Bruges, Belgium

The next city we visited on our trip was not originally part of the plan (much like Nara, Japan many weeks before).  As we traveled the world and met other travelers, we heard more than once of this charming Belgian city just a short train ride outside of Brussels called Bruges. (also spelled Brugge depending on who you ask)

The first time Bruges came up was in Bangkok, where on Chris' bike tour, he met some Danish citizens who recommended the excursion.  Then, again, in Istanbul by the shoreline, a group of girls asked to have their picture taken.  In the short conversation that followed, we discovered that they were Belgian and when we mentioned our stop in Brussels, they immediately recommended Bruges.

So on our second and last day in Belgium we took the train out to Bruges.  Like Brussels, Bruges was another lovely, quaint European town.  It's fame comes primarily from the fact that the town was spared the destruction of both world wars and most of its medieval architecture remains completely intact. 

We spent the morning walking around on our own and then took part in a walking tour of the town.  We were glad that we did the tour because there was much more to this town then what we thought!

Kate in the Markt (or Market Square)

The Belfry, a medieval bell tower, in The Markt

Saint Saviour's Cathedral

City Hall

Welcome Church of our Lady

Before leaving Bruges we enjoyed some mussels and went shopping for chocolate.  We couldn't leave Belgium without getting any chocolate!  

After getting back to Brussels that night from Bruges, we hit the Delirium bars!  As mentioned in the blog post before this, there are several Delirium-named bars (though apparently unaffiliated with the beer company) in Brussels.  The first night we found the Delirium Monastary.  This second night, we found the Delirium Cafe.  They had more than 2,500 bottled beers!  The beer list was a huge book with full of descriptions of their beers. 

This was a lot of fun.  Chris especially enjoyed the selection since he's not a big fan of the sweet Belgium-style beers that Kate loves.  Chris tried a variety of beers and learned that there are multiple classifications of Belgian beer.  He particularly liked the "Trippel" style that typically indicates the highest quality beer with a full-bodied flavor and a hoppy aftertaste.

Beers come in all sizes!  This was the same size has a champagne bottle.

Kate stuck to some of her old favorites.

 Kate outside of the Delirium Cafe. 

Thanks for having us Belgium!  You were all we wished/hoped/wanted you to be!!

Brussels, Belgium

The next stop on our trip was Brussels, Belgium where we went to satisfy our craving for good beer and chocolate, but we were pleased to find that Brussels is a very quaint and cute little European city.  We spent our first day walking around and visiting the historical places that make up the old city center. 

The city is based around the “Grand Place (in French) also known as the “Grote Markt” (in Dutch).  It is one of the most beautiful town squares in Europe. Brussels Town Hall sits at the head of the large public square.  The town hall is one of Belgium's finest civic buildings. Not only because of the numerous sculptures adorning its walls, but also because of its perfect proportions and the incomparable beauty of its tower.

Surrounding the square alongside the town hall are the Grand Place Guildhalls. In the past, each merchant guild erected its own building in the city square, which is named and adorned with gilded statues and elaborate symbols related to its trade. When the guildhalls were obliterated in the 1695 bombardment, the guilds rallied and rebuilt their headquarters using stone (rather than partial timber as before) for the façades and adding fanciful baroque touches to the gables.

Opposite the town hall stands “The King’s House”, another remarkable historic Belgian building.  This neo-gothic style building had many functions since its beginnings in the 13^th century including a bread market, administrative center and, of course, residence for Emperor Charles V in the early 1500’s. 

Because we were in Brussels for the beer, we made our way over to the Museum of Beer where you can learn about the process of making beer and, when it’s over, have a free glass of fresh Belgian brew.

One of Brussels’ most endearing and comical features is the famous “Manneken Pis” (French for, literally:  “Little Man Pee”).  This small bronze fountain sculpture depicting a naked little boy urinating into the fountain's basin was designed and put in place in 1618.  According to legend, Duke Godfrey III of Leuven ascended to the Belgian thrown while still a baby. In 1142, the troops of this two-year-old lord were battling against the troops of the Berthouts and were badly outnumbered. The troops put the infant lord in a basket and hung the basket in a tree so he could observe the battle. During the battle, from his treetop perch, the boy stood up and urinated on the enemy troops, inspiring his own soldiers who went on to win the battle.

