Bruges, Belgium

On Sunday April 2^nd, we went to Bruges, Belgium. I never realized how small Belgium was until I saw on a map that the 1 hour and 15 minute train ride (with multiple stops) brought us almost ½ way across the country. Bruges is the capital and largest city of West Flander, which is the Flemish region of Prague. In Brussels the major language is French but in Bruges it’s Dutch. It’s a canal based city and so its often called the Venice of the North. It was a really beautiful city.

One of the most interesting parts of Bruges was the Béguinage. Which, historically, is a small collection of buildings used by religious women. The beguines lived like regular nuns, but did not make the same binding vows that nuns normally made. Beguines usually made the vows of obedience and chastity, but not the vow of poverty. However, the story is a little different in Bruges. The Béguinage was a sanctuary where women could retreat from the crazy society in which they lived to follow a secure, useful and peaceful life without the need to take the vows of a Nun. They were free to go outside of the Beguinage and return to the outside world if they chose and they had the Freedom to choose for themselves. A lot of the women of Bruges who chose to join the Béguinage, simply didn’t want to be forced into marriage and didn’t want to lose their rights as women. Our tour guide said that it was basically a bunch of feminists who wanted to live with freedom and got the chance to all live together where no men were allowed to go, but they were still looked after by a head mistress.  They never had to take any vows and had no forced ties to the church. Pretty cool!

In the Church of Our Lady was the famous Madonna by Michelangelo, which is believed to be Michelangelo’s only sculpture to have left Italy within his lifetime.

We also visited the most famous part of Bruges, which was the Market Square. At the market square is the Belfry or the bell tower… where the ending of the movie In Bruges was filmed (which I thought was an awful movie).

We then went on a 10+ mile bike ride from Bruges to Damme (where the windmill was) to Bruges’ Medieval to a harbor and then all the way back to Bruges! We went to where the ocean used to be… it was strange to see a lighthouse just sitting in the middle of a country side because the ocean was miles away!

Everyone knows that Prague is known for beer because they consume the most beer per person than any country in the entire world! However, Belgium is known for their beer for a different reason. In Prague there aren't many beer choices and most the time the Czechs drink Pilsner (which is a Czech beer)... in Belgium you kind find HUNDREDS of different types of beer... each beer also has a distinctive glass in which you drink it out of. They are very proud of their craft beers and their different glasses. This one was called Kwak and when you reached the section with the ball... it made a noise which sounded like a KWAK! This is me when I got the kwak!