Let’s play a game. Or, maybe two? Let’s start with “Where in the world is Allison Bertea?”. It’s my favorite rendition of “Where in the world is Carmen San Diego?”. Or how about our take on, “Where’s Waldo?”; “Where’s Bertea?”. All fun games, I know. Well, currently, she is passed out next to me on the bus. Maybe we will see her again at the end of Paris, I don’t really know. I just do as I am told…
Our train out of Amsterdam left on time. It was a nice change of pace compared to our experience with trains in Italy. The two hour ride to Brussels provided some pretty spectacular views of the countryside. After our arrival in Brussels, we made our way over to the regional train platform to catch the commuter train into Brugge. After traveling for 1.5 months, we have this whole train and transfer thing down. We typically don’t need to look for help or even an English translation. Just make sure the stop we need lines up to the listed stops on the departure card, and we are on our way. The one-hour train to Brugge was easy. We passed the time by playing Uno, and discussing what Charley was probably doing. Considering it was 5AM back home, we figured he was probably sleeping. The train station in Brugge was bigger than expected and we caught the local bus to a stop near our hotel. As we made our way into the center of town, we were pleasantly surprised by the architecture. Brugge is a medieval town, and city ordinances protect the buildings from being demolished or altered. Walking to our hotel, we were impressed by the amount of chocolate shops and vowed to stop in a few of them later in the evening. We checked into the hotel and our energy to explore the city had been drained from traveling most of the day. Allison took the time to do some research for the rest of our trip and I caught up on my beauty sleep.
Dinner time came and we made our way to the most authentic Flemish restaurant you could imagine, Ribs and Beer. Alright, while it might not be an authentic Flemish restaurant, Ribs and Beer was a highly-rated dinner spot. Our reservation was for the second sitting. The menu consisted of multiple different types of beef, chicken, and other assorted dishes. However, true to their name, the restaurant was famous for their ribs and beer. Allie and I both chose the all-you-can-eat ribs option and two glasses of Blonde Ale (I know, I am just as surprised as you are Bruce…). The dinner was excellent and a nice reminder of home. We had planned to possibly go out for a bit after dinner, but we were both so full that we decided to head back for the evening.
Excited for all-you-can-eat ribs!
Left: Before Dinner // Right: After Dinner
We had chosen to go to Brugge as we had seen beautiful pictures of the city and had read that is was a very romantic town. As our decision to visit was made at the last minute, we did not have time to plan any sightseeing activities. The one thing I made sure to plan was a tour of the De Halve Maan brewery. Belgium is known for its chocolate and beer, so we had to make sure to check both out.
On our way to the brewery, we got a glimpse of the famous bell tower in Brugge, Belfort van Brugge, along with a bit of the medieval-style architecture.
Belfort van Brugge
Streets of Brugge
We had a delicious lunch at the brewery and then had some time before our afternoon brewery tour, so we checked out a park nearby known as Minnewaterpark, which houses Minnewater Lake, known as the “Lake of Love”.
Minnewaterpark
There were about 30 breweries existing in Brugge after World War II, yet this brewery is the only one still remaining. It has been around since the late 19th century and went through a modernization project in 2006. As the exterior of the building could not be modified, they had to fit all of the modern pumps, blowers, transfer tubes and brewing tanks within the existing building. It was quite a sight to see! Additionally, the brewery had just completed their final project a few months back. Prior to this year, all of the beer was made in the brewery and then transported, via container trucks, to a warehouse 3km across the city. In the other warehouse, the beer would mature for 2-4 months before being bottled. As the brewery began to expand, and produce more beer, the logistics of moving the beer across town became a bigger issue. In order to resolve the problem, the brewery dug an underground tunnel and created a pipeline to pump the beer across town. The pipeline had been finished at the beginning of summer, 2016, and all testing had been completed a few months before we got there. To their knowledge, they are the only brewery that currently employs this method to transport their beer.
At the end of the tour we found ourselves in the old tavern of the brewery. There, we would “taste” 3 of their different beers. The tasting actually turned out to be 3 full glasses of beer. All of the English speakers congregated at two tables with each other, but Allie and I made a point to sit at the “Dutch” table. We sat with 3 couples, all from the Netherlands. It was an enjoyable experience to hear about their travels and recount some of our stories. Inevitably, the conversation turned towards the election in the United States and, to the amazement of our new friends, time-off policies within the United States. We finished up and said goodbye to our newfound friends as we made our way back to the hotel.
Left: Beer hops! // Right: Malts, which affect the color of the beer
Process the brewery used to utilize to dry the malt
Beautiful view of the city from the roof of the brewery
Fun on the brewery tour
Their Heritage beer is only made once a year
Along the way back to our hotel, Allie and I stopped in Dumon Chocolate shop, one of the most well-known chocolate shops in Brugge. The chocolate shop is still run by the original founder and one of the members of her Dumon family, Nathalie. The shop originated in Brugge and has 3 different locations across the city. While Nathalie and the owner did not work at the location we went into, you could feel that the shop was very much a family business. If you read my last post, I was blown away by the Jordino chocolate and proclaimed that See’s had nothing on Jordino. Well, I am sorry Jordino, but you have nothing on Dumon. The chocolate was incredible. I have never tasted chocolate this good before. If we had chocolate like this back home, I would have a serious problem.
Dumon Chocolatier
Streets of Brugge
We went back to the hotel for a bit before going to a local salad restaurant for dinner. After all the meat and beer, it was nice to order a salad. We were fairly tired, so decided to call it a night after dinner.
A sign we appreciated at our dinner spot – Salade Folle
Belfort van Brugge at night
Chocolate and Beer!
One of the famous landmarks in the city is the bell tower, known as Belfort van Brugge. If you have seen the movie, “In Bruges”, the tower, and scene concerning it, is one to remember. Allie and I had tried to climb it the previous day, but had arrived too late. As the passageway to the top of the tower is very narrow, the tower only allows 70 people in at a time. We noticed that the tower opened at 9:30AM, so we planned to get there early and climb the tower before we left the next day. The previous day the line to enter the tower had been over an hour and we hoped that we could avoid the line in the morning. We got up at 8, packed our bags and took advantage of the free breakfast at the hotel. From there, we made the short walk over to the tower.
We got there at 9:15AM and we were the 2nd people in line. At 9:30AM, the doors opened, and we went in to buy our tickets. The couple in front of us was paying with credit card, so we moved over to the cash-only window. After getting our tickets, we moved through the turnstile and started our ascent up the tower. 366 steps, narrow passageways and limited hand railings made for not such an easy climb.
The bell
However, when we walked through the doorway at the top of the tower, our frustrations quickly faded away. The view of the city was beautiful. There was still a slight layer of fog, but you could almost see it burning off in front of you. And the best part, we had climbed the tower ahead of the couple in front of us and were the first ones to the top that morning. In fact, we made it up so quickly that we stood at the top of the tower alone for 5 minutes.
View of the city from the top of the tower
We were soon joined by another couple and then the groups started to fill in. We decided to make a quick escape before the tower filled up and headed back to the hotel to grab our belongings. Before leaving Brugge, we decided it would be best to stop by the Dumon chocolate shop one more time. Apparently, the chocolate troll had eaten our chocolate the night before, and we wanted some for our trip to Paris. This time we were greeted by Nathalie, who helped us pick out a number of chocolates for the remainder of our trip. As we boarded the train to leave, we both agreed that Brugge would be a town that we would be returning to in the future.
One last shot of the tower on our way out of the city…
Andrew + Allison Around the World 