Blog – 65 In Bruges

Not the movie, the town in Belgium

In 2008 the movie In Bruges was released. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Bruges  It is a very dark comedy about criminals and the crimes they commit. At the time I was indifferent to this film; the jokes were too British, the violence too real. Fast forward 10 years and we were living in London; we were now four hours away from Bruges, we watched the film again.

Such a dark film; it is actually black. It was however, filmed almost entirely on location in Bruges, Belgium. The best part of the movie was the city. We put it on the list; the ‘maybe we should go there while we are living in Europe’ list. We were not enthusiastic about visiting. Some online reviewers said there is not much to do there, that there is no night-life. But, we wanted to do a test run of going to Belgium on the train and we only wanted to use a weekend; so [boring] Bruges it was. We are not looking for night-life anyway.

Visitors to Bruges can focus their time by museums, churches, gardens, shopping, architecture, https://www.visitbruges.be/visit  or even major sites from the movie. https://www.discoveringbelgium.com/bruges-walking-tour/ We organized our time by food and drink. We would use some time to scout out inviting restaurants; those with outdoor seating, umbrellas, and, of course, patio string lights. We set aside times by making reservations for a chocolate museum https://choco-story-brugge.be/nl/ and a brewery tour. https://www.halvemaan.be/nl/brouwerijbezoek And we would use some time to climb the Brugge Belfry. https://www.visitbruges.be/en/belfort-belfry It is our sightseeing tradition to see if there is a tall structure in a town, and then climb it.  As we made our way to our pre-selected points we visited churches, walked through gardens, did a little shopping, admired the architecture of countless buildings, and even hit a few sites from the movie – including all 366 steps of the Belfry.  

  • Linda on the Minnewater bridge (Film location #1)
Andy on the Minnewater bridge too
  • Inside
    St Salvator’s Cathedral
  • Across the nave of St. Salvador’s
This is inside St. Madgalene’s church.
Their theme for the summer is Faith, Hope, and Love.
It is an immersive experience under a cobalt blue ceiling. https://www.yot.be/nl/aanbod/activiteiten_projecten/geloof_hoop_liefde_zomer_2021_in_de_magdalenakerk/1267
We walked through multiple parks; these are Koning Albert park and Astrid park (film loc 16)

  • De Halve Maan Brewery (The Half Moon)
We are inside the Brewery courtyard, but which way to start the tour?
  • Quite the tour; many steps, many steep stairs and even stairs that could well be ladders
But the tour and the view from the top were well worth it!
By the time folks have finished the tour and tasted all the beer; a good time is had by all
  • The Choco museum was not as much fun as the brewery tour –
    but they did give us chocolate – so there’s that
As Andy’s pictures show, the architecture is facinating.
Many buildings are similar to the Dutch
(Belgium was part of the Netherlands at one time),
but also beautiful in their own right.
Andy’s favorite building picture from Bruges
And, so many arches and gateways too
Not just the buildings; the buildings plus the water is something to see too
Sunday morning we were at Market Square (film loc #6) to see the horses getting ready
to pull their carriages filled with tourists around the town
On the other side of the Square, it was time for us to make our climb to the top of the Belfry
(film location #7) (Another picture taken by Andy)
As we start the climb, the view of Market Square is still quite clear
From the top, the individual details of the Square are no longer visable
This view made me think that I could see from the past below to the future in the distance
In the other direction, we could see forever
Unlike the movie though; you can see that we were never in any danger of falling out of the building.
Back down the steps, for a view of the Belfry from the inner courtyard
  • By taking a look down an alley …
  • we discover the cutest cafe; and a true Belgian waffle – yum!
Soon it is time to take the train back to Amsterdam.
We changed trains in Antwerpen; a treasure of a station from the early 1900″s.
Modernization was accomplished by going down three more levels,
allowing the original building to remain intact.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antwerpen-Centraal_railway_station

We loved Bruges! It is easily walkable, has tons of character, great waterways; and it’s known for chocolate, beer, waffles, frites (‘French fries’), lace and tapestries. All wrapped up in some beautifully picturesque locations that are all movie worthy, whether they were In Bruges, or not.

And then we were back to Amsterdam.
Sunset on the Brouwersgracht

4 thoughts on “Blog – 65 In Bruges”

  1. I am glad that you were able to make it out of the country and back without any problems. Hopefully, you get to do some more exploring of BENELUX while you are there.

  2. The cathedral is absolutely stunning. Also the local architecture is wonderful.

    Continue to be safe and enjoy!!
    Vicki

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