Day 97: The Venice of the North

Date: Thursday 3rd July
Staying: Camping Memling – Brugge, Belgium
Distance Travelled: 161.5 miles
Song of the day: Sweet like Chocolate - Shanks & Bigfoot

Today we had a driving/sightseeing double bill planned, which is always a full day. Brugge is relatively small, so we decided to drive the 200-odd kilometres, then use the afternoon to have a look around.

After a little detour around Amsterdam (just an extra 30km), we made good time to Brugge, found the campsite and had caught a bus into town by1.30pm. After a well-deserved lunch, we dashed between buildings during downpours to see the city. One of the first places we discovered was the Cathedral of the Precious Blood, a bit of a creepy name for a church, but one of the most beautiful that we have seen. In addition to lovely stained glass windows, the church was painted with patterns over every surface, a little like one of our other favourite churches, St Mary’s in Krakow. The church contains a relic (which people were taking turns at venerating), and was clearly a tourist draw card. Perhaps the most curious of the sights was the arrival of two Hells Angels, who took their turn at venerating with the tourists – a most incongruous sight.

After the church I ran slap bang into a chocolatier, and being in Belgium it would have been a capital offence to walk past, so I spent a few happy minutes selecting the contents of a nice chocolate tin. Once the rain had cleared, we gave into the touristy temptation of a boat ride on the waterways, so we could see for ourselves how Brugge had claimed the moniker “The Venice of the North”. In fact, it seemed a little like a combination of Amsterdam and Venice, with the Flemish-style of buildings right up to the waterways.

Our last stop of the day was the Brugge Cathedral, where we admired the “Madonna and Child” by Michelangelo, one of the few sculptures of his outside Italy. After this it was back to the van, and into the chocolate tin for a bit of sweet Belgian goodness.