In 2017 I came to Brugge as part of a cruise port of call. Part of my heart fell in love with the place. I needed to come back and explore it more. Let’s pack up the hotel room and head 1.5 hours west.
If you recall from landing in Brussels, this land is mostly farms. Corn is everywhere out the window on the trip.
And just like that, we’re here. Initial epiphany – never home base out of Brugge. Unlike most other cities in this region, the walk to town is 20 minutes, over cobblestones. This walk sucks. Just take the train in for the day. The random views around corners do help soften the constant luggage wheels thumping over each stone.
This next hotel might be one of the most convenient of the trip. Walk outside the front door and the views don’t disappoint. The fourth picture is the Basilica of the Holy Blood. It’s said that the building contains a cloth stained with the blood of Christ,
Tn 1150 it’s brought to Brugge by Count Thierry (Diederik) of Alsace, who received it either during the Second Crusade or from his brother-in-law, the King of Jerusalem, at a time when the Holy Land was under Crusader control. The story holds that the cloth had been used to wipe the body of Christ after the crucifixion and had absorbed drops of his blood, and that it had been preserved in Jerusalem since the time of the Crucifixion, later passing through Constantinople. It’s been on display in this building consistently since then. Even the Catholic church validates this story.
Let’s continue our walk to the main Markt and maybe we explore one of the many chocolate shops.
As the train didn’t get me here until after noon, I’m beat and hungry. The mussels here are famous since we’re so close to the ocean. Truth be told, it’s worth the hype. Also learned that unless the pot the mussels come in are piping hot that means they were cooked in a generic pot – so less flavor in the broth. Let’s enjoy while using fries as bread, take in the canal view and savor a little break.
In the last chapter we talked about how people with wealth would build chapels to try to position their families in better grace with God. Liberties were often taken to try to get more brownie points with the heavens. A great example is the Jerusalem Chapel.
In 1429, The Adornes family, a very wealthy merchant family, begins building a family chapel / library. They hand the building to their son who eventually goes to Jerusalem and is taken by the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. He returns home and tells the family they need to rebuild part of it ti mirror that building. Sadly, the work doesn’t help the son much as he’s assassinated for being too friendly with King James III of Scotland. The did manage to cut his heart out and return it to the chapel so it could be buried with his wife (who had died a few years earlier). Amazingly, this building is still owned by descendants of the same family. It also has the oldest stained glass in all of Belgium.
That’s enough walking today. Let;s get some chocolate where the locals go … and it’s so delicious.
After a quick nap, inside the Market is the Belfry of Bruges. You might recall we hiked it in 2017. At 8pm the bells ring out songs, nonstop for an hour. Maybe this is a sign to come out and enjoy the nighttime beauty. The tour groups are all gone and it is really pretty.
The love of waffles here is legit. In the region, folks want sweets kind of like how US folks want salty treats.