In Bruges, lots of pictures and some advice.

[Adar]

Travel summary
I went to Ghent for a scientific conference and then spent a romantic weekend with my fiancee in Brüge and Ghent. These are the pictures and travel advice for Brüge, I'll set up another one for Ghent when I have time.

Places you need to visit in Bruge
None really, there are alot of quite nice things to see but nothing that qualifies as something unique. The churches are nice and museums are only 1 € entrance if your less than 26 years old so there is alot of things to do despite not being awesome. Try to avoid the main tourist season becuase even in october it is fairly crowded.

Pretty much all pubs are nice (but does not serve food so eat a large french fries before going there) so you can't really screw it up. My favourite pub was located next to the "forgotten cannon" (the Dutch left a cannon that is now stuck in the pavement south east of the city watch tower). It's an outdoor pub with a very good view over the canals and you also get to choose the size of your beer. They have my favourite beer (Triple Karmeliet) at a good price and you get to choose between 25, 33 and 50 cl glasses. It is easily found if you go to the south eastern corner of the city square (i.e. the one infront of the watchtower) and then move south, the beer shop is right next to the channel on the main street and the pub with the beer wall is located in the same alley.

Food is a constant trouble since prices are quite expensive and pubs doesn't serve food. Personally I generally shared a "grote frites" (large french fries") and a burger with my girlfriend to satisfy my hunger.

Place to stay
I stayed at St Cristophers hostel. Their double rooms are very good (and cost 33€ per person and night) but the dorm rooms are horrible if you end up in one located adjacent to the disco. It might be more enjoyable if you request to stay at the top floor or in the building that is not adjacent to the disco. It does however seem like a decent place to party.

Pictures of Brüge
My favourite pub is conveniantly located behind the tree on this picture.


The tourist boats that constantly travel on the channels, I did not go on any of them.


The hostel provided a free tour with a fairly useless guide that tried to scare the people on tourist boats. The guide then expected us to tip him.




The holy blood church. They got a relic where dried "blood" transforms into liquid blood and claim that the blood comes from Jesus (just like in Italy but less famous)


The city watch tower (you can climb it if you want but theres an entrance fee). The road to the good pub is to the left of the watch tower building.


Jupiler, Belgiums major lager beer. A fairly average beer that is good in warm weather. Beware that the 1€ Happy Hour beer is served in a 25 cl glass at St Cristophers hostel...


Bruge by night, the city got some of the worst weather in Belgium and actually turned into it's modern day tourist trap thanks to a combination of a dedicated effort in the 19th century to attract tourists to the medieval city and the book Bruges la Morte that describes it as a dark and dreary town


A copy of the Jerusalem church in Jerusalem. The Jerusalem church in Jerusalem was destroyed but the copy in Bruge is still standing.


The oldest pub in Bruges (very average pub)


Saint Salvators Cathedral


Shoes from some popes in the 19th century located in Saint Salvator's Cathedral


Inside the church of our lady


Madonna by Michelangelo, one of very few works of art by Michelangelo that is located outside Italy. Charles the Bold of Burgundy is also buried in the church but they charge an entrance fee to go in there an I could not be bothered.


Quintine amber one of my favourite beers in Belgium. Other good ones are St Martyns pale ale, Triple Karmeliet, Chimay blue, Duvel and Rochefort nr 10. Delirium red is also a very good kriek (cherry) beer but doesn't really taste beer.


The beer shop next to the nice pub. It is far more cost efficient to buy most of the beer at Carrefour (super market) but a normal super market does not sell Triple Karmeliet in 75 cl bottles

[Aru]

Does the water in the channels smell bad? That was my biggest impression of Venice, even now I only remember the stinking water and fear not to fall in and suffocate of stink. Since then I'm not too fond of visiting cities with channels.

[Adar]

Does the water in the channels smell bad? That was my biggest impression of Venice, even now I only remember the stinking water and fear not to fall in and suffocate of stink. Since then I'm not too fond of visiting cities with channels.

The channels did not smell bad, warm weather would of course increase the risk of smelly channels but to me they looked quite clean (I got even see the bottom at ~0,5 m depth at one place in Ghent)

[Jom]

I would say that there were at least two must-see places in Bruges, particularly if you are there with your girlfriend like I was.

The Begijhof is a beautiful walled monastic community where you can walk or sit in peace and quiet. Secondly, there is a little garden just over a bridge and down the side of the Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk, which is actually where this photograph is taken from: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ady_Bruges.jpg

The Belfry (rather than the city watch tower, Adar) is worth climbing up for a great 360 degree view of the city, although it's only really worth it on a sunny day.

Basically walking alongside any canal in Bruges is nice as they all lead somewhere interesting.

There are some great little squares with nice pubs and restaurants to be found just beside the Begijnhof.

[Babur]

The Belfry (rather than the city watch tower, Adar) is worth climbing up for a great 360 degree view of the city, although it's only really worth it on a sunny day.

The steps gets very narrow as you near the top

I recommending seeing the film "In Bruges" after visiting Bruges

[Captain Jin]

If I grew up on a farm, and was retarded, Bruges might impress me but I didn't, so it doesn't. Maybe that's what hell is, the entire rest of eternity spent in ing Bruges.

[Manco]

It's Brugge or Bruges, not Brüge.

