Bruges Revisited

In the midst of the round of festive activity in December, the Advent season does not seen complete without the annual pilgrimage to a continental Christmas market. Just like last year, it was again the turn of Bruges in West Flanders on an excursion with Oak Hall Expeditions.

This trip was a perfect opportunity for a reunion with Dave and Steve from the Sweden cycling holiday. The lads decided that the best inspiration for the trip was to watch the film In Bruges with Colin Farrell on the night before departure, the sole rationale appearing to be that the name of the city is in the film title. This had parallels with the comedy series, Father Ted, when the eponymous hero and friends face a difficult issue then sit down to watch The Poseidon Adventure for some inspiration, reasoning that Gene Hackman plays a priest in the film.

The excursion started at 0800 on Saturday morning at familiar Oak Hall meeting point near Sevenoaks in Kent. It was also an opportunity for the tour company’s imposing new Van Hool Astromega TX27 coach to pay a visit back to its homeland. Whenever the slightly sneering quiz question is asked about naming some famous Belgians, The Clog will always have a place for the name of Bernard Van Hool alongside Eddy Merckx, John Claude Van Damme and that President of the EU Council who no one ever remembers.

The journey itself was very smooth and straightforward, taking the familiar route down to Eurotunnel at Folkestone. There were over 80 people on the coach and I sat with Steve down at the front of the upper deck. Unlike my previous coach journey with Steve, he had mellowed somewhat and didn’t mention England’s 1966 world cup win until we had passed the Belgian border. Dave ended up looking like a coach travelling version of Austin Powers as he took his seat alongside an assortment of ladies on the back seat. I also noticed that in among the gathering on the coach was someone who looked as if he was a facsimile of Marcus Mumford, frontman of Mumford and Sons.

On arrival, we were in agreement that going somewhere for a spot of lunch and we chose a restaurant in the main market square, Restaurant La Civiere D’Or. This venue was famous for the fact that it was visited by Hollywood superstar, Audrey Hepburn. This was something that the restaurant didn’t like to mention apart from the fact that her signature was on every table mat. I opted for Mussels, a signature dish in the city. The dish was garnished with a creamy, white wine sauce and served in a large pot with a lid that doubled as a disposal point for empty shells. Eating mussels can be a labour intensive process as it is recommended that you use the previous empty shell to prize out the mussel from the full shell. This prompted one of our group to wryly observe that mussels were like a meal and an activity.

 

 

 

Many of our group chose the Flemish stew option which created a talking point as the restaurant used to prepare this with beef but curiously had scored this ingredient off the menu. Steve also ordered a glass of Hoegaarden blonde beer which curiously was sold only in small or medium quantities. When the medium glass of beer arrived, we were astonished to see that it was almost the size of Steve’s head, this fact gave us concerns that he may face liver problems.

Following the trip to the restaurant, there was an opportunity to stop in main Christmas market for a cup of Gluhwein and a delicious crepe with Nutella and cream. The Christmas Market is in Markt square, the beating heart of the city. Inspite of Belgium being the home of EU government, there was little evidence of competition barriers being broken down as every stall had the same pricing for their tasty treats.

 

 

We then headed out of the square and down to one of the many canals that contribute to the ‘Venice of the North’ accolade enjoyed by the city. A 35 minute boat trip round cost a reasonable €7.60 and covered 5km of waterways around the centre of the city. The waiting times for a place on a boat were around 15 minutes and as we waited, it was a good opportunity to shoot the breeze with the others. During these chats, one of our group revealed that she had once accidently taken a lost dog to a dinner party. This revelation certainly wins a random stories ‘top trumps’ contest although probably also makes her the Come Dine with Me contestant from hell.

The first part of the journey took us past the city belfry and up towards the picturesque Jan Van Eyck Square, where a statue of the Flemish Primitive painter stands. We then turned back down the canal and past the imposing structure of the Church of Our Lady and further down to the city brewery. The city looked equally as impressive in the twilight of evening as it did in daylight. Alongside the banks of the canal, there were many impressive townhouses in the traditional Dutch architectural style. The guide told us that some of the houses that we sailed past had been recently sold, prices he quoted ranged from €800K to €3m. We were told that this was much better value than Amsterdam, where similar properties have been sold for up to €12m.

 

 

 

 

A trip to this city is not complete without visiting at least one of the many chocolatiers. We went to Stefs which was near to the main market square. One shop nearby seemed to adopt the tactics of the child catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, by standing at the door offering the opportunity to try some of their delicious wares completely free. This had the desired effect as some of our group parted with some more Euros to feed their chocolate habit. This shop also sold the delicious artisan marzipan that is popular in Benelux.

It would seem rude to visit Belgium and not sample some beer.  With over 180 breweries in the country, there is no shortage of choice. The boys had done some extensive research on pubs in the city centre and found one that stocked over 400 varieties of beer. There was an extensive wooden covered menu on each table cataloguing the extensive inventory of nectar that was held within the vaults of the pub. Unfortunately, Dave and Steve seemed to run out of ideas and resorted to asking the waitress for some recommendations even though she was smaller than some other drinkers’ beer guts. The easy to drink cherry beer, Kriek, was favoured by two of us and the other side of the table favoured the waitress sponsored option of a locally brewed beer.

 

The city has a heritage dating back to the 12^th century, around 700 years longer than the country of Belgium. Bruges possesses an easy charm and warmth with its colourful buildings and canals. There is an air of grandeur around the city with the perfectly preserved medieval structures but in a more unassuming rather than suck-up, overpowering manner. It is this sort of accessible majesty that has captured the hearts of millions of visitors and compels them to return time and again.