Top 10 Travel Tips - October 2007
When you touch down or step off the train in the Belgian capital, you're less than an hour away by train from the scenic city of Bruges. Once you're there - there's a plethora of things to see and do in this perfectly preserved city. To help you narrow it down I've dedicated this month's Top 10 to the best and most affordable fun things to do in this charming Belgian city.
1. Feeling Mighty Fine at the Chocolate Line
The Chocolate Line - For something sweet in between the beers and the sightseeing, take yourself down to The Chocolate Line. This is something super special in Bruges because the chocolates are all made on site, using the best organic ingredients around. Take my word for it – the salted caramels are to die for. These were made purely for selfish indulgence but the guilt of bringing presents back for family and friends always remains. With that in mind head down to the super markets on Oude Burg, Langestraat or Noordzandstraat for some deliciously discounted boxes of the brands you recognize.
2. Just Add Water
Canal Based Boat Tours – Bruges is a small enough city but like most places with narrow cobbled streets and reasonably tall buildings, it can be hard to get your bearings. The antidote to this is a reasonably priced boat tour - starting from the canal, just south of Burg Square. All boat tours are priced at around the €10 mark and most tour guides are fluent in English, German, French, Dutch and of course the slightly more throaty Flemish. The tour guides can be quite rude and demand tips at the end but don't feel obliged. Manners go a long way.
3. Coffee and Cake and Bread – Oh My
Het Dagelijks Brood – The whiff of fresh bread that drifts out of this place is overpowering and somehow drags you in. When you're inside you can enjoy the hidden delights of this café and sit with a mix of fellow travellers, local city folk and other assorted individuals. If you like a long wooden table, gigantic blocks of butter, home made jams and staff who are compatible with hangovers, then you'll love this place. If this cafe were an armoury the desserts would be the big guns, the bread would be the ammunition store and the sharp coffees would be the sniper rifles. You'll find this little haven near the Burg on Philipstockstraat.
4. Finger Licking Good
The Choco Story – When you walk in you get a free chocolate. When you walk through you get to smell chocolate. At the end you get to watch chocolate being made and on the way out you get a free chocolate. Basically by the end there's no chance that you won't buy chocolate from the gift shop. These guys know what they're doing. Between cocoa cravings it's worth sitting through the movie upstairs which narrates the history and production process, in a variety of languages. Refreshingly this history lesson is by no means stuffy and it mesmerises even the most disinterested minds. The Choco Story is a mere €6 to get in and you'll find it just north of the city centre on Wijnzakstraat.
5. Red Velvet at it's Very Best
The Cinema Lumiere – If you have a free evening in this city, where bars stay open to Crazy.O.Clock, then this is a guaranteed good time. The Cinema Lumiere is an independent picture house without the typical pretentious price tag. Here you can watch films in a whole variety of languages and the red velvet seats are a nice plush bonus when you're on a backpacker budget. You'll find it at 36 Sint Jacobsstraat, just up from Markt Square - but it's only open in the evening. Tickets are about €7 and just like the rest of Bruges, it's a picture perfect setting.
6. Move Over Orient Express
Getting to Bruges is easy. All you need do is fly or catch a train to Brussels. Then from the Belgian capital it's a one hour train ride to this charming little city. Here's something a little special though. If you happen to arrive in Brussels on the Eurostar then your international train ticket entitles you to FREE onward travel to anywhere in Belgium. The same deal also applies if you take the Eurostar on your way out of the country of chocolate. When I did it I paid £29.50 from London Waterloo to Brussels and the same for the return. I like London to Bruges and back again for £59!
7. Free Belgian Beer
After a full day of sight seeing a great place to kick back and have a nice meal is the Sacre Coeur restaurant. A little know fact about this place is that all meals come with a complimentary voucher which entitles you to three, free beer samples. Try saying that ten times fast. The menu is varied and the food reflects the city you're in. All ingredients are sourced locally and the Pizza rivals the authentic Italian approach.
8. Square-cut or Pear-Shaped These Rocks Don't Loose Their Shape
On my fun packed list of things to do in Bruges I made room for a little trip to the Diamond Museum. Here you can witness a hilariously entertaining polishing session, everyday at 12.15pm. The diamond master is Devos Jan and when he's done scaring the life out of women by pretending to destroy their wedding rings, he'll teach you everything you ever wanted to know about diamonds, their prices and what they're used for. The rest of the museum is intriguing but the multi lingual guide is definitely the highlight when he shows you just how those canary cut monstrosities get onto the fingers of the rich and famous. You can find the museum on Katelijnestraat.
9. A Spot of Sampling at the Markets
For food don't miss the market on 't Zand. Saturday mornings see the best offers come out to play but if you're around mid week then you can have a little stall based fun in Markt Square on Wednesday mornings. There's fresh fish, fruit and vegetables, roasted nuts, a tipple of wine and more cheese than you can shake a stick at. If you don't fancy paying for a meal then by all means exercise your right to a free sample from every stall. I did and I can assure you that by the end you'll have consumed your own body weight in a rather diverse range of courses!
10. Exotic Primitives
A museum that should definitely be part of your search pattern is the Groeninge. I was lucky enough to be there for the Exotic Primitives exhibition. This was an interesting spin on how Flemish primitives reacted to the spice of life that came flooding into Belgium after the discovery of the new world. Think of it as the 15th century equivalent to George Bush becoming president and stepping out of America for the first time. The museum is always abreast of the best exhibits and at €8 a ticket it won't break the bank. You can find the museum just off Dijver - near the city centre.
- Rob Savage
