Wandering through Bruges

Friday, October 17, 2014

We began this lovely fall day with a self-guided walking tour of this beautiful little city.  Bruges was a center of the cloth trade in the 11th century and, by the 14th, its population equaled that of London.  It was an important port until the harbor silted up in the 16th century, when the economy took a nosedive, political power moved elsewhere, and the city was pretty much forgotten until tourists discovered it in the 20th. Threaded with canals and former moats, it is picture perfect; Walt Disney could not have created a sweeter scene.  The throngs of tour groups following their guides through the cobblestone streets can attest to the fact that there's pretty much no reason for photographers to ever put their cameras away.

Just steps from our apartment, the vendors in the old fish market were selling everything from shrimp to scarves.  Across a small bridge, in the town hall square, we found the Basilica of the Holy Blood, a two-level church dedicated to a relic of the Precious Blood of Christ, brought back from the Holy Land by a local knight after the Crusades.

Across the square, a hotel built in the 1990s stands atop ruins from a church from the 900s!  The lower-level conference rooms and banquet facilities have a unique setting, indeed.  In addition to the remains of the church walls, the display includes all manner of archaeological finds -- pottery, tools, coins, tombs, and more.

Back up on street level, we passed chocolate shop after chocolate shop, their windows displaying every variety, flavor, and shape of Belgium's favorite sweet. These "tools" are actually made of chocolate.

Along with shops selling French (really, Belgian) fries with mayonnaise, enormous varieties of Belgian beer (including chocolate!), lace, and "tapestry" purses, the retail scene is made for tourists.

We reached the Begijnhof shortly before noon.  Begijnhofs were originally established to furnish homes for single women and widows (of which there were many, because of military deaths).  The Beguines lived religious lives devoted to service, but without the vows of religious orders.  The Bruges Begijnhof consists of small white houses surrounding a large, quiet courtyard, a convent for Benedictine nuns, and a brick church.  We arrived in time for the nuns' chanting of noon prayers in the church, and stayed to witness the daily ritual. 

The Minnewater, or Water of Love, adjoins the Begijnhof, and we had a quiet walk around the pretty lake, framed by weeping willows and home to swans and ducks.

This afternoon, we devoted to art, another important part of Bruges' legacy.  We stopped first at the Church of our Lady, which is undergoing extensive interior renovation/restoration.  We were able to see Michelangelo's Madonna and Child, said to be his only sculpture to leave Italy during his lifetime and still one of his very few "expat" sculptures.  Then, we crossed the street to the Memling Museum, housed in a former church and hospital.  Along with much material devoted to medical history and religious art, several of Hans Memling's pieces, considered the apex of Flemish pre-Renaissance painting, were on display.

After a break for Belgian fries (with mayonnaise) and beer (We're trying to be part of the locavore movement, after all!), we headed for the Groeninge Museum, which focuses on Flemish art from the 15th to 20th centuries.

At that point, we were walked and art-ed out, so we had happy hour at home base before fulfilling today's last commitment to supporting local industries with dinner at a pub down the street -- just doing our part!

Thus fortified, we took an evening walk over to the town hall square and the Markt to see the floodlit bell tower (whose serenades can be heard all over town every 15 minutes) looming over the big and lively square.  A short canal-side stroll completed the circuit and brought us home for the night.