Postcards from Bruges - Part 2

Apart from the obvious reasons - surely writing travelogues is much more enjoyable than keeping you up to date about everyday life - there is another reason that I am thankful for having the subject matter of our Bruges getaway to blog about. Unfortunately Jos's cold has caught up with me in the meantime, although it did have the decency to wait until I was back. So, apart from a couple of haphazard outfit photos, I wouldn't have had much to show you and even less to tell you about otherwise!

Time having its usual tendency to fly when one is having fun, it is now well over a week ago that we woke up in Het Soetewater on the morning of our first full day, Wednesday the 30th of March.

We'd both slept like the proverbial logs and it was an utter joy to wake up at leisure and in a peaceful environment instead of being jolted awake around 6 am by building work going on across the road.

We took our time getting ready and dressed, gazing out across the field where the two horses had been joined by complacent sheep and gambolling lambs, then strolled over to the breakfast room in the B&B's main building. 

Impatient though he was to start sampling Veronique's breakfast delicacies, I nevertheless made Jos wait until I'd taken a photo! 

After breakfast, it was time for our second trip into Bruges, where we arrived shortly after the shops had opened, before it got too busy for our liking. Not that we wanted to do a spot of shopping, mind you. We just wanted to stroll along the Steenstraat, one of Bruges' main shopping streets, into the direction of the Markt (Market Square). 

Our chosen route took us past the Sint-Salvatorskathedraal (Saint Saviour's Cathedral). As we'd walked past it countless of times over the years but had never been inside, this was our first stop of the day.

We were a bit put off to see several groups of children apparently on school trips. In fact, they contributed largely to the amount of tourists milling around, the advantage being that they were only a temporary nuisance, leaving relative peace and quiet in their wake after they'd moved on.  In short, it was just a matter of waiting in the wings until they'd gone.

Visiting the cathedral had been a spur of a moment thing, so I hadn't done my homework.  I just photographed things that caught my eye, only finding out later that I'd managed to catch some of the cathedral's main treasures. 

Case in point is the marble and alabaster tomb of Bishop Jean II Carondelet (1469-1544), who became provost of the cathedral chapter of St Donatian in Bruges in 1520. He was the confidant of Margaret of Austria and a friend of Erasmus. The tomb dates from 1549 and is one of the finest Renaissance sculptures preserved in Bruges.

The cathedral is Bruges' oldest parish church (12th–15th century) and among its treasures are a rood loft with an organ (the latter currently being under restoration), medieval tombs, Brussels tapestries and a rich collection of Flemish paintings dating from 14th to the 18th century. 

The crucifix on the top left used to be in the former Eekhout Abbey, a medieval house of Augustinian Canons in Bruges. After the French Revolution, the cross and the associated "Brotherhood of the Miraculous Cross" found shelter in St Saviour’s in 1801. According to legend, a group of iconoclasts were intent on destroying it. However, before they could do so, Christ opened his eyes and moved his foot - which accounts for the peculiar position his right foot is in - scaring the living daylights out of them and making them flee the scene.

The crucifix, which dates from the late 13th century, would be the oldest one preserved in Bruges.

Other highlights include the silver reliquary of St. Eligius (top left) dating from 1612, who allegedly was the founder of St. Saviour's.

On the top right, the coffin-shaped copper reliquary of Charles the Good, in neo-Romanesque style and dating from 1883-85. It is decorated with 1588 gemstones, semi-precious stones and pearls. Charles the Good, Count of Flanders, was murdered on 2 March 1127 in the once important St. Donatian's church in Bruges, of which now only the foundations remain.

Finally, on the bottom right, the intricately carved Retable of St. Anna, in polychromed and gilded wood and dating from 1533.

There is, by the way, no entrance fee to the church, but collection boxes for the maintenance of the church can be found at regular intervals. I rather loved the ornate wooden one on the bottom left.

Right, that's more than enough religious architecture and art heritage for now. Let's proceed towards the Market Square, shall we? 

But not before making another stop at The Chocolate Line (top right), the chocolate shop selling artisan  chocolate with a cool and trendy side (their words, not mine), by the famous Belgian chocolatier Dominique Persoone, who describes himself as a "shock-o-latier". As a surprise for the joint birthday party of the Rolling Stones' Ron Wood and Charlie Watts in 2007,  and at the request of the musicians' wives, Persoone invented the "Chocolate Shooter", a device with which you can shoot chocolate powder into your nostrils. 

We decided not to join the queues and, spurred on by our rumbling stomachs, continued to the Market Square, where we had Croques Monsieurs (toasted sandwiches with ham and cheese) for lunch, sitting outside on a - thankfully heated - terrace.  

