Belgium Travel Notes

Over a "Strong Henry" beer and some seasonal pumpkin soup at Brewery de Halve Mann (Walplein 26, Brugge, highly recommended), I chatted with Carine Decroos of the Belgium Tourism Office before the beer's 9% alcohol kicked in and rendered me speechless or worse. Did you know that over 1 million people take a boat trip round Brugge? Since that is almost 10 times the entire population of Brugge, I was happy to learn that Brugge had a plan to keep at least part of its old center tourist-tee-shirt-store free for those of us who like to wander streets that haven't been turned into the wanderer's idea of tourist purgatory. Besides gothic architecture and medieval stepped-gable facades, Brugge has a lot to offer the tourist in the way of museums and food. There is a chocolate museum, of course, but I suppose an even more interactive chocolate experience might be the Bar C at Zilverpang 8, a total chocolate experience featuring everything from the ubiquitous hot chocolate to chocolate fondue and chocolate pancakes.

Despite the rain in November, it's a good time to travel here. The restaurant had a nice fire going, Christmas decorations are starting to appear in store windows, and the Christmas market season starts November 26th. A skating rink is being built in the market square.

Brugge has great train connections with the rest of Belgium, and a station conveniently located just outside the old town. If you arrive from London, your Eurostar ticket to Brussels allows you to continue on to any city in Belgium. I went to Ghent, then used a Eurailpass Flexi to continue my travels. Using it is simple; I just went to the station and got my pass stamped, then I write in the date of each day I use the pass.