Day 7 ~ All the Things We Did Not Do

It was a tough call – we wanted to go to Ghent; Gravenstein Castle looked amazing and we hadn’t been to a proper Gothic castle yet. But there was a lot to do. There were parts of Bruges to see, and we wanted time to process/review photos/catch up on this blog, and we wanted an early night to match our early train on Friday. Would we go to Ghent? Or do all those things?

Ultimately, we decided that there was just going to be a lot on this trip we weren’t going to do. Ghent was going to be more like an hour each way of transit, instead of the 20 minutes we were expecting. We reluctantly but confidently decided to stay in Bruges.

Off we went to St. Salvador Cathedral. We’d seen it lit up and glorious the night before, and just had to get a look at those stained glass windows in the sunshine. It did not disappoint; it was maybe our favorite house of worship so far.

How ’bout those stained glass windows…?

We saw incredible silverwork and jaw-dropping tapestries – probably should have taken photos of those. Honestly, if we took photos of every incredible thing we’ve been seeing, we’d be doing little else, and would have the most unwieldy amount of photos. Sorry friends.

We were very excited to visit the Historium – Alexis told us about the tower with its commanding views of the Markt. We’d heard the whole experience was more Pirates of the Caribbean than historical, and sure enough, our greeter was a multilingual animatronic monk, so we decided to limit our time there to climbing the tower. We wound up the narrowest-ever staircase, spiraling up and up, and emerged into a tiny 360-degree tower with views of the city in every direction.

There were a couple lovely spots overlooking the square from above, including a bar that would have been fun for a Belgium original beer. We were thrilled to find that the tower emptied into a grown-up oriented museum with historical displays about the city – so we even got a little history at the Historium! Overall, 10/10.

On the way back to the hotel, we swung into Dumon Chocolatier, at least our third chocolatier of the trip, and maybe Stef’s favorite. Then – finally! – a library.

The Bruges library was actually pretty shockingly modern, even though it was in the old part of town. You have never seen so many books in Flemish in your life. It was a perfectly nice library, although not remotely romantic and historical like we’d hoped.

The citizens of Bruges seem to appreciate it. And the children’s library looked delightfully lived-in.

Considering it’s maybe the only area of old Bruges a Brugian can expect to go to without being trampled by tourists, it’s probably for the best that the library isn’t a tourist attraction itself.

Stef hadn’t had her fill of waffles yet – that lady LOVES a waffle – so we went to a spot we were very excited about, Lizzie’s Wafels. It was only steps from the hotel, and is legendary, but had absurdly limited hours. It did not disappoint – very large waffles. Light and fluffy. Truly exceptional.

You can see sitting next to us a lady comprising half a couple from South Carolina. They had just come from Amsterdam, and were very excited to tell us about the city. They did not expect to love the Rijksmuseum, but were blown away, so we are excited to move it up the list from “Nice to do” to “Must do.” We told them about our bike trip to Damme. Talking to your fellow travelers, we are learning on this trip, is really fun, and full of good intel.

The, badly behind on our blogging and photo curating, we strolled to a cafe near the hotel that was supposed to be closed on Thursdays, but as their door said, they are “open when they are open, and closed when they are closed.” We have found that businesses in Bruges keep extremely odd hours – one cafe is only open on Wednesdays, and lots of places Google said were open are actually closed. We turned out to love this coffee spot – give me a cappucino with a foam heart and a little cookie on the side, and I’m yours.

Then, a couple hours into our stay, an employee popped open the floor, and walked downstairs!

We’d been sitting on top of a trap door this whole time! What happens if people are standing there when he wants to come back up…?

And that, friends, is our time in Bruges. We leave very early for the train to Amsterdam tomorrow, Friday. Bruges has been world class. Insanely historic. Completely charming. Notes of Amsterdam, notes of France. Its own thing entirely. We got out of the city and explored the coast and the countryside. We did things that weren’t on the itinerary, and we did the itinerary too. The chaos of our transport from Portland to Brussels is a million miles behind us. This is what we came for. We are beyond satisfied. For heaven’s sake, if you can, come to Bruges.