We started the day just like any other. With a cat hopping through the window.
Our plan today was to use the suggested Visit Bruges app and follow one of the self-guided walking tours. The tour we chose had 18 stops and was supposed to take around 4 hours.
But first, breakfast. A delicious pancake, fried egg and the usual European suspects plus coffee.
After breakfast I sat out on the canal in the back of our B&B for a bit.
I was hoping to see kitty #2 who seems to hang out there but no dice.
We learned that we are staying in an Almshouse. Housing for the poor back in the day. I couldn’t get back far enough without swimming in the canal to get a full picture (I know, I know, where is my photojournalist commitment?) but it’s pretty wide. The owner just renovated the inside. Not sure what he did but it all looks great.
We got ourselves together and headed out the door. There was a decent sized wind and rain storm last night but this morning was crisp and clear. Fortunately, we covered our e-bike seats with plastic bags last night so our butts wouldn’t get wet this morning.
Off we went on our 18 stop tour.
I don’t have the energy to write about the entire tour. And I doubt your commitment to read it all. 🙂 Here are some highlights.
The last time we were in Bruges we met Janis Rozentals, a very talented weaver from Latvia. We bought ourselves a couple of scarves that we still wear to this day. We were hoping to see he and his wife again, but they weren’t at their normal spot yesterday, the old fish market, which just happened to be stop number 2 on our tour today. When we arrived this morning there was Janis at his loom weaving away. We found a couple of new treasures as you can see.
We chatted for a while as we decided which scarves to get. Turns out our timing was great since they were off to Latvia in the morning and wouldn’t be back for a few weeks.
Next to the fish market was the Tanners Square. If you zoom in on the picture above you’ll see carved scenes of tanners making hides into leather. Tanning hides is a stinky affair so this little sculpture of a guy with a “someone just farted” expression on his face is on the corner of the square.
Here’s a little summary of the next several stops of the map.
Bruges is beautiful. Most of the tour so far had been pretty close to the Market Square which we were pretty familiar with.
The next part took us to some new areas, a couple of churches, a swan area and a house Mike has promised to buy us.
We made it to the city wall again and saw this interesting on-the-water flower garden.
We rode along the city walls until we circled back around to where we’d grabbed some chocolate the day before. It was around 2pm so we had a bite of lunch in Stevin Square, number 17 on our tour of 18 stops, named after Simon Stevin, a famous Bruges mathematician. Mike bought us a few chocolates at Chocolate Line (to celebrate math? Yes, let’s say it was to celebrate math) and then we headed back to the room for a nap.
We were greeted by Kitty #1 but still no Kitty #2 today, yet.
After the nap we sat out on the back bench while I had a cup of coffee.
It was almost time to return the bikes. I loved having the bikes for 2 days. I’ve had Plantar Fasciitis for a couple of months and the bikes allowed us to cover so much more ground than I would have been able to do on foot without some decent pain. Plus, it felt so European to be zipping around the city on a bike.
Number 18 on the tour was the Market Square, the main tourist destination and we’ve spent plenty of time there this trip and last trip.
We walked through the square after returning our bikes and had a Waffle at Chez Albert.
We returned to the B&B on foot (walking is for suckers) and saw the trio of our stand-in pets. Kitty 1 and 2 and Pickles the dog.
The animals here helped ease the longing for our own dog. Fortunately, we begin the journey home tomorrow. Brussels to Lisbon to SFO and home.
Thanks for following along…
Art’s Travel Adventures 