This year, we decided to explore the European Christmas markets. We started Thanksgiving weekend in Brugge. We traveled to Brugge for a swim event, but in the days leading up to the meet, we had a great time wandering around Brugge. We’d only been once before for an hour or two and really hadn’t been able to do much exploring.
We stayed just outside of the town center, so it was an easy walk to everything we planned to see. The Christmas market was spread out over several squares filled with stalls that housed everything from wares, to food, to gluwhein, seasonal mulled wine, and other alcohol. Unfortunately, they used styrofoam cups for the gluwhein and didn’t have collectible mugs like the Christmas markets in Germany, but it was still good stuff!
We browsed the stalls for two days as well as walked the streets and visited the Basilica of the Holy Blood, which is said to hold the blood of Jesus that was gathered at his crucifixion. The tour is free and you can go through the chapel downstairs as well as the upstairs church and view the Holy Blood that is under glass.
For those who haven’t been, Bruges is lovely–and I’ve only seen a portion of it! Bruges is a combination of lovely old cobbled streets, well-preserved buildings, and waterways. The city centre is even enough to be made a UNESCO World Heritage Site and sometimes called “The Venice of the North.”
Historically, Bruges is first heard of in the 9th century and was probably first a coastal settlement, though by the 19th century it was a destination for well-to-do French and British tourists.
Crossing the first bridge into Bruge
Lovely street corner
We left Mons with the intention of stopping in Brussels, but leave it to us to pick the one day of the year Brussels is closed to cars!!! Bruges was only an hour away, so we detoured in that direction since it wasn’t too far from the Calais. We found inexpensive parking at the train station and then with the help of a friendly local, we passed through the train station and in the direction of the city centre.
Bruges, in some ways a lot like the Netherlands, has bike paths, so make sure you don’t stand in them when looking to cross the street or you will have some rather angry locals and you might just get run over! 😉 My husband tried that before we ever crossed the first road.
From the train station, it was merely a matter of following the crowd, which led us into the centre, which is lined with quaint shops for tourists, selling chocolate, souvenirs, and beer, as well as restaurants. We passed several canals, but unfortunately, not all of my pictures were what I hoped they would be.
Mainly, we walked around the different streets and browsed in shops until we headed to the Church of our Lady for a tour. Now, if you are interested in touring this well-known church, you have to first go across the street to purchase tickets in the Old St. John Hospital.
Michelangelo’s Madonna
Altar
Stained glass
When you first enter, Michelangelo’s Madonna (1504) is in a small chapel just to the side. There are pews and such to a certain point, but barricades to keep onlookers back and a glass barrier around her to protect her (Can’t be too careful after the attack on the Pieta in 1972). If you aren’t familiar with this sculpture, it’s the one they focussed on in the film Monument’s Men.
Personally, I’m fascinated by Michelangelo’s sculptures. The serene, delicate expression on the face of this Madonna as well as Mary in the Pieta are beautiful. I had pushed for us to tour the church just to see her–not that she’s the only art treasure they have, but she’s the one I wanted to see the most!
Fresco
Crypts
Definitely walk all around the church, though! Don’t just stop at the Madonna. There are a lot of little lovely things about it. I particularly loved the remains of a fresco in one wall and how they had the crypts under the altar area open and covered for everyone to see the artwork detail in them. Definitely not to be missed.
After the church, we took a break for a late lunch, but ended up heading back to the Chunnel early and regretted our decision since it was booked solid. We ended up finding a beach in Calais so the children weren’t bored to tears waiting until we could enter the Eurotunnel station.
The first signs of people in Mons date back to the Neolithic period, but wasn’t made a town until the 12th century. Though in its early days, it was a mining town, it has changed dramatically. Since that time, this city near the French border has also grown, though still not the size of Brussels.
We had a few hours one afternoon while visiting a nearby village and decided to go into Mons and see what was there. Our first views were typical of many towns or cities in Northern Europe until we turned a corner to find a sculpture shadowing the road. On rue de Nimy, an enormous arrangements of sticks was designed by artist Arne Quinze. You drive through on the street below.
We found parking on a side street. When we paid, we thought we put in money for 3 hours, but it turned out that we covered our parking until the next morning. After shrugging it off and putting the ticket in our window, we walked until we happened upon a church. I always love to look around the churches here, so we stepped inside.
Sainte Elisabeth has had several churches since people first began worshipping there, but the latest Baroque structure was built in the 18th century. It was a lovely church and definitely worth the walk through with the 16th, 17th, and 18th century artwork inside as well as the architecture.
