A Weekend in Bruges: Beer, Waffles, Chocolate. Repeat

A romantic weekend in Bruges is the perfect way to spend a November wedding anniversary. Beer, waffles and chocolate aplenty.

Our trip begins with a train from Birmingham down to London, a quick cross-over to St Pancras and jump onto the Eurostar. Since breaking our Eurostar virginity on our April Paris trip, we are seasoned experts on the protocol and we settle down for the two-hour journey. We arrive at Brussels Midi and easily find the platform for the final leg of our train journey.

It’s already dark by the time we reach our destination. The Christmas lights are twinkling and the scent of waffles is in the air. It’s a short, inexpensive taxi ride to Hotel Ter Reien on Langestraat, winding our way through streets filled with shoppers and tourists alike.

It’s a relief to shed our travelling clothes and rest for a short while. But not too long. After all, there’s a whole city outside to be explored. Soon, we are strolling along the banks of the canal. The realisation sets in that we’ve been in Bruges for a whole hour and haven’t had a beer yet. This is highly unusual. Mr Fletche is nursing a headache, and I suggest that a beer may be just what he needs.

Our stroll brings us to Cafe Terrastje on Genthof. Time to stop for dinner and our first proper Belgian beer. Which promptly turns into two. But does not help Mr Fletche’s headache. We head back to the hotel to grab some tablets. Which are still in the bathroom cabinet back home, and not here with us in Bruges. Mr Fletche decides to close his eyes “just for five minutes”. He is soon lightly snoring. I’m not too far behind to the sleeping party.

Good morning Bruges!

After a lovely ten hours sleep, we’re ready to face the outside world once more. Mr Fletche is feeling much better. We grab a light breakfast from the hotel buffet and plan our day’s activities. The planning and execution of any trip is vital. So of course I have a plan. A plan that will keep us occupied for the whole day. And most definitely not a plan that means we’ve seen all of compact Bruges sights by 11am. Definitely not.

We head first for Burg Square. It’s the administrative heart of Bruges, surrounded by beautiful buildings, including the Gothic Stadhuis (Town Hall) and the ornately adorned Basilica of the Holy Blood. It’s a place of calm and serenity beyond the flamboyant facade. The basilica is home to a glass vial which is said to contain a scrap of fabric stained with the blood of Christ. Hence the name.

We’re a short stroll from Markt Square, where the main Bruges Christmas market has set up home for the festive season. The air is thick with the scent of waffles and hot dogs. We plan to return later to try out the festive fare. Instead, we head for the Belfort. We are tourists, and this is probably the MOST touristy thing you can do in Bruges. Unfortunately, all of the other tourists think so too and the queue is out of the door. We decide to return just before the final admission at 4:15pm.

Touristy agenda item #2 – Choco-Story. I take advantage of the free chocolate on the admissions desk whilst we purchase our tickets. Adult tickets are 9,50€, but we get a 1€ off each ticket thanks to the discount card offered by our hotel. There’s a lot of chocolate focused information to take in. The museum is very busy and – bearing in mind we are huddled up in our finest winter wear – very hot. So we skip the chocolate-making demonstration – and thus the opportunity of more free chocolate – and head through the shop to the exit. There are shoppers with armfuls of chocolate moulds in the shape of religious and celebrity figures.

Today’s itinerary is done. Apart from the Belfort, which we have re-scheduled for this afternoon. It’s not even lunchtime. Bruges is tiny. So, we decide to find the Bruges windmills. Mr Fletche takes charge and we wander though tiny cobbled streets, through residential areas with local Bruges inhabitants going about doing their thing. We stop on every corner to check our map. Finally, we stumble upon two windmills. It’s very peaceful. Apart from the rush of traffic on the ring-road. We decide to celebrate our find with a beer.

Where to now? Without a plan, we find ourselves at the Koningin Astrid Park. This is where we find the bandstand featured in ‘In Bruges’. We watched the film in preparation for our trip. Now I’m home, I feel I need to watch it again so I can spend the whole film going “I stood there. And there. And there!”

There are no suicidal hitmen present today, just children happily playing in the late November sunshine.With no particular place to go, we twist and turn down cobbled streets, peering down alleyways and passing churches and beautiful buildings. Sometimes more than once. After hardly seeing a soul for ages, we are suddenly surrounded by people. We’re at one of the most photographed spots in Bruges on Djiver.

Time for a late lunch at Cafe Volkshuis. And of course, a beer. Now we’re ready to tackle the Belfort. There’s still a short queue, but it’s moving quickly, and we soon find ourselves at the bottom of those 366 steps. The first 30 or 40 steps are fine but then we start to feel the burn and we’re grateful for the first rest stop at around step number 55 or so. And then, there are two nasty stints of stairs at 100+ each time. This is not helped by the people climbing down the stairs in the opposite direction, meaning that we have to balance precariously on the narrow edge of the steps to let people pass.  

After one step for each day of a Leap Year we’re at the top. And it’s worth it. The views over Bruges are indeed spectacular.

Coming down is worse than going up. The concentration required not to plummet down those 366 winding steps is immense. By visiting late in the day, thankfully no-one is coming up.

We need a rest to calm our wobbly legs, so it’s time for a quick afternoon snooze back at the hotel. At 8pm, we venture back outside to spend our evening at the Christmas market. Except many of the stalls appear to be closing and there are very few people around. Still we’re able to get a fried potato, bacon and onion concoction and a chocolate-sauce soaked waffle before everything is packed away. With our evening plans foiled, there’s only one thing to do. Find a pub.

