Eliot's Travels

Today we started our mini-vacation and spent the morning driving to our destination: Brugge in Western Flanders, Belgium. There's a stereotype that Belgium is dirtier and looser (fewer rules) than Holland and we found that to be true. As soon as we saw the "Belgium" sign, the roads became bumpy with rough pavement - literally. Things weren't as well signposted as Holland, but we found Brugge nonetheless.

Here's a nice slide show of Brugge: http://foto.brugge.be/slides/slides.htm. It's a beautiful medeival city near the coast. It's small but very touristy: most people who come to Belgium come to Brugge. We arrived at the very end of season so it wasn't too bad.


After getting settled in our little apartment hotel in the city center, we walked around to get a feel for the town. We found a nice cafe and had brie and ham sandwiches. It is great to go out to eat and get more French cuisine. Dutch cafes become fairly boring after awhile - bitterballen, broodjes (cheese and ham), and tostis (grilled ham and cheese). Miles enjoyed just jumping off the benches, which he is glad to do anywhere. We saw plenty of interesting buildings and scenes. Belgium is known for chocolates (I suppose even these shapes) and lace, which we saw on every block in the main tourist areas. We also enjoyed this french fry man.

posted by Whitney @ 12:40 PM