Postcards from Emily and Gloria
Heart of Belgium and Holland in 11 Days
Bruges
After we had our chocolate demonstration at Pralinette, Mom, Lori, and I had to find a place to have lunch. We were fairly hungry but we had seen a nearby restaurant that was open - we were at the point in the day where restaurants close between lunch and dinner - so we went and found a simple sandwich there. That's a good tip to remember in Europe - lots of things close between peak hours, so try and plan accordingly when you can! Now we had the rest of the day to ourselves to explore Bruges, and we had a few things on our to-do list: we wanted to see the Begijnof/Beguinage, Oud Sint-Janshospitaal, and De Halve Maan Brewery (that Nico had arranged a tour of with a beer tasting).
I loved the look of that chocolate shop in the top image - and the only reason that I didn't put that one into a postcard was because it seemed visually similar to the image of Pietje Pek that I sent to my Aunt Betty.
The entrance to Old Saint John's Hospital: the Hospital is located next to the Church of Our Lady where the Madonna and Child sculpture is held. The Hospital includes some of Europe's oldest surviving medical buildings, and was founded in the 12th century, and saw patients during the famous Bubonic Plague of the Middle Ages. The Hospital only stopped operating as an active medical facility in 1977.
The Begijnhof (or Beguinage) is a wonderfully serene park-like place in the middle of the city that began in the 13th century. It was one of the few places where unmarried women could live together in a closed community with relative independence and emancipation from the male-dominated society outside of their walls. There are still a few nuns and other women who live there today - the gates do still close at dusk though, so be sure to visit before nightfall.
If we didn't have other places we wanted to visit, I would have stayed here a while to paint, and just take in the calm atmosphere among the spring flowers.
The daffodils (my favorite flower!) were in bloom all over the courtyard of the Begijnhof, adding a little bit of variation into the vibrant green of the moss and grass. There was something about the little stream flowing through there that I found very charming.
Not far from the Begijnhof was De Halve Maan Brewery (The Half Moon Brewery) where we were due to meet up as a group to tour the beer-making process of the brewery and taste some of the varieties made there (for non-drinkers, there were water and soft drink options as well). The courtyard of the brewery was full of people, locals and tourists alike, enjoying a taste of the last authentic family-owned brewery inside of the city of Bruges.
The brewery began in 1856, and is currently owned by the sixth generation of the same family. They are known for three main beer varieties - Brugse Zot, Straffe, and Blanche de Bruges. I tried the Straffe, and if you're a beer lover who enjoys a beer that is higher in yeast flavor and lower in hops, this one could be for you.
Something to note if you come here with a tour or on your own - the tour here includes a lot of very steep steps and temperatures can be quite high inside, so if you're very sensitive to heat like I am, take care: it can be pretty toasty in there!
At least there's a nice frosty beverage awaiting you at the end, right?
TRAVEL TIP
Part of the beauty of a Rick Steves tour, even if it's not a "My Way" tour, is the freedom you have to choose your own activities. You can opt into as many or as few things as you want to do; so while the tours ARE definitely active, you can take things at your own pace. If an optional outing is too much for you, that's okay!
Everyone made their way back to the hotel, or to other destinations in Bruges on their own when the brewery tour was over, and we'd had time to sit and chat with fellow tour members over our drinks. Mom, Lori, and I elected to start heading back to the hotel since we were all pretty beat from a long day, and ready to kick up our feet for a while. But we still stopped for dessert on the way! Next to Mom is the evidence of our shopping habit - some Christmas ornaments we purchased for my Mom's sisters. Usually we try to find flat ornaments because they pack much better to take home without taking up so much room - but we were hard-pressed to find any in Bruges.
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We all had a different flavor of ice cream with our waffles. Mom had salted caramel, and I had Speculoos (a type of cinnamon cookie, the famous brand being Biscoff). We were all very happy, so sugar must be the cure for aching feet!
After our waffle-break, we were almost back to the hotel and I looked at Mom and said "...is that a Food Lion?", as we stopped in a grocery store to get a few items for our room. Turns out, yes! The Food Lion brand was actually bought by Delhaize, a Belgian company in 1974. So maybe back home in Maryland we ought to be saying, oh look, it's a Delhaize!
Happy "Free Day"!
On your Rick Steves tour, you'll usually have at least one day where there are no group sightseeing activities planned, so that you can take things at your own pace, and explore whatever you're personally interested in! Some people choose to go to museums, some choose to go shopping, some just wander around and see whatever strikes their fancy. Mom and Lori really wanted to see the windmills at the edge of the medieval city center (a few of which are still in operation), and we also wanted to use the Musea Brugge pass that Nico had given all of us, so we added the Folk Museum to our itinerary. The Folk Museum (Volkskundemuseum in Dutch) was the first stop, as it was on the way from the city center on our way towards the windmills.
