Belgium: Bruges

Next morning we grudgingly dragged ourselves out of bed. Definitely feeling tired after a night of fitful sleep due to the unfortunate fact that we were woken up every now and then by the opening and closing door next to us. :( Alright, but at least the breakfast was filling.



Early on a Sunday morning, Brussels city 'North' seems quite dead to us. Prob everyone went partying the previous night. It seems that this part of the city is undergoing some major development project as shown by the dozens of half-completed skyscrapers.

So we bought a 'Gold Pass' for 10 train trips, which we were 'supposed' to fill in whenever we took trains. Point is-the train conductor doesn't always check. :)



I must say that the subway is a bit tourist-unfriendly because it was quite hard to figure out which train to take. with so many trains running everywhere, even to UK, Germany, France from Blegium. Also, the spellings of the places where we were going were sometimes different from the one we know. Anyway, even the exteriors of some trains have huge graffiti pictures on it..

Bruges (Dutch: Brugge), a UNESCO city, is one of Belgium's chief tourist attractions. Medieval streets, winding canals. It is sometimes referred to as "Venice of the North". Seems like there are many cities contesting that name: Stockholm, St Petersburg....



Concertgebouw(concert building) which also houses the coolest Tourist info centre I've ever seen



St Saviour's cathedral in the background



Tintin!



Borough, aka Acropolis of the town. It is located at the Marked Place, ie the town square where there many people queuing for horse rides.



Belfry-the city's most remarkable landmark



Belfry replica in Mini-Europe, Brussels



After climbing 366 steps up, this is the panoramic view of Bruges. The tall building is Church of Our Lady which contains the white marble Madonna with Child by Michelangelo.



'Flanders Lace' Bruges is known for



Took a boat cruise along the canals



City Hall built in the Gothic style. Nearby was the Basilica of the Holy Blood



Even has some windmills on the outskirts of the town



Alright, Bruges definitely has streets of charming historic houses Surrounded by canals but it seems little too touristic, overcrowded and a little 'fake'. "In recent years, the city has turned so much towards tourism the locals sometimes complain they are living in Disney-land."



Well, but at least the Europa youth hostel was awesome!