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Friday, June 12, 2009

Bruges, or Venice of the north

We came back from Belgium last night--it was my first visit to the country so for me the trip had all the excitement of seeing things with virgin eyes (so to speak). We stayed in Brussels, with a day trip to the medieval town of Bruges on Sunday.

I have plenty of pictures from Bruges and only a handful from Brussels, and there is an easy explanation for that--in Brussels I walked around pushing a stroller with Andrej and making sure Boris was close enough to me, so that allowed for few photo snapping possibilities.

So, in this post I'll take you on a walk (and a boat tour) of Bruges.

We were welcomed by a heavy shower and ominous looking skies, which dampened the enthusiasm. Amazingly, it cleared up and we had an afternoon of glorious sunshine afterwords.

Even though they are primarily a tourist attractions, horse carts don't look out of place among these medieval streets and houses.

Paris meets Amsterdam--the mixture of French and Flemish cultures is what makes Belgium so interesting (and unsustainable, some would say).

A little bit like Venice, on a smaller scale (minus the stench, but plus rainfall--plenty of it).

This is Van Eyck square--the famous artist lived here until his death.

This one and the following three pictures were taken from a boat while we toured the canal. It was great to see city from a different perspective, the only downside being that we zoomed passed everything, so there was no time to really pay attention.




8 comments:

Delwyn said...

Hi jelica

This is really another world - so medieval and so attractive at the same time...

I hope that you enjoyed your break away...

Happy Days

Lone Grey Squirrel said...

Another wonderful place that you are sharing with us. thanks. I remember enjoying the Jerusalem Church and the windmills along the canal too. One of my favorite little towns.

Anandi said...

Wgo knew you could look at pictures and feel like you've died and gone to heaven?

Dumdad said...

Myb wife and I went to Bruges a few years ago and enjoyed the town and the food and walking around. But I think the "Venice of the North" is stretching it a bit! (I know they all say that but...) Venice is whole different place.

Jelica said...

It's the canal that makes it similar to Venice, otherwise it's a whole different place. I used it ironically in the title of the post because there are so many places that boast to be Venice of the North, so the expression doesn't really mean much.

I_am_Tulsa said...

That's funny about "being like Venice"... I have never been there but the city I work in (Osaka) boasts to be the Venice of Japan, and it doesn't take a world wide traveller to know that that's a lot of over boasting! LOL

I love the cobblestone streets and the fact that a horse looks good traveling down those streets! Thank you for another trip!

Seaside Girl said...

I enjoyed the photos. Reminded me of a lovely pre-children holiday with husband number 1.

Unknown said...

I love Bruges! I was there in 2002, when it was European Capital of Culture (alongside Salamanca, my home town in Spain). I wanted to "compare" the two, and really enjoyed it!