When we departed Sainte Elisabeth, we continued down rue de Nimy until we reached Grand Place. Most towns in this region have a Grand Place as it was their market centre and most still remain with quaint restaurants with outdoor tables and great architecture. In this case, it was no different.
We continued on until we hit the end of the pedestrian only roads and then doubled back. My son was aching for a waffle, so we stopped at a small stand to indulge his whim. They aren’t quite the same as in Brussels, where they are a waffle smothered in fruit, whipped cream, chocolate, and all other forms of the decadent, but a simple glazed sort of waffle you held in a piece of paper and if you wished, they shoved long strips of chocolate into the thicker parts.
We couldn’t resist but to duck into a store with the sign Fromagerie. If you don’t like the smell of aged cheese, you won’t care for the smell of this store. They had an amazing selection, though, and we ended up buying some beer cheese for my husband and apple cheese for the rest of us that I apparently ate way too much of, much to the dismay of my daughter.
Of course, we couldn’t have cheese without bread and a bakery next door had baguettes as well as an amazing seeded gluten free loaf I couldn’t resist trying. We stopped at a local grocery store for some more gluten free goodies and a bottle of wine (to go with the cheese and bread of course!!!) before heading back to the quaint farmhouse where we were staying.
Our friends in Belgium 😉
Because we overpaid for parking, we passed on our parking voucher to someone else, who was incredibly grateful 🙂
I wish I could say that I practiced more of my French, but the minute I spoke in most places, they reverted straight to English whether I spoke in French or not. 😦
Now, most people would travel to Brussels and stay a few days so they can see all the town has to offer, but when you’re travelling with a band of teenagers for a sports competition, that doesn’t happen. Despite this trip being a very short one, there were a number of firsts for me. This was the first time I travelled by any mode of transportation across the channel, or under in this case, and into Europe as well as my first time in France and Belgium; not that I saw much of France but a bit of Calais and the motorway. 🙂
So, the Chunnel was not quite what I expected. I did some research and given that I get claustrophobic in the weirdest of situations was a little concerned over that, the crossing wasn’t bad at all. When you arrive at the Folkestone Chunnel Crossing, you use your reservation to be admitted to the area and as a coach, we went through customs at a small services where there’s a Starbucks, a W.H. Smith, and a Duty Free shop. When the time came for us to board our reserved crossing, we loaded back onto our bus and drove through a maze to reach the train.
It’s amazing really because the coaches drive in from the end and once each car is loaded, glass panes with the train doors fold out and a metal retractable door that descends from the ceiling. There are public toilets in the first and last cars, so you can get out for those or to just stretch your legs, though you cannot walk between the cars in the event a parking brake/hand brake fails.
The descent under the English Channel is really gradual; you don’t notice that you ever really are going down or back up again other than a bit of popping of the ears. I opted to get off the coach and stand along the side because the buses tend to rock back and forth, which can be a bit like being in a boat. It was a much smoother crossing that way. Once the train begins moving, the crossing takes about 20 to 30 minutes.
Brussels was larger than I expected, though a lovely town. We stayed in Grand Place, where there you have a choice of a number of hotels as well as touristy shops for entertainment. We arrived late afternoon, settled into our room, and then decided to walk around and look for a place to eat.
City Hall
Museum of Brussels
Grand Place is the central market square of Brussels and has its origins dating back to the 11th Century. As early as the 14th century, improvements began being made to the square, but those were destroyed in the late 17th century and the current buildings erected. Grand Place is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
If you haven’t been to Grand Place, it is a rather large square which has the City Hall and several guildhalls as well as the Maison du Roi (or King’s House) which contains the Museum of Brussels. The buildings are ornate and opulent Gothic and Baroque architecture, many decorated with gold paint or material and are even beautiful at night.
Most of the restaurants in this part of town have their menus outside of the door for people to peruse, but none had a gluten-free menu available from what we could tell. After a search online, we opted for Hard Rock Cafe. I haven’t been to a Hard Rock since I was a kid, but the staff was so nice and the food was very good, so we were happy.
Once we had some fun in the gift shop, we hit the first chocolate shop we found, which fortunately had great labelling for gluten. The chocolates from Bruyere were very good as well. While they had a great deal of places to buy Belgian Beer and Brussels lace, we walked around and enjoyed the area before we returned to our rooms to sleep.
Sorry about the quality of the photos. It was starting to darken and the rain did not help!