We head off in no particular direction. We find a second Christmas market at Simon Stevinplein. It’s also closing for the night. A little alleyway and pub sign catches my eye. Cafe‘t Brugs Beertje is on my list of recommended drinking establishments. The beer options are provided in a thick ringbound menu.We snuggle in a nice table in the corner, and sample a couple of beers each.

The couple next to us are clearly taking their beer-drinking very seriously. They have a little notebook being used to record all the vital beer details. If this were me, my writing would become more and more illegible as the night wore on. “11pm. Beer no 7. Called…‘Beer’. Tastes like…‘Beer’”).  Before we start demanding “bartender, give me the strongest beer you have!” we return to our hotel to contemplate our final day in Bruges.

A day of romance. And more beer.

It’s our third wedding anniversary. Much the same as the morning before we have breakfast, watch a bit of children’s TV in German and prepare for the day ahead. We slightly encroached on today’s itinerary yesterday during our aimless rambling but we headed back out towards Djiver and Gruuthouse. The Belfort maybe the tower that gets all the attention in Bruges, but I prefer the beautiful Church of our Lady. The area around Bonifacius Bridge is “typically Bruges”, all canals right up to the buildings, and crumbling, ivy-covered bridges.

We head towards Minnewaterpark – after all, where better to be on our wedding anniversary than Lovers Lake? We head into the Beguinage, obeying all the explicit requests for silence. There are two women who work there chattering away as if they were reuniting after a long absence. I tut at this explicit rule-breaking.

Getting our bearings, we realise that we’re just a stone’s throw away from the station. This means that on the following morning it’ll be possible to walk to the station rather than calling a cab.

Our itinerary for the day is concluded. Apart from our afternoon horse and carriage ride, romantically planned to coincide with the time we said “I do” three years ago.

We stop for a drink. This time we opt for a hot chocolate instead of a beer as the temperature has turned decidedly nippy despite the sunshine. Then we we continue our mission to explore every inch of the city. We find ourselves caught up in a school crowd, discover even more churches and little parks, and then stop for the obligatory beer and hot dog at the Christmas market.

We’re going to need to layer ourselves up a bit more for our carriage ride so it’s back to the hotel. On the way we make a very expensive visit to a chocolatier where we manage to do all our Christmas shopping in one swoop. Plus a few extras for ourselves of course.

Our hotel is in a central location, and of course, Bruges is so small, so we can happily just ‘pop back’ whenever we need to. No long walks, no public transport required. So it’s a brief stop to pull on the winter woollies before heading out into the cold once more. We’re soon trotting through the cobbled streets, leaving pedestrians and cyclists in our wake.

I’d looked on with envy at those passengers earlier in the day; wrapped up in cosy tartan blankets. We were offered what looked suspiciously like a dog blanket. With images of paw prints and bones on it. I’m sure it hadn’t been used to swaddle a small pooch, but we left it on the opposite bench just in case. Our guide spent the whole journey conversing with the driver, with just the odd “and on your left is…” interspersed into his conversation. It’s a good job we were happy to snuggle up and enjoy the ride.

We stop for a quick beer at the Christmas market, then back to the hotel for a further layer of clothes. It’s our final evening in Bruges. We’ve  been surviving on snack-type meals, but we wanted something a little more civilised for our anniversary dinner. But with no plans, we wander around trying to decide who would be our culinary hosts for the night. This one’s too expensive. Too cheap. Not enough variety. Too busy. Too quiet. Nothing we want to eat here…

Eventually we do what all good tourists shouldn’t do. We succumb to a nice warm restaurant, offering a set ‘Touristique’ menu, right on Markt.  I know, I know. Never eat in a touristy area. Too expensive, low quality food blah, blah, blah. But the waiter on the door was luring us in out of the cold and we didn’t resist. And, you know what? Our meal was excellent, and great value at 60€ for a three course meal and drinks each. We take a final leisurely wander through the streets back to our hotel.

Final morning, final thoughts

Today is going to be a long travel day. Instead of the excitement of reaching a new and exciting city, we’re heading home. Home to the familiar grey streets of Birmingham and a final working slog until Christmas.

Check-out is quick and painless. It’s a 25 minute walk to the station, dragging our suitcases over the cobbled streets – waking up the Bruges residents as we go. We pass those sights that we’ve sighed over and whisper a silent farewell to this wonderful, tiny city.

The train to Brussels Zuid is packed, so we spend the hour-long journey sitting on our suitcases by the doorway. There’s time for a final hot chocolate – alas, not a beer – at the station, and it’s finally time to board the Eurostar back to London.

Bruges is a beautiful city, and in our two days we were able to see everything that we wanted to see. In fact we made the most of every minute that we were there. We explored every inch of the city, straying down alleyways and tiny little streets. We sat and people-watched – a favourite hobby. And there’s still be enough to do on a return trip, the museums, the brewery tour, a trip to Flanders.

Compared to other European cities we’ve visited there were very few beggars, homeless or street sellers. Everyone we encountered was extremely friendly, and was able to converse with us in English. We found the prices of food and drinks reasonable. Although we did have to make one trip to the ATM to replace the money we’d spent on chocolate Christmas presents.

Our weekend in Bruges was definitely an anniversary to remember.