It is difficult to portray the beauty of this fairy tale city because visiting here feels like going through a beautiful poem where each part is mesmerising! I never fell in love with any place as much as I did with this and I am always longing to go back. I know there are plenty of information available regarding the city but I am outlining few facts that I found interesting:
- Bruges is located in the north west of Belgium, about 2 hour away from Brussels
- This medieval city has most of its architecture preserved and its town centre has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since the year of 2000
- It is a canal- based city like Amsterdam and Stockholm, often referred as the The Venice of the North
- Port of Bruges was once one of the very significant in the world
- Bruges’ famous Belfry (bell tower) is a 13th century building, and its carillon consisted of 48 bells!
- Michelangelo’s famous sculpture ‘Madonna and Child’ is located in the very famous Church of Our Lady in Bruges, is beleived to be the only sculpture to have gone out of Italy within his lifetime. Also, The Churches’s brick tower is one of the highest medieval brick towers in the world.
- Basilica of the Holy Blood in Bruges is well known for its possession of Relic of the Holy Blood of Jesus Christ (a cloth with Jesus’ Blood) believed to be brought to the city in 12th century.
Canal rides
If you are visiting Bruges, don’t miss this! It is a brilliant way to experience the city in a different angle. The views are just priceless, I would recommend to do it while the sun is shining! There are lots of different companies providing Rozenhoedkaai canal ride service. The prices of most of them are about 8 Euros and rides last around 20-30 minutes. The famous landmarks can be observed are Beguinage, St. Johns Hospital, Church of Our Lady, Groeninge Museum, Belfry, Fishmarket, Old Palace of Justice and Burghers Lodge.
Location of the booking/starting point: Katelijnestraat 4, 8000 Brugge, Belgium
Phone:+32 50 33 27 71
Website: http://www.nvstael.com/
Ticket prices for 2016 are as follows (translated from the above website):
- 8 euros per person (12 years)
- 4 euros per child (4-11 years) accompanied by an adult
- children younger than 4 years: free
- 7 euros per person for groups (20 people)
- 240 euros per boat (private – max. 30 persons)
We have only visited one windmill (there are four in total) which was walk-able distance from the town. The Bonne-Chière windmill of Bruges is located in Kruisvest, it is the first mill coming from the Kruispoort town gate.