Brugge, Belgium

We decided before we flew to Brussels that we were not going to plan out our entire time in Europe and see what happened. While we were on the walking tour in Brussels, I asked our guide where else we should visit in Belgium-he suggested Brugge, so we went. 

This city is one of the best preserved Medieval towns in Europe. We arrived at the main train station, boarded a city bus, and started toward our hotel. We checked into our hotel and headed out to do a brewery tour. 

We got a there a few minutes late (because we got lost in the city streets), so we were unable to join the tour. The employee moved our registration to the next day and we walked back to the hotel, because it was rainy and cold outside. 

Belgium is famous for frites, which are double fried French fries. We shared some for dinner that night and I tried a cheeseburger and Brennan ate a sausage.

On Monday, we were able to do the brewery tour. I was expecting it to be fairly basic and small based on what we saw on Sunday, but it was very interesting! This brewery has been in this location in Brugge for 5 generations. They still brew all the beer here and we were able to see the modern brewing areas, as well as how they made beer in the past.

The most interesting part of the tour to me was learning about the “beer pipeline”. Since 2016, they have moved brewed beer from this location in the middle of Brugge out to their bottling plant through an underground tunnel. The tour guide told us this was a crowd-funded effort and people were able to help pay for it and get beer every year on their birthday if they contributed, all they way up to a beer a day for their lifetime! The other interesting thing she told us was that the entire pipeline goes under public land. This pipeline was an innovative solution to a problem in this medieval town.

That evening, we were supposed to go on a tour. When we walked to the meeting area, it was rainy, windy and cold and we decided to skip the tour. The first US World Cup game was just starting, so we found an Irish pub to get dinner and hang out at for the evening. It turned out to be one of the highlights of our time in Brugge-we met Judy, Tazio, and Lindsay. They were all Americans visiting Brugge and we hung out for the evening and talked, while occasionally watching the soccer game. It was so fun to meet other people who are familiar with the same things as us and experiencing another part of the world.

On Tuesday, we decided to take advantage of the nicer weather and wandered around town for awhile. We visited a church from the 1500s, took photos of the old streets, and admired Christmas decorations that were being prepared for the Christmas Market starting that weekend.

Brennan wanted to go on a canal tour, so we bought tickets and joined the line. Brugge is called “Venice of the North” and there are canals that run through parts of the city, with some buildings right along the canal. It was a unique way to see parts of the city we hadn’t yet explored.

After the canal tour, we were cold! The water made the air feel even colder than it was outside, so we stopped for a waffle on our way back to the hotel for a trip to the sauna. Waffles in Belgium are famous for a reason-they’re fluffy, warm, gooey, and sugary. I loved every one we ate!

Wednesday morning it was time to head out from Brugge and head to our next destination. I took this picture in the hotel lobby as Brennan was checking out. It was so fun to see the first hints of Christmas in Brugge and explore this town. If you have a chance to visit Brugge, I would recommend staying for a few days!