Beautiful Bruges

We rode a shuttle to the terminal at Zeebrugge and then another shuttle into the town of Bruges, pronounced “broozh”.  No assuming that French is the official language here as this part of northern Belgium has Dutch or Flemish  spoken here, although everyone we talked to spoke English except for our bus driver.  The plan was to do a three hour walking tour but we only ended up going on half of  it in order to have some time for exploring on our own.  These were a couple of our views as we followed our guide, Andy, into the town's old Medieval center.

We were lucky enough to be here the time of year when they have these lovely boats full of flowers floating in one of the many canals in the city.

We were definitely into a more Germanic type of architectural style here.  I loved all the different types of chimneys in the photo on the right.

Another of the lovely buildings on the canal.

This spot is called The Lake of Love, a spot where people would come to get their water. .  The name came from a old story that's told about a girl named Minna who fell in love with a young man named Strom that her father didn't approve of.  They meet secretly but eventually Strom must leave to go help fight against the Roman invaders.  With him away Minna's father tells her that she will marry the man he chooses.  Instead, Minna runs away so when Strom returns days later he goes in search of Minna, only to find her dying.  After she dies in his arms he buries her, backing up the water and creating the Lake of Love.  These days it's also called Minnewater Lake, and it's really just a wide spot in the canal

Belgium is famous for its lace and this piece hanging in the window was eye catching.

In 1245 a group of lay women, widowed or single, first decided to dedicate their lives to service here in Bruges, becoming known as the Beguins. 

They built small communities to support one another within a specific area of town and these became the Beguinages or Beglijnhofs.  

The current buildings on this peaceful UNESCO site are from the 17th century and while inhabited by just eight Benedictine nuns you are welcome to wander the gardens and grounds. 

Not far from the Beguin complex is another canal where one shore was loaded with swans the cygnets, or baby swans, who are all well taken care of, almost pampered.

Legend has it that in 1382 the taxes were raised exorbitantly high which led a curse being put on the city that if they didn't maintain at least 52 swans within the boundaries the city would flood.  Apparently the curse threat is taken seriously as the swans are fed, checked by veterinarians, and protected.  So far so good with the flooding I guess.

Does this swan remind anyone else of a certain fairy tale?

Markt Street was hustling and bustling.  We saw lots of friends from the ship wandering about enjoying the perfect weather.

Walking the cobblestone streets you had to beware of taxis, cars, horse and buggies, and probably the most dangerous, little old ladies on bicycles, or really anyone on a bicycle.

This quiet spot just off of busy Markt Street was known as a God's House and had been around since around 1330.  It was a spot of peace in the midst of a busy city, a place to come stay for free if you were in need.  Most often is was used by injured soldiers, or widows of fishermen, all they were required to do in return for the hospitality was to pray for the souls of whoever had donated the homes in the hopes that it would help get them to heaven.  There are over 30 of these spots throughout the city and they are still used today to house the poor.

Sally and her sister Holly, along with Chris, joined the cruise in Southampton to sail along with us until Copenhagen.  It's fun to see these two sisters enjoying time together when two years ago they didn't even know one another.

This is the small altar outside the God's House that those staying there would have prayed at.

More pieces of Belgian lace hanging in the windows.  It's such a great idea!

We saw a lot of statues of Mary throughout Bruges.

One of the older structures in the city is the St. John's Hospital that dates back to at least 1188, a place that originally cared for the poor, the sick, and pilgrims traveling through Bruges.

Later on it grew larger and became an actual hospital that was in use until the 1970's when the city decided it was time for an upgrade.  It now houses one of the best museums in the Bruges.

The tower of the Church of Our Lady, gave us the first glimpse of our most anticipated destination of the day. 

Dating back to the 13th century this Catholic church has both Gothic and Baroque features.  It is the tallest structure in the city and one of the oldest.  We'll get to the inside a bit later.

During WW2 crosses were taken from churches so that specific churches wouldn't be identified and bombed.  These pieces happened to be stored here in Bruges, but unfortunately no one thought to write down which church which cross belonged to so they could be returned to the proper building after the war.  Since they were consecrated to a specific church they couldn't be placed anywhere else so they have stayed here in the church yard.

View of tower of what looks to me like a Medieval palace that belonged to a wealthy family next door to the church.

The home itself is massive but one of the things that made you know they were wealthy was that they owned 147 books.  While that may not sound like a lot to you and me, when you consider that these merchants lived prior to the days of the printing press and that each of these books was an illuminated manuscript, the handwritten kind that looks like a piece of art on every page, that number is a lot.