You can probably tell from my wild hair that today began with a little bit of wind and drizzle. Luckily it never rained hard enough to deter us, but we brought along our mini umbrellas anyway in case of any surprise downpours.
Color theory fact from the artist: most colors actually look more vibrant and true to themselves on overcast days. So don't despair if you're a photography fan, your pictures will still turn out fabulous!
The Folk Museum has artifacts and displays that show was normal, daily life was like in Bruges during the 19th and early 20th centuries. They have rooms modelled to look like a pharmacy, schoolhouse, grocery store, and more. The museum itself sits in restored laborers' housing.
After we toured the Folk Museum, we were ready to take a bit of a break from the chilly damp outside air, so we found a place that was on our route to have lunch. And as it turned out, the place we chose - Cafe Vlissinghe - was the oldest cafe in Bruges, founded in 1515! Mom had soup, and I had a grilled cheese with salad. The inside was packed with people from all over; we heard many different languages while we ate, even sharing our communal table with some ladies from Germany, while a French group was at the large table in the center.
The interior still has elements of the original tavern that was founded here in 1515, and the style of the eating area felt really reminiscent of it's former self - you could really imagine people a few hundred years ago coming here for something to eat and a drink.
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Sometimes the "weird" museums are the most fun. Embrace the whimsy! Embrace the unique!
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If you enjoy keeping a physical journal, take advantage of the free materials you come across! You never know what exactly you'll want to add to the pages at the end of the day. Sometimes even napkins with logos on them can be a good background piece for your page!
When I'm working on my journal, I like to keep all sorts of bits and bobs from the day to add in, such as pamphlets, ticket stubs, business cards - even things like teabag or snack wrappers. This particular page still has just a hint of lingering tea aroma. I might look a little silly at the time when I'm collecting these things, but I don't mind, because it makes my journal all the more personal to me.
As I mentioned before, Lori is our friend from a previous tour in Ireland - she admired my postcards so much that I had her put her address on a blank one, and sent her a postcard from home once we got back to the USA - I chose the windmill, because I had noticed she really enjoyed them. And it was raining lightly when we got to it, so I used a splattering technique with very watered down gray watercolor to give the impression of the raindrops. What do you think?
We made it to the windmills! The one we went to was one of the ones still in operation, and they're all located in some green space that the city reserved to the benefit of the citizens, forming a ring of park-like area where we saw lots of people walking and riding their bicycles (or fiets - pronounced feets - as Nico taught us to call out when one was approaching the group so we could go to one side of the road and out of the cyclist's way).
I think these buildings were residential, but I just found them so charming! I love the baby blue wood and the vines growing on the other house. As with a lot of places in Europe, there isn't much detached housing like we're used to, at least not in cities. But each house still has a distinct character all it's own.
The last stop of the day we had all been highly anticipating since arriving in Bruges: Lizzie's Wafels! We didn't know before we arrived, but the interior of the restaurant can only seat a small number of people at one time, and we weren't the only ones who were aware of just how good their food is. Although they were full, the lady who met us at the door when I poked my head inside was very kind and offered to call us inside when a table opened up, since we were willing to wait outside. And boy, was it worth it!
When they say extra-large waffles, they MEAN extra-large waffles. You can see just how big it was, and we decided to split it between the three of us, which was a good call. Mom and Lori ordered lattes to go with their waffle. Unfortunately, oat milk or other non-dairy milk don't seem to really be "a thing" in Europe in most restaurants, so I opted for an earl gray tea since I'm lactose intolerant and forgot my lactaid at the hotel. That'll teach me!
During the beer and chocolate raffle that Nico had for the group in Ghent, he had also told us about some traditional candies from Belgium called Virgin Marys. They have the texture of the 'circus peanuts' candies we have here, sort of like a chewy marshmallow? I loved it when these ones showed up "in the wild", along with some speculoos cookies to go with the warm drinks.
But after our dessert, it was time to go back to the hotel and prepare ourselves and our bags to travel to our next destination in the morning - Delft, with a few pit stops along the way at the Maeslantkering storm surge barrier, and a small town in the Zeeland region of the Netherlands called Zierikzee.
Goodbye Belgium, we'll miss you...
and hello Netherlands, nice to meet you!
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Take joy wherever you find it. For us, it's the simple things, like a cozy cup of coffee and enjoying the time with your travel companions.