Brugge: Amongst the Medieval Canals
Trip Start
Aug 18, 2011
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26
45
Trip End
Jul 02, 2012
Brugge, West Flanders, Belgium
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Afterwards we waked over to see the Town Hall and the Basilica of the Holy Blood, which supposedly has a vial of Christ's blood. The painted walls in the Basilica were one of my favorite sights in the city. On our way to see the Markt square, I bought some Belgian chocolate truffles that didn't disappoint. At the Markt square we saw the Belfry tower, the Provincial Court and then ate some dinner in one of the houses on the square. Unfortunately we couldn't go up into the Belfry tower, because it was being renovated.
The next day, we toured the Church of Our Lady, the inside of the Town Hall, an art museum, Old St. John's Hospital (dates back to the 11th century), the Begijnhof, and the windmills to the east of the city. We saw Belgian school children celebrating '100 Days' until school finishes by lining up throughout a square and chanting.
The Groeningemuseum we visited had many 'Flemish Primitive' paintings from the 14-16th centuries as well as more modern paintings. Artists we saw were Jan van Eyck and Jheronimus Bosch, the later in which I find quite intriguing, because his works are so distinctive.
The Memlingmuseum in the 11th century St. John's Hospital was well worth seeing. Not only did it have some nice artwork from Hans Memling, but also some neat Medieval hospital gadgets. They also hold the first half-body portrait of the Christ walking with the cross painted North of the Alps. Pretty amazing!
Traveling around Brugge really helped me to get a visual since of the historical transition of trading power in North Belgium (then the Low Countries) in the late Medieval period until the Dutch Revolt of the 1580's transfered trading power to Amsterdam and the the Netherlands (then the Dutch Republic). I say this because much of the architecture in Brugge is from the late Medieval period when it was at the height of its trading wealth, while Amsterdam has many buildings from the 1600's when it was experiencing it's own Golden Age while Flanders declined.
Overall, we really enjoyed our stay. Brugge is a stunning city with many late Medieval buildings, canals, and quaint squares.
