In Bruges – A Medieval City and Much More
Read Fiona’s full blog here: https://www.london-unattached.com/2017/11/bruges-short-break/
Despite working in Brussels for 9 months, despite knowing that Bruges was my mother’s favourite city in Europe and despite not having been there since I was eight years old, somehow as an adult I’ve never quite managed to get on the train and visit Bruges in Belgium. Obstinacy perhaps? That ‘my parents love this place syndrome? Whatever gremlin had pressed the ‘Not in Bruges’ button should have been long gone but it took an invitation from the local tourist board and a press event about next year’s Triennial Arts Festival to galvanise me into action.
It’s an easy enough journey – a couple of hours to Brussels on the Eurostar and then an hour by train (there’s one every twenty minutes or so) to Bruges. And, once in the City, it’s somewhere you can easily explore on foot.
The railway station lies in the South East corner of the City but, it takes just 20 minutes to walk right into the historic centre – and nothing is more than half an hour’s walk. That said, there’s another rather fine option which might not help your orientation but which will definitely enable you to see most of the City in the hour or so that it takes. Right the way through Bruges there are canal boats with guides waiting to take you round. For eight Euros and thirty minutes of your time, you’ll get to see Bruges by water – and begin to understand why this pretty place is often called the Venice of the North.