Bruges is all about the atmosphere, and not so much about actually visiting places. It's good when you're trying to be romantic, but I wouldn't recommend it for anything else. (and that's with having a sister who's an archeologist in Bruges)

Jupiler, Belgiums major lager beer. A fairly average beer that is good in warm weather. Beware that the 1€ Happy Hour beer is served in a 25 cl glass at St Cristophers hostel...

Two major mistakes you made:
-You went to a pub in Bruges in the touristic area. Incredibly daft considering your convention was actually in Ghent where the pubs are vastly superior and actually authantically Belgian instead of the tourist traps in Bruges.
-You bought lager. You don't go to Belgium to buy lager, but to buy all kinds of ales.
As for the 25cl glass, that's pretty normal. Glasses are either 25cl for lager and common beers or 33cl for the special beers.

[Babur]

If I grew up on a farm, and was retarded, Bruges might impress me but I didn't, so it doesn't. Maybe that's what hell is, the entire rest of eternity spent in ing Bruges.

great quote from that film ,when I was there it was pretty boring I must admit.

[Adar]

It's Brugge or Bruges, not Brüge.

Bruges is all about the atmosphere, and not so much about actually visiting places. It's good when you're trying to be romantic, but I wouldn't recommend it for anything else. (and that's with having a sister who's an archeologist in Bruges)

I think that the heat and insane amount of tourists would kill any romance in Bruge during the summer. In october it was quite good but there are quite alot of cities that are better for romance. If I want to be romantic in the future, I'll probably go to Bratislava, Vilnius, Ghent, Edinburgh, Vienna, Prague, Malta or Krakow.

Two major mistakes you made:
-You went to a pub in Bruges in the touristic area. Incredibly daft considering your convention was actually in Ghent where the pubs are vastly superior and actually authantically Belgian instead of the tourist traps in Bruges.

I went to alot of pubs in both Bruges and Ghent, the reason that I have only written about bars in Bruges is that I haven't made the thread for Ghent yet. In general I think that the pubs in Bruges and Ghent are fairly equal (all pubs tend to be the perfect cozy place), prices in both cities seem to be between 2.5 and 3.2€ for a 33 cl glass.

The one I recommended (i.e next to the channel) is a personal favourite since it provide a very unique opportunity. Pubs in Belgium tend to be cozy and provide an excellent selection of beer. The one located next to the channel did however offer something very different since it provide a great view of Bruges and a small but high quality selection of beer.

Another nice one in central (touristic) Bruges is "De Garre" in the old red light district 75 m east of the belfry.

-You bought lager. You don't go to Belgium to buy lager, but to buy all kinds of ales.
As for the 25cl glass, that's pretty normal. Glasses are either 25cl for lager and common beers or 33cl for the special beers.

I only bought 1 lager in 8 days so I did fairly well in that aspect . I have never encountered 25 cl as the normal serving size but it is a good warning for any future trips to Belgium.

If I grew up on a farm, and was retarded, Bruges might impress me but I didn't, so it doesn't. Maybe that's what hell is, the entire rest of eternity spent in ing Bruges.

My girlfriend grew up on a farm and Bruges did not impress her. So I guess she is not retarded... Or at least not retarded enough to be impressed by Bruges.

[Jom]

The steps gets very narrow as you near the top

I recommending seeing the film "In Bruges" after visiting Bruges

Yes it has around 360 steps so it's not for the faint of heart.

[Babur]

Yes it has around 360 steps so it's not for the faint of heart.

This sums up Bruges

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLWsarpJOtY

[Captain Jin]

My girlfriend grew up on a farm and Bruges did not impress her. So I guess she is not retarded... Or at least not retarded enough to be impressed by Bruges.

It's a quote from the movie In Bruges. No offense intended, mate .

[Adar]

It's a quote from the movie In Bruges. No offense intended, mate .

Don't worry, I am the one making fun of my girlfriend (or Bruges depending on how you interpret it). The movie quote state that you have to have grown up on a farm and be a retard to be impressed by Bruges.

And I used the fact that she wasn't impressed as evidence for the fact that she isn't retarded. It was intended as a joke on my expense (as a bad boyfriend) since:

A) I would be a terrible boyfriend if I needed a trip to Bruges to convince myself that my girlfriend isn't retarded.

B) The fact that I still seem to consider the possibility of her being mildly retarded (or Bruges suck so badly that even a mildly retarded person from a farm would be unimpressed).

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

In reality we've been together for 6 years, she is approaching an engineering degree and we are getting married next year.

The fact that she is approaching an engineering degree suggest that she is not retarded but the fact that she's together with a lucky idiot like me do however cause some doubt about it...

[skag]

my opinion about beers

firstly,
Jupiler is an exellent pils beer, compared to the other pils

secondly ...
don't drink a pils when you are in belgium for visiting

thirdly
25/33 cl are very popular for a very simple reason : we don't drink cat pee. When you drink cat pee, you can take a 50cl or even more, it wont change with time. If you have a good beer, the time for you to drink everything, the last 1/3 of the beer will be almost like cat pee; because belgian beers deserve to be drinked with time and passion, not made to drink 50cl in 2 minutes, this is blasphemy
so we take small glasses to always have an exellent beer !!!
(well, at least this my opinion)

4th
you are right ! triple karmeliet and rochefort 10 are among the best world beer, most of all the rochefort

cheeeer