Brugge, "Bruges" Belgium - Beer, Chocolate and Waffles

A sign on a wall in Brugge

This past weekend we took a day trip up to Brugge, Belgium. It's a short little 6 hour drive and we arrived shortly after 9am. Our tour leader gave us the rundown of the town and then sent us off on our own to explore. Brugge is a charming little town with canals running throughout. Horse drawn carriages and small boat tours are a popular way to see the town.

Boat tour

Belgium is most famous for three things; chocolate, waffles and BEER! We grabbed a beer at the town square and enjoyed the view. Our tour guide probably should have mentioned that belgian beer is TWICE as strong as american beer and they serve the beer in giant glasses. After finishing up our delicious drinks we strolled along the canals, stopping for a tasty waffle topped with whip cream and covered in chocolate sauce from a VW van turned waffle stand, along the way. We discovered a tiny little microbrewery hidden amongst other shops and tasted some very interesting beers, their christmas beer was my favorite!

Town Hall 

Justin's New Best Friend

Christmas Beer

Our delicious waffle and waffle maker

Part of the famous wall of beer 

Kwak and Cherry Beer 

The Bar at the end of the Beer Wall 

Canal tour by boat

Next we boarded onto a small boat and took a tour of the canals. The tour lasted about 30 minutes and our guide was hilarious! We window shopped for goodies and popped into many of the chocolate shops for free tasters, belgian chocolate really is tasty. We took a quick peek into a couple of cathedrals, one of which is home to the Madonna and Child by Michelangelo and is one of the few pieces of his work to reside outside of Rome. Unfortunately the statue was closed off when we got there but at least we were close to seeing it! The Basilica of Holy Blood is also in Brugge and is said to contain a relic with the blood of Christ, of course they only show it during certain days and we did not visit on one of those days. Just our luck but overall Brugge is a wonderful little town and if you ever get the chance to visit you should! Oh and heads up they speak French. I definitely wasn't prepared for that, luckily my one semester of basic French in 6th grade came in handy...