Today was mostly cold and rainy and we were really tired, but we still had a nice time exploring Bruges. The architecture is very Dutch-looking and much of it is made of brick, which makes an interesting change from the stone buildings of southern England. There are little alleyways and many canals running through the city, both of which are lined with chocolate shops and lace shops. And as a bonus, everyone we attempted to speak to replied in fluent English.
Bruges (or Brugge in its Dutch form) is famed for being one of the most perfectly preserved medieval cities in Europe, but some of the buildings actually date from the 18th and 19th centuries and were made to look medieval. Interestingly, most of these buildings were constructed by Victorian British expats, who fell in love with the city's medievalism and set about making it "more perfect."
Given the bad weather we decided to ditch the one-mile walk and drove to a downtown parking lot. This was a somewhat delicate operation involving one-way streets and canal bridges, but not too bad. We spent four to five hours in town, during which we visited three churches and just had a general look around. It was nice to know we can return another day and we could take our time.
We started our sightseeing in the Markt, the main square of Brugge.
Ice rink in Markt square
One of the buildings of the Markt. This is one of the Victorian ones made to look medieval.
Markt square is dominated by the Belfort, an enormous municipal bell tower that was built in the 13th century when the town was at its richest. It has 47 bells that ring every hour. You can climb to the top, which would be well worth it on a nice day.
The Belfort a few hours later, in a dramatic moment of sunlight
Not far from the Markt is the other main square, the Burg. It is also lined with harmonious Gothic or neo-Gothic gabled buildings. My main interest was the grey one in the corner, which is the Basilica of the Holy Blood.
This was built in the 12th century to house an important relic - a vial said to contain the blood of Christ, collected by Joseph of Arimathea at the Crucifixion then obtained by the Count of Flanders in 1204 during the Second Crusade. Very Indiana Jones! The relic is still revered by Catholics today, and is taken out on solemn procession through Brugge every year on Ascension Day (May 25).
Broad stairs lead to the upper level of the basilica, where the Holy Blood is kept.
The first room you come to in the Upper Basilica is this one, with an impressive altar and frescoes depicting the history of the Blood.
Detail of the fresco. The whole Trinity is here - the dove representing the Holy Spirit (only room for his feet in this picture), God shown as an aged king, and Jesus on the cross. Note the angels collecting his blood into chalices.
Colorfully painted arches divide the first room from the next, which contains the shrine with the Holy Blood.
The shrine is a highly elaborate silver affair.
The vial of the Holy Blood is kept behind the doors beneath the sleeping lamb (representing Christ) and taken out only on special occasions.
The Lower Basilica is a much more austere Romanesque chapel, which happened to be holding its daily Mass when we were there. We joined the service for a bit, which was of course in Dutch so we didn't understand a word. We will probably return again when there's no service to take pictures.
Next was the Onze Lieve Vrowe Kerk, a mouthful that means "The Church of Our Dear Lady" - it's the Dutch equivalent of "Notre Dame" in French or "St. Mary's" in English. It was built from the 13th to 15th centuries and has a very tall brick spire - almost 400 feet high.
The main highlight of the interior is this beautiful marble sculpture of the Virgin and Child by Michelangelo. It was sculpted in 1504 for an Italian cathedral, but purchased by a Brugge merchant and donated to this church.
Also interesting was this wall of ex-votos in French and Dutch, given to the Virgin Mary in thanks for answered prayers. Most of them were dated between 1900 and 1910.
After this we had lunch in a restaurant on the Markt square, which thanks to its tourist-friendly location was overpriced and under tasty. But it filled our tummies at least. We were about ready to head home after that to relax and warm up, but then we noticed that it was nearly 2:00, when the cathedral (Sint-Salvatorskathedraal) opens. So we headed over there for one last photo session.
I'm glad we did, as it was the most interesting sight of the day. I hadn't expected too much, because it was not originally built to be a cathedral and was only raised to cathedral status in the 19th century. But it had a very high ceiling and lots of little details and artworks that we enjoyed exploring.
Exterior
Exterior near entrance
Interior
Choir with misericords (carved seats) and hanging tapestries
Painted roof boss
Painting from the 1600s of a flying house. This represents the story of the miracle of Loreto, in which the Virgin Mary's house was flown by angels from Jerusalem to a church in Loreto, Italy. Yep, seriously.
Tombs painted with murals! I really dig medieval murals and I've never seen tombs with them before, so this was very cool. David discovered them in a room under the tower.
A recently-discovered mural of an angel, still with scaffolding in front for restoration.
Then we did make it back to our car, just as the sun was setting (not that we could see it behind the clouds) and the temperature dropped even further. We relaxed in the room for awhile and I almost fell asleep, but then David encouraged me to come with him to a local supermarket he had learned about from hotel reception. Mainly we wanted a supply of Pepsi Max for the room (there's even an ice machine down the hall!) and a few snacks for peckish evenings.
It turned out to be a fun cultural experience in itself. The store was a warehouse-like affair, like a small Costco or maybe Winco. We were certainly the only foreigners there so it was fun to have a look at "Belgian daily life" (not that it's much different from anywhere else). And it was especially cool to browse the store shelves and see what's popular.
Perhaps not surprisingly, there were two huge shelves full of nothing but waffles. But unfortunately, true Belgian waffles are not the same as the American food by that name. Waffles from Belgium are not a hot breakfast food you put syrup on, but a sweet dessert, often served with ice cream or coated in hardened chocolate. They are very sugary (to the point of being grainy) and I don't really like them much.
Also notable was the huge refrigerated room that held the cheese and produce. Walking in there was like walking into a cheese. Stinky! The cheeses on offer were quite different from those in Britain. I only saw one cheddar (of which the UK has a few dozen types), and that took a long time to find.
Most prevalent was gouda, in both Belgian and Holland varieties. There was also Swiss cheese and various French spreading cheeses. The Belgian cheeses were unfamiliar and included "Abbey Cheese" and "Old Brugge Cheese." We bought some of the latter, but haven't tried it yet.
Then we had dinner in the hotel restaurant again, this time having what they call a "snack" of spaghetti bolognese. It was quite a bargain as the serving was huge, the spaghetti was delicious, and it came with chewy bread and French butter.
We are playing tomorrow by ear, but we generally plan to stay in Bruges rather than taking a day trip. We might see an art museum, maybe another church, and do more aimless wandering.
