A great day today enjoying exploring the city of Bruges. At 120,000, it's pretty much the same population as our local nearest city, Perpignan, but feels much more mature. The huge annual tourist influx must make a difference. It feels like a much larger place, clearly way more affluent both in the past and now, and not remotely similar in any way!
There are many canals weaving their way into the city, and it is basically surrounded by waterways. Being in the Low Countries, there's not a hill in sight, and it still has 4 windmills of some 23 in times past.
Breakfast was fun. My hot chocolate consisted of hot frothed milk, with a side bowl of chocolate chips to be stirred into it. Delicious. We walked about 18km today, doing a MapMyCity walk from one side of the old town to the other listening to the app's commentaries in the morning. The Basilica of the Holy Blood was particularly lovely, inside and out.
After lunchtime we walked around the perimeter to see the windmills and some interesting barges including an 1889 veteran.
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| Our walking route (in blue) inside the canal-ringed historic centre |
It was raining on and off until after lunchtime, then came out fine despite a gloomy and damp forecast for the whole day. The low sun in the afternoon was beautiful, showing off the lovely autumn-coloured trees beside the waterways.
We appreciated the architecture. It is very consistent, and the modern buildings almost all fit very nicely into the historic environment. The special buildings in the main squares were exceptionally decorative and complex.
The shops in the centre are mainly catering for tourists. There are literally dozens of chocolate shops, closely followed by waffle shops, then clothes and bag shops. In the outer areas there are lots of art shops and galleries. It's all very pretty, and there's so little traffic on the roads that walking and biking are very easy and popular. The whole central area is cobbled, and presumably has been for centuries.
