The Sacred, the Sweet and the Profane

 The Sacred, The Sweet and the Profane

We had a day and a half to sight see. Our hotel was very near to the Sint-Salvators Kathedraal and the Markt Square in Brugge (as the Belgians spell it). The Dutch call the citizens of the city Bruggelingen. As usual in these countries, the Centre Square is dominated by the  church, the old guild houses remain as housing and business offices and restaurants are plentiful. 





Belgian chocolate shops are everywhere. One chocolatier in the city has been awarded a Michelin star. We didn't go looking as I'm sure the prices are out of my range. Some stores were packed with product, and samples too. 👌


 

I had two delicious evening meals. Spaghetti with sweet sausage, fennel, spinach and creme fraiche...


and .... wait for it .... drum roll ..... ribs with a beer/Belgian chocolate sauce. What a treat! Better than raw herring for sure!



We saw an amazing VR presentation at the Historium Brugge. It showed the city's 15th century importance as a trading port. So realistic! And then an associated museum tour expanding on the city's history. 


Then came the day of reckoning for Michael and my climbing steps spat. There are 145 steps up a narrow increasingly tighter circular staircase to the observation deck of the tower. As it was our last day in Belgium we agreed to follow Anita up and up and up. The steps get narrower the higher one climbs. 



An eagle eye's view ....



And the profane? We did tour the torture museum. Huge irony in how the medieval mind constructed architectural marvels to the glory of God and at the same time devised daemonic instruments to cause pain and suffering. The church and the museum are side by side. 


Signs of Note

Seen frequently in both countries. 




No motorized vehicles at certain times. 


The day was wearing as the temp was well over 30 degrees. So back to the hotel and to bed as we had to get to the train station the next morning for passage to Amsterdam. Trains are always precisely on time. We changed trains in Brussels, there was no passport control when crossing the border and we were back to our hotel near Schiphol Airport quite quickly. 

On the morning of July 31st I was through security in seven minutes and the biometric scan lineup in 8. The plane was delayed by an hour but the flight home was smooth.  

Comments

  1. AnonymousAugust 5, 2026 at 6:14 PM

    Welcome home bro after a trip which surpassed your expectations. 🎉

    ReplyDelete

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