Sept 15, Bruges

By patmarkovich201554 minutes ago

One would think we would be tired of the city by now, but there is always more to explore. Today, we were on a mission to find the “best Chocolate in Bruges and some bottles of the beer that Dan I tried last night! It is a beautiful day and we just needed an excuse to be out and enjoy this magnificent city once again!

We started our walk into town along our usual route. But I was curious to find a little cafe that we had found on our first day…not the easiest thing to do with so many back alleys, winding roads that change names and narrow site lines. On our way out, we found a beautiful spot to take a picture of the restaurant that we have reservations for this evening. (Don’t worry, it’s really easy to get to!)

The yellow house in the background is Freddy’s, our destination for this evening. They specialize in Belgian-French dishes and with its sister restaurant the co-owners are featured in the Michelin Guide

More to come on this restaurant later… now let us get back on track! We did indeed find the cafe we had passed a couple of days ago, but decided it was too early for lunch… oh well, maybe another time!

We then followed the directions to the first Chocolate shop and discovered it was closed until Sept 19th! I guess we’ll just have to go to one of he dozens that are open here today!

Past the closed chocolate shop we found ourselves back on the Market square once again. We crossed it and headed in the direction of the Beglijnhof. This lovely retreat in the old city was once enclosed by buildings inhabited by the members of a lay sisterhood, the Beguines. (We visited a retreat in Amsterdam of the same order) While the original buildings are no longer there the calming atmosphere of the centre cloister like yard is idyllic.

Central cloister area. Only a few sisters still live and pray here. Though obedient to a mother superior, they did not have to take vows of a nun. They spent their days deep in prayer, spinning wool, making lace, teaching and caring for the sick. They were at their highest numbers during the golden age , when so many women were widowed or unwed due to the hazards of war and overseas trade. This order gave such women a dignified place to live and work.

Coming out of the Beglijnhof the canal views were stunning. this is the area known as the Minnewater or “Lake of Love”. A beautiful park with canals, weeping willows and swans. Apparently this was a busy hub back in the day where boats shuttled cargo from inland shipping onto smaller barges, and then into the market via small boats.

Dan and I found a charming restaurant right on the end of the park and enjoyed our lunch surrounded by this beauty. And yes, the odd sounds of the clip clop of horses hooves on the cobblestone as the carriages passed by at the end of the park just added to the ambience.

Now fortified, we were ready to begin our search for Chocolate and beer! We had spied a bottle shop that carried the Trappist beer we so enjoyed last night. It happened to be in the heart of chocolate alley!

We made it back to the shop to buy our St Bernardus brew and in chatting with the attendant discovered that he had a few rare bottles of a Trappist beer that is touted to be the finest made. Very limited and intermittent production made it dear indeed. At over 13 euros for a small bottle, I would hope so.

We splurged on one bottle to share, and it was lovely. We must say that our favourite is still St Bernardus!

I spent a lot of time researching which chocolatier was the best and not necessarily the most expensive. I ended up getting a sampling from a variety of shops (Jean, Dumas, the Chocolate Line and the Old Chocolate House). I guess we’ll do our own taste test!

Here’s a photo of the “Old Chocolate House” It’s a combination of a chocolate shop and tea room, or should I say Hot Chocolate room! You can choose from about 20 different varieties of the drink!

With our arms full of beer and chocolate we headed back to our B and B to get some rest and begin putting our things together for our journey to Monchengladbach in Germany tomorrow.

We were soon ready to head out for dinner. AS luck would have it, we were able to get a lovely table by the window, looking down the vista from which I took the picture this morning.

A candlelight dinner by the canal with great food and stellar company!

We had a wonderful meal. Dan started with mussels ( a Belgian specialty) and I had smoked eel on toast…amazing! We then went on to our next course; Dan had a Steak at Poivre and I had Vol as Vents with sweetbreads…definitely stuff I would not cook for myself! For the finale, Dan enjoyed “floating Islands” while I had the house specialty of strawberries with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce…sounds boring until you remember that Belgians have the best chocolate in the world! Now crumble some pralines on top, and you have a dessert made in heaven!

I would like to say we waddled back to our apartment, but it started t rain and we were caught without any rain gear…needless to say, it was more like a very brisk walk!

Home safe and sound and dry! Time to get organized for the adventure that Germany will bring us! So looking forward to the week of festivities centered around our dear friend Alan’s 80th birthday. Until tomorrow!