Brugge is a small town. It looks like it sprang forth off of a mid 19th century or earlier postcard. The canals are wide and clean and full of little boats of tourists. The buildings are stone with windowboxes and assakimbo windows. The people are open and friendly. It was an amazing change from Brussels.
We’d booked our B&B from the Rick Steve’s Amsterdam, Brussels, Brugge book. We had no idea what to expect or where it was. We called the nice proprietress from the train station, and she gave us directions. We could not have found a better place: location was exquisite and central, accommodations were immaculate and quiet, breakfast was simple and delicious, and the price was entirely reasonable. Not bad for a shot in the dark! Stumble fu is strong with this one 😉
As soon as we’d gotten our bag up 3 flights of stairs and caught our breath we headed out in search of… BEER. Our B&B was 2 blocks from Cambrinus Bierbrasserie, and it was about lunch time. Life is soooooo good.
As Jack perused the MASSIVE beer menu, I looked over the very small food menu. ONE of us had to get the “Brewers Menu” and we couldn’t miss the onion soup (both of us love onion soup). So lunch consisted of:
- Trappist Cheese Croquettes
- Flemish Carbonades prepared with Gulden Draak beer, served with applesauce
- Flemish Oignon soup with “Oud Brugge” cheese and the beer “Brugse Straffe Hendrik”
- Creme Brulee perfumed with the dark abbey beer of Ename
AHHHH what a beautiful introduction to Flemish food and cooking with beer. The oddest/funniest thing was that the bottle of Vittel water we had with lunch was nearly as expensive as the Westvleteren 12 (water 6euro, beer 6.95euro). Guess we need to drink more beer!
Full and happy, we went to find Den Dyver. Many had recommended this restaurant for its wonderful “cooked in beer” menu, but all had said reservations were a MUST. So we went in search to make reservations, only to find that Den Dyver was closed until the 18th of July, AFTER we’d be back in Cairo. POOP.
Not to be deterred, we found the Erasmus Hotel and bier bar. We’d called about staying at the Erasmus, but it was a bit outside our pricerange for this trip. So, we contented ourselves with drinking there. As always, great beer, excellent staff, relaxing atmosphere. I could really get to like it here!!
From Erasmus we headed for t’ Biertje, a tiny, old brown bar with an amazing propritress, Daisy, and a HUGE selection of beers. Everyone talks about the inherent beer snobbery exhibited by the staff (you’ll get completely ignored and dissed if you don’t know what you are talking about when you order), yet we had an excellent time, and excellent beers, at t’ Biertje. Jack even garnered a compliment from Daisy on his beer selection! I, however, got sniffed at for mine. LOL
Our second day in Brugges, Jack deigned to allow me my way in the morning and early afternoon (since most of the bier houses weren’t open yet). I chose a walk that would eventually lead us to the windmills along the river, but would pass by (and perhaps we would need to stop) at TWO lovely taverns, mentioned in the Beer Guide. Sometimes I’m so clever!
The day was very warm and sunny, unlike most of the trip thus far, so when we arrived at Terrasje Brugse we “needed” to rest. The pub was, as the name implies, mostly a large terrace with a small sitting room/pub attached. We sat in the sunshine and I learned an important lesson of Belgian beer – there are times and places where certain beers are APPROPRIATE and TASTY to consume! Sitting at Terrasje, in the hot sun, looking at the canals is a perfect time for a Kriek.
From Terrasje we went to the windmills. We even went up inside one of them! And then wandered back to the oldest pub in Brugge (or maybe it is Belgium?), Vlissinghe, built in 1515. Another lovely old place with a great garden where we were lectured on my French and Jack’s beer choices (“Duvel is the best beer in the WORLD” was what we were told).
We continued our wander to Dickies for dinner, and finally another trip to t’ Biertje as we were leaving in the morning for Ghent. We consumed A LOT of beer during the day, yet the walk and nibbles here and there made it less of an alcoholic bender and more of a moving feast. The hardest thing for me was that the beer is very filling, so I got VERY full on one or two beers. Thank god we walked all over the city to find all of these lovely places!
We were sad as we checked out of our lovely B&B. We spent some time “shopping” at the Sunday flea market and wishing we had room for some more stuff. We boarded the train to Ghent as it began to drizzle.