Train travel is really cheap in Belgium; only €8 per trip. We decided to take a day trip to Bruge, or Brugge (Flemish name), which is a 30 minute train ride from Ghent. Bruges is like a city stuck in medieval times, with a lot of the same architectural vibes as Ghent, but with more of a small town feel.

Beware of Witches

There are twenty-one churches in Bruges. That’s quite a lot for a small town. According to legend, Bruges is filled with witches, so they built a lot of churches so the witches couldn’t get in. In reality, Bruges is just a really religious place. You could probably spend much of your day walking through the churches. For us, we were getting tired of seeing so many churches; we breezed through several of them.

Bruges is a great place to walk around. There are so many bridges that cross over the canals and many small and cute houses that line the canals. Some of the bridges are originals from medieval times (around the 14th century). Isn’t is funny how these bridges are still standing but modern bridges break and wear down easily?

Belgian Beer and Canals

We found this cool place called 2be (To be in Bruges). It has something called the “Beer Wall” with hundreds of different kinds of beer that line the wall. They also have a little bar for you to enjoy some beer. You can also take a look through their shop that sells many different kinds of souvenirs. I bought my dad a cycling jersey that he still wears. In the shop, you can also take a look into the cellar with almost every type of beer imaginable.

Of course with all the canals, we had to go on a canal ride. It was about 30 minutes and I think we paid somewhere around €8. The canal cruise was very cool and we learned lots of cool new things about Bruges. For example, in some of the houses there are little holes at the very top (like a very small window) where pigeons used to fly to deliver messages during World War II. How cool! The canal ride gave us some really awesome views of the city that you can only see from the canals, so it was definitely worth the money.

A trip to Bruges is incomplete without a trip to the Belfry. Unlike the Belfry in Ghent equipped with an elevator, we had to climb over 300 steps to get to the top. Be prepared for lots of tiny spaces and spiraling stairs that change direction! When we reached the top, it was super windy — it was like being in a wind tunnel. It’s really awesome to be able to look over the entire city from the top. The trip back down was also another difficult adventure. We had to navigate around people on their way up the stairs. Can you imagine people doing this hundreds of years ago with torches? Count me out.

A Satisfying Day

After eating a satisfying lunch, we just walked around the city. We nearly got run over by bikes, but fortunately we lived! There are lots of shops that line the city and we saw a pretty park and the convent where the nuns lived in medieval times.

Bruges was definitely a really awesome city to visit. It’s easy to get there by train and it is super worth it. The buildings are really pretty and it’s just got an amazing atmosphere about it. I definitely recommend a trip to Bruges if you are ever in Belgium!