four-bed one) was clean. The staff were all really nice.

The bathrooms were OK - apart from the fact that the showers had one of those 'push' taps that you have to keep pressing in order for the water to flow. When you took your hand off to do anything, the water stopped. Not great, but I guess it stops people from having long showers. I wouldn't have liked to have to contend with it in the winter, though!!

My major gripe was that my room (Number 2) was right above the bar. The bar stayed open till 4am on Friday and Saturday nights (the two nights I was there). I didn't get any sleep. (I heard other rooms farther away were fine in this respect...)

All in all, I'm glad I stayed here - it was very cheap (about 13 euros per night) and I met some really nice people here. Without them, my visit to Bruges would have been much less fun. But, after 2 nights of 2-3 hours of sleep because of the bar noise, I was very happy to get to Brussels and my nice, private, single, hotel room!

Consider this a public service announcement.

There's lots of chocolate in Bruges. There are chocolate shops all over the place. But, my friends, you must believe me when I say that all chocolate is not equal.

I bought chocolate from cheap, medium, and premium priced shops. The Chocolate Line was the premium priced shop, although not really much more than Neuhaus (the medium priced option and one of the Belgian chocolate ' chain' stores).

I bought all my chocolate on the second (and final) day of my visit, after investigation of many, many chocolatier windows around the town. Why did I decide on 'The Chocolate Line' when there are so many stores? Well, I first noticed it when I was walking from the train station to my hostel. I went past several times after that and there were always people outside looking at the window display. Perhaps it was because it was all done up for Easter. What clinched it was the truly amazing variety of flavours available - and, by 'truly amazing', I'm talking of things like wasabi and lemongrass. That's right - wasabi and lemongrass!

I didn't eat any until I got home, but my final verdict was this: The cheap chocolate just wasn't worth it. Most of the fillings were a sickly sugar and variety was a bit lacking. The medium priced chocolate (Neuhaus - I bought a 500g pre-packed dark chocolate variety box) was fine. Really nice, but the chocolates got a bit boring. There were several 'chocolate' fillings that, although apparently different, tasted remarkably similar. Perhaps, I'm not enough of a connoisseur. The six pieces I got from the Chocolate Line lasted me almost a week - one a night. They were all very different. And, yes, the wasabi was fabulous.

Other advice I'd offer is that you should take the time to hand-pick your chocolates, rather than buying a pre-packed box - or letting them pick. I think that's part of the reason I ended up with so many disappointing chockies from the el cheapo place. Their dark chocolate and marzipan (which I am particularly fond of) was quite nice - but I only got one. Finally, check out a supermarket! You can get some amazing blocks of praline chocolate at very reasonable prices. I have to admit, I ate quite a bit of that too!

The Chocolate Line have a website, but it's just for show. They don't ship. Believe me, if (when?) I go back to Bruges, I will be going back to 'The Chocolate Line' and I will be buying at least a kilogram, if not more, of their stuff. It really is that good.

Beer heaven. All the guidebooks seem to claim that ’t Brugs Beertje stocks 300 beers. Well, we counted the menu and it only listed about 146. But that’s still a lot of very nice beer.

I visited ’t Brugs Beertje on both nights of my Bruges stay. On the first night there were seven of us and it looked like we were going to have to leave because the bar was fully packed and there wasn’t even really room enough for us all to stand at the bar. Fortunately they found us some space – in the whole other bar out the back. We had the space to ourselves for most of the evening – it filled with others at 10 or so. But until then we had a lovely time chatting and choosing our beers from the extensive menu, whilst being waited upon by the lovely Fred (who always seems to know when we were ready to order another round and what beers would suit us best). Most beers were bottled, although there are a few ‘on tap’. Each beer had its own special glass, shaped so the beer would be appreciated to its fullest extent. The glasses were also usually beautifully decorated with pictures appropriate to the beer’s name. We took pictures.

On the Saturday night, four of us went again and joined the hoi polloi in the front room. Whilst more crowded than the room behind, the atmosphere in ’t Brugs Beertje was always relaxed and not too noisy. We had no problems holding several deep and meaningful conversations (fueled, no doubt, in part by the beer).

Beers ranged in price from about 1.75 euros to 3 euros, depending on what you chose. Quite popular amongst my group were the fruit beers, possibly because they didn’t really taste like normal beer. I found them a bit… unsettling. There was food available. Nothing too fancy – just toasted sandwiches and the like. Frankly, I can’t compare it to other pubs in Bruges because I didn’t really go to any others. But it was close to the Markt, not too overrun with obnoxious tourists (except ourselves, perhaps!), reasonably priced, and great fun. I’d definitely recommend it.

Oh, and we brought up the fact that the menu only listed 146 beers, unlike the claimed 300, with Fred. He did mention that they had seasonal beers and such that weren’t listed on the menu – a justified claim and we enjoyed the Easter beer whilst there. But he did get a bit evasive after that. I’m not going to hold it against them, however!

The old marketplace is the very centre of the city. I found myself passing through it several times a day, getting from one place to another. It’s a lovely open space – and it was absolutely teeming during the Easter weekend

Towering over the space on the south side is the Belfort (Bell tower). Apparently it offers an unparalleled view of the city, if you’re willing to take the 366 steps to get up there. I was more than willing to try the steps, but the line to get in was long, and, frankly, I wasn’t in the mood to wait. Around the other sides of the square are the facades of a number of 17th-century gabled houses (now mostly cafes and souvenir shops), and the Provinciaal Hof, the site of the local government of West Flanders (and not open to the public).

The major attraction of the Markt (for me, at least) were the two mobile frituur vans that stood in front of the Belfort. Both did a very ‘healthy’ trade in frites with mayonnaise, although you could get almost any sauce you could imagine. I found the frites at these vans to be amongst the best I tasted in Belgium – I think it was the mayonnaise. I ate a lot of Belgian frites and would definitely have to agree with the general opinion that they are a superior chip. Apparently it’s all due to the choice of potato, their cut, and the fact they are actually fried twice to make sure they are extra crispy. No wonder I came home with fat cravings.