In Bruges

We spent May 4 and 5 in Bruges, Belgium. For those of you that haven’t been, it’s a beautiful medieval city ringed by canals. If you have seen the movie In Bruges, Colin Farrell’s character thinks it’s a “shithole”. In any case, we had a lovely time but I have to say it was totally overwhelmed by tourists and the intermittent torrential rain didn’t help matters either.

But we did have a few really memorable experiences. First off, we went on the canal tour, as one does. More so than the tour itself, the “captain” was the highlight, a colorful character, telling jokes, personal stories and mock flirting with all of the women. Apparently he owns a set of bagpipes he bought on a wild bender in Scotland. Of course still has no idea how to play them.

Our first souvenir of the trip was bought from a local artist who makes a series of works in cast polyester painted in bright colors. His irreverent gnome won first place in an art show in Italy. He also told us that the amazing old houses in central Bruges sell for around EUR 200.000. That won’t buy you a canal view, but it will get you four rooms smack in the middle of a Unesco World Heritage site. Just in case you are interested in moving there.

Finally, as you would expect, and as it seems every other visitor does, we went on the Brouwerij De Halve Maan tour. This brewery, famous for its Straffe Hendrik, has the unique distinction of being the only one still brewing beer within the old city walls. Fun fact, this is due to its relatively modest history, rather than its success. While most of the earlier Bruges breweries either outgrew the city or failed, De Halve Maan just barely managed to hold on over the years. Now they are reaping the rewards of their unique location, having recently upgraded to a 40.000 liter capacity. At this stage they still brew and ferment on the site of the old brewery, but transport the finished beer for bottling and kegging in a facility outside of the city walls. They are currently working on a pipeline to make transport more efficient. Think about it, the world’s first beer pipeline.

The new brewery

The old brewery

The bar

The beer