June 27 - Gent - (Day trip to Bruges)

 June 27 - Gent - (Day trip to Bruges)

As nice as Gent is you can’t be this close to Bruges without paying it a visit and so today this is where we went. Just 30 minutes away by train from Gent, Bruges is another beautiful well preserved Belgian city, as well as a UNESCO world heritage site.  Once one of the most prosperous cities of Europe, it started to go downhill financially when the Zwin canal, the city’s only access to the sea, started silting up. The outcome of this was a major business downturn, this then resulted in companies departing for other cities, and then this in turn causing a further lack of business investment. All this lack of investment in the ‘modernisation’ of the place then helped preserve the city’s medieval features, which in the end turned out to be a fantastic result for everyone! 😃


As we’d been here previously we didn’t actually have any plans today, just a bit of a wander around checking out some of the fantastic buildings scattered around town. 

I’d actually forgotten how much beer and chocolate were a large part of Bruges’s retail business.  Melbourne, London, and Worthing please take note!   JEM saw an advertising sign that said ‘Wall of Beer’. This then prompted a “Don’t ever let it be said that I walked past an invite like that!” response 😆. I could only agree. 

OMG, so overwhelmed by choice I can’t make a decision! 😂
OMG, so overwhelmed………(Part 2) 😂

The Zwin and the other waterways are once again in full use, although nowadays more for tourism, but it’s great to see some beautiful views around the old town and it’s surrounding parks. 

On the way back to the station we got waylaid and visited the ‘Princely Beguinage Ten Wijngaerde’.  A ‘beguinage’, which according to wiki, is ‘an architectural complex which was created to house beguines: i.e. lay religious women who lived in community without taking vows or retiring from the world’.  Anyway today, and since 1927, it’s now being used by Benedictine nuns as a Convent.  Quiet and serene, it’s a very nice place to visit. 



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