JN_12's Euro Adventure - Brugges

[jn_12]

Brugges is a city in Flanders, roughly 1.5 hours northwest of Brussels. Entirely Dutch, much of the inner city is pedestrian as most streets are little more than one lane wide. The inner city is also a UNESCO Heritage Site. Most people walked but bicycles were prominent and instead of rows upon rows of parking lot outside the train station, there were rows upon rows of bike racks, all of which were filled.

The city is pretty much a tourist town. There's evidence of this pretty much everywhere to the point where you can't tell if anyone actually lives in the city. The Grote Markt (Market Square) is the town's heart, where you can take horse and carriage rides, eat tourist catered meals (signs in English are the easiest way to tell) and hear more Russian or Chinese than French or Dutch. We got a bit discouraged because as much as its an incredibly beautiful city, it was beautiful in that Disney sort of way. Canals circle the city and give some amazing views of centuries old medieval Belgian architecture.

 

[ganjavih]

Charming town! It's hard to get excited about glassy point towers when you see these old European cities and you're reminded about what makes a great people-oriented city.

 

[Mustapha]

I'm imagining the view from inside those canal side homes. Wonderful, thank you.

 

[jn_12]

a good percentage of those "homes" are actually hotels (especially the ones whose back windows sit on the canal). We were going to stay in one but decided it made a lot more sense to use Brussels as a base and take day trips. Really glad we did it since food options in the city consisted of Frites or 2-3 course meals that set you back at least €20. As much as we weren't too worried about money, it was still a lot to pay on a day-to-day basis for one meal.

Thanks though for the comments.

 

[Ronald]

Nice photos. I agree with you that this city, especially the inner city, is more like a historical theme park than a real city. This phenomenon occurs all over europe, as suburbanisation sucks companies and people out of the inner cities, these places become places where you only go for shopping, a night of clubbing, a good meal in a restaurant or any other activity of that sort. It seems the only people that are in the inner city permanently are those working in the tourist industry. Dare I say that Bruges is a victim of it's own succes? I mean, would you want to live in a city that's overcrowded with American, Chinese and Japanese tourists? Along with places like Venice, Bruges has become an open-air museum.

 

[TrickyRicky]

I was in Brugges back in 2001. The town really is a tourist fantasy land but there's nothing wrong with that, I mean if you've got if flaunt it (and they have it at least with respect to charming old architecture). Besides if I recall correctly didn't the city functionally die hundreds of years ago after the main industry (lace or something?) was killed off by outside competition and the main canal link that provided shipping access from the city to the sea silted up?