The rest of the day, we spent walking around the city center and taking in the sights.  Brussels was turning out to be a very charming little city.

That night we made sure to check out the nightlife!  Kate's favorite beer is Delirium which happens to have several bars named after it in Brussels.  Kate wanted to visit them all.  This night we went to the Delirium Monastary.  Huge selection of Belgium beers and the largest selection of vodka we'd ever seen!

Barcelona - Day 5, Summary & Review

Our last day in Barcelona, we visited the Pablo Picasso museum which featured many of Picasso’s works from his time in the city as well as his time in Paris.  Picasso spent a good portion of his life in Barcelona and drew inspiration from the city.  Unfortunately, we were unable to take any pictures.  After the museum, we spent the remainder of our day walking around and enjoying the wonderfully warm weather and charm of Barcelona.  We also made sure to stop and have some amazing crepes on our last day.

Summary & Review 

Barcelona had been a highly anticipated destination for us as many of our good friends had been there (or were from there) and we had universally good reviews.  Reflecting on our time there, Barcelona is a city with an amazing assortment of qualities to make it an easy place to like: great food, interesting history, amazing and unique architecture, fantastic shopping, and beautiful beaches. 

We absolutely fell in love with the tapas and Kate particularly couldn’t get enough of the paella and sangria.  We both were stunned by the work of Gaudi (who we had never heard of before) whose work is so completely unique that it stood out as a highlight of the whole trip.  And the people we met were fantastically friendly.  Barcelona has a great tourist information center that we highly recommend using.  There's many locations, in safe places, they speak English and can book tours for you.  They even recommended a few restaurants for us.

We really liked our hotel - the HCC Montblanc.  It was near the sites, in a safe area, a good price, with free breakfast and Internet.  We walked everywhere from this hotel!

Since we were being cautious with our money, we took public transportation to and from the airport to/from our hotel.  We tried the metro to the hotel and the bus back to the airport.  I think the bus ended up being the easiest for us but both were really great options instead of a cab.

Just a word of caution for anyone planning to visit Barcelona:  It’s the only place of our entire trip that we were warned multiples of times to watch out for pick-pockets.  When we first heard the warning we blew it off given the places we had already visited and survived unscathed, but by the 5^th or 6^th warning from locals, we started to get a sense that maybe Barcelona has a more acute problem.  While we ultimately had no issues, it appears that Barcelona has had a growing problem with pick-pockets to the point where it is considered commonplace and is starting to negatively impact tourism there.  If you plan to go, plan to be on your guard and be aware of your surroundings.

For us, Barcelona was a place to relax, eat some amazing food with Spanish wines and sangria and take some time to celebrate Kate’s birthday.  We didn’t take advantage of the abundant night-life that we had heard so much about as much as we probably should have (apparently the Catalonian people stay up all night long).  Even so, we had a great time and left feeling that we had a great experience in Barcelona.

Barcelona - Day 4

On our fourth day in Barcelona, we had an arranged a tour of Montserrat for the afternoon.  That meant we had the morning to go back to the Church of Santa Maria del Mar and tour the inside.

Kate loves taking pictures of church organs.  Her late Grandmother played the organ and she thinks they're beautiful!

After walking through the small church, we walked around the town some more trying out some new streets that we hadn't walked yet.

Lovely Spanish streets

Walking south to the beach, we walked around the Mirador de Colon with a statue of Christopher Columbus on the top pointing out to sea. 

 

That afternoon we headed out on our tour of  Montserrat.  The bus picked us up in Barcelona and drove us up Montserrat Mountain.  At the top we would find amazing views, a monastery and the Chapel of the Virgin Mary.

Another Gaudi piece of work

 

Entering the Chapel of the Virgin...

Another organ picture by Kate :-)

Entering the Angel Gate. 

More organs

The staircase of the Saints

Saint Mary (A.K.A. Mother of God)

Saint Mary's View

Saint Mary holds the sphere of the universe in one hand and presents baby Jesus with her other hand.  Many people that walked by touched the sphere and kissed her.

Leaving the Chapel

It was a beautiful day in Barcelona and up on Montserrat.  We'd recommend going up the mountain if only to get out of the city for an afternoon.  It was truly peaceful.