Bus tour to Brugge Belgium
A view of the canal in Brugge Belgium
Two Digital Gypsies Rating – 4 Stars
To see the YouTube video of our visit to Brugge, please click here.
The name Brugge comes from a Viking word “bryggia” which means “place of embarkation”.
Brugge is located on the northwest coast of Belgium, has a population of around 120,000, and receives more than three million visitors a year. I believe that number, because the day we visited the city was teeming with people. Avoiding damage in the two World Wars, Brugge looks today much as it did 600 years ago. We were amazed at the number of beautiful medieval buildings the day we visited.
We signed up for a bus tour to Brugge through ITT tours located on the Lakenheath Air Base. The trip from the Air Base takes around 8 hours one way. After exiting the tour bus it takes around 30 minutes to walk to the Market Square area of the city.
Arriving at Market Square we immediately ate some Belgium waffles that were delicious. No need for syrup on these waffles, they have just the right amount of sweetness when you purchase them. After shopping and browsing some of the many stalls located in Market Square we headed to the canal for a boat tour. If you go to Brugge definitely take one of the boat tours. It’s a great way to see the medieval buildings and sights in the city that you could never see on foot.
Street performers and shops with chocolate and lace are on almost every street you walk down, so if you have a sweet tooth this a chocolate lover’s heaven.
For lunch we ate mussels and fries with cherry beer at De Beurze restaurant which is located on the edge of Market Square. The mussels come in a huge pot that looks like it’s enough for 2 people. They were delicious. It was interesting that fries were the side dish, we wondered if maybe that could be some British influence on the city.
The city is fairly compact in size, so seeing the historic medieval buildings in the city doesn’t take a lot of time. We visited the museum located in the Belfry, Church of Our Lady, St. Magadalene’s Church, and the Beginenhof. At the end of our walk on the way back to the bus we went past Gunpowder Tower which I think is the most beautiful area of the city.
We enjoyed the bus tour to Brugge, although the 8 hours of time spent on the bus each way from England to Brugge was kind of a pain. I think if we visit again we’ll come up with a faster way to get to the city.