Outside the Church of Our Lady there was once a cemetery.  When it was decided that the bodies needed to be exhumed and moved to a plot further from the center of town the gravestones were repurposed to build this picturesque bridge over the canal.

You can still see the name markings on some of them, making it just a bit eerie if you think about it much.

Overall this UNESCO Old Town center has a marvelously preserved medieval core, one of the best in Europe with picturesque buildings and cobblestone streets as you've been able to see.  Some call it the “Venice of the North” for its multitude of canals and over 80 bridges.  

Bruges has always been a trading center, growing wealthy in the 12th century on the cloth trade.  By the 14th century it had the same population as London and was the most important textile market in northern Europe.  Unfortunately by the 16th century the harbor began to fill with silt, the economy collapsed, and Bruges became a lifeless city until the 19th century when Zeebrugge ((ZAY-brew-gah) was created and the area was revitalized.  It's definitely become a cruise destination as there were two ships in port that day.

The five of us were now off to visit the curch to make one of Karl's long awaited dreams come true.  It you don't know what it is already, hang in there, you'll find out soon. 

Part of the interior of the Church of our Lady is open to anyone and part is a pseudo-museum that you pay to enter.  We paid our €8 apiece, which also included free admission to the restroom across that way that was charging €1 to enter.  Too bad we didn't know that before Sally and Holly went to use the facilities!  Anyways, after we got business taken care of we entered the church.  It was light and open but you can see how a large part of it was blocked from view here.

Another lovely Madonna.

This church wasn't overly ornate in any way, it was pretty in it simplicity.

The ceiling showed vestiges of the colors that once adorned it.

There were some individual stained glass windows,

along with this set of three at the end of the church at what was once the altar.

One of the interesting parts of the church were these painted graves.  At the end of the 13th century it became custom to paint the inside of the brick-lined graves.  Scenes would show what people of the Medieval Ages thought about the afterlife.  

Often there were pictures of Mary and baby Jesus there to intercede with God on the deceased behalf.  There would also probably be a picture of the crucified Christ near the head, brining redemption, and angels on the sides to accompany the soul to heaven.

The Flemish painters did fine work.  I loved this one of Mary with scenes from her life, sad though the overall feel was.

While you may think this is a painting of a group of Bruges merchants having a meal it is actually a 16th century painting of The Last Supper by an artist named Pieter Pourbus.

And finally, it's time to check out the reason for our visit to Church of Our Lady, to see the the Michelangelo sculpture, Madonna and Child, that is housed here.  It was the only piece of his work to leave Italy during his lifetime when it was purchased by Mouscron brothers of Bruges in 1504.  It's only left Bruge twice since then, once during the French Revolution when it was taken to Paris to be on display in the Louvre, and then later on during WW2 when it became a piece of the stolen art hoard that was found in a salt mine, then returned, as depicted in the movie, "Monument Men".

This gorgeous and intricate sculpture was somewhat controversial in its time as most works featuring the Madonna and Child had Christ as a baby, not a little child.  There is something knowing in Mary's face, a tenderness for her little boy that she knows will bear so much during his lifetime, but there is also such sweetness in His face and in how they are holding hands.  I fell in love with the sculpture as soon as I saw it, more than worth the price of admission.  We just sat and contemplated them for a while in this peaceful place.  And now there is only one last piece of Michelangelo sculpture that we haven't seen, the one that may prove the hardest to get to, located in The Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia.

On the way out we passed by the most ornate structure in the entire church, the pulpit.  When the Reformation began, with people leaving the Catholic church, they decided to make their pulpits more central and also made the churches more ornate in an effort to draw people back, the Counter-Reformation.  This early Rococo style (fancy, fancy style) design is from that period, the mid 18th century.

It was now time to take care of our hungry stomachs.  Besides eating chocolate we wanted to try some Belgian fries since we learned that fries were invented here in Belgium during WW1,, not in France.  We also learned that you are supposed to eat them with mayonnaise, not catsup.  At the Fritbar they had all kinds of loaded fries, I chose pulled pork for mine, which also meant it had mayonnaise, bbq sauce, cheese, onions and some parsley on them, oh were they DELICIOUS!

I would have to agree with this sign at the restaurant.  If I'd had time and room in my stomach there were a lot more varieties of fries I'd have liked to have tried.

Our only regret was that we were too full to try one of the scrumptious smelling Belgian waffles we saw all over town.  Sigh.  It gives us a reason to come back, for those and for more of the most delicious chocolate ever!