Afterwards, we strolled towards the Belfry on the opposite side of the square. There was an actual market taking place, and we browsed the stalls selling an array of foodstuffs as well as plants and flowers. Both me and Lulu seemed to have stalls here, mine selling all kinds of sweets and hers a choice of French sausages!

The narrow, waffle and souvenir shop lined Breidelstraat, leading to the Burg square, was chock-a-block with the aforementioned groups of school children, so we waited until they'd disappeared around the corner.

When we reached the square shortly afterwards, they seemed to have vanished into thin air. Perhaps they'd gone into once of the square's richly decorated buildings?

In my humble opinion, the Burg is Bruges' most architecturally interesting square. The impressive building right in front of us is the Gothic Town Hall dating from 1376, making it one of the oldest in the Low Countries. One could stare at its lavish facade for hours and still discover quirky stone carvings one hadn't noticed before.

The Town Hall is flanked by two other noteworthy buildings, starting with the Civiele Griffie (Old Civil Registry, top left) on its left. Opulently decorated with gilded friezes and statues, it was built in the Renaissance style in 1537.

More gilding was used on the facade of the building on its right, the Basilica of the Holy Blood (bottom right), built between 1134 and 1157, and promoted to minor basilica in 1923.

We left the Burg behind by walking underneath the arched gateway of the Civiele Griffie which gives access to a narrow lane hemmed in between houses and leading towards the Vismarkt (Fish Market).

There's a number of restaurants here which in spite of being in a popular spot didn't seem to attract too much business. The cheerful red booth selling tickets for boat trips always makes me reach for my camera.

The sun briefly showed her face again as we crossed the Vismarkt and starting walking along the picturesque stretch of canal called the Groenerei. 

The mercury would barely touch 10°C that day, so I'd dressed warmly in a black wool and polyester blend vintage dress dotted with flower baskets. I'd exchanged Tuesday's coat for my favourite brown Winter one, which I combined with a marled knit scarf of many colours and a sage green beret.  

There are photo opportunities with every step you take. Several old arched stone bridges cross the canal here and if you're lucky nobody's walking across them just when you click the shutter. Patience usually pays off, as in spite of its appealing character, it's usually not that crowded here.

Apart from the usual suspect, the Summer house, which I have yet to pass without making a photo, I was charmed by the hotel sign which seemed to be caught in the branches of the tree, and the gaggle of fluffy ducklings taking a rest on a stone slab.

A backward glance was rewarded by another classic Bruges scene, with the belfry unfortunately playing hide and seek behind the branches of a tree. Can you spot it?

We crossed the busy Langestraat and proceeded along the Verversdijk, on the left side of yet another canal.The street on the other side is called the Sint-Annarei, which can be reached by crossing the eponymous bridge. Away from the hustle and bustle, the quiet Sint Anna quarter is definitely one of the city's hidden secrets. 

The intriguing tower on the top left belongs to the Jerusalem Chapel, which is part of the Adornes domain, an authentic medieval estate. This is well worth a visit, which is what we did back in February 2020. You can read my post about it here.

A bit further along is the Museum of Folk Life, which we visited back in May 2019. Just like we did back then, we had a drink at the traditional on-site café called In De Zwarte Kat, although we were saddened to learn that the museum's black cat had dissapeared back in February.

Here are a some glimpses at the museum's collection of objects relating to daily life in Bruges in the 19th and early 20th centuries. I was intrigued by the contraption on the top right, which turned out to be mud shoes!

By the time we left the museum it was mid-afternoon, and having walked a long way we were getting tired. Moody clouds had obscured all traces of sunshine by now. In order to catch our breaths, we sat down on a bench at the head of the junction of the Sint-Annarei with yet another canal, the Spiegelrei.

Again, this is a typical Bruges scene, the wide canal lined by monumental merchants' houses dating from the 13th to the 15th century, when Bruges was the most important trading centre in North-West Europe.

Having finally dragged ourselves away from the bench, we returned to the town centre by walking  along the Spiegelrei. There's a small square at the canal's end, with some imaginatively planted up flower boxes which, apart from the ubiquitous tulips and forget-me-nots contained a couple of majestic orange Fritillaria imperialis. 

We ducked into a patisserie, where we had restorative cups of cappuccino and watched the world go by. 

We finished our day by wandering around and having a browse in a couple of shops until it was time for dinner, for which we returned to the Market Square. No photographs were taken of our meal as we were both more than ready for a lie-down by then. 

The weather forecast for Thursday was predicting another drop in temperature accompanied by rain and sleet. Would the blasted weathermen have it right? Please join me again in my next post in order to find out!