A Leisurely Day in Bruges, Belgium

Pretty Bruges is less than an hour from Brussels on the train. The only other European city I’ve seen so far that can hold a candle to this beautiful town is Annecy, France. Mr. DJ says Bruges is pretty darned cute. That’s an understatement, of course.

Coincidentally, Rick Steves blogged about this town in a recent post. He said that he was a “bit down on Brugge (Bruges)… The place is inundated with tourists…” Bruges is very touristy, but it manages to maintain its charm despite all the visitors. And don’t worry, Rick still had a good time, especially after sampling a couple of the local brews. You can read Rick’s more flattering description of Bruges here. I believe it’s the script from his Bruges TV segment.

Bruges’ historic center is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, by the way. It’s also a very nice place to sit for an hour or so to soak in all that loveliness.

Bruges was born in the early 12th century, though fortifications were built here as early as the first century BC.
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It looks like a Disney set–too perfect to be real.

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But it IS real! The buildings are simply amazingly well preserved.
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Here’s the entrance to the Béguinage.

Turn around and you’ll see the cafe where we had “tea”.

Come on, you knew it was coming!

The horse drawn carriage drivers were doing good business thanks to the beautiful weather.

A pretty storefront.
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You can take a cruise along these canals in one of the many tour boats. This photo was taken from…

… this charming bridge.

It looked this nice everywhere.

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I wanted to photograph every one of the buildings. I really needed a wide-angle lens to do them justice, though.

The square is a great place for people watching and getting a little sun. Photo by Mr. DJ on my camera.

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There are benches all around the square perfect for taking it all in. Photo by Mr. DJ on my camera.

More interesting architectural details.

We left Bruges at dusk when the lights were starting to come on for the evening. We wanted to stay longer, but we really needed to head back before the last train to Brussels pulled out of the station.

Tomorrow, Bruges food: Chocolate, Beer, and Moules Frites!