Walk pictures - Bruges

Introduction

R and I decided to take a short break in Bruges, in the north of Belgium, just after the New Year. It’s a very popular tourist town well known for its historic architecture, although I seem to recall we actually decided to go to Belgium mainly because we’d been watching Poirot DVDs.

Tuesday

We travelled there by train and arrived in the afternoon. The railway station is just outside the central part of Bruges, which is ringed by canals, so it wasn’t long before we crossed a canal on our walk into town.

This was actually the second canal we crossed. But a very picturesque one.

1/60 at f8, 23mm, ISO200 51°12′2″N 3°13′14″E

Side of nice building with shadow and slit windows.

1/250 at f8, 23mm, ISO200 51°12′15″N 3°13′14″E

After finding our hotel and checking in, we took another walk around part of the old town in the evening.

Corner of the cathedral.

1/15 at f8, 23mm, ISO1600 51°12′19″N 3°13′15″E

Side of building by a canal bridge.

1/15 at f2.8, 23mm, ISO1600 51°12′19″N 3°13′29″E

Nicely lit building over canal.

1/15 at f2.8, 23mm, ISO1600 51°12′17″N 3°13′31″E

Lights by bridge.

1/15 at f2.8, 23mm, ISO1600 51°12′17″N 3°13′31″E

Entrance archway and corridor.

1/15 at f2.8, 23mm, ISO1600 51°12′12″N 3°13′29″E

Railing shadows in car headlights.

1/15 at f2.8, 23mm, ISO1600 51°12′16″N 3°13′26″E

Central staircase in hotel.

1/40 at f5.6, 23mm, ISO800 51°12′28″N 3°13′20″E

Wednesday

We visited the ‘Historium’, which is an exhibition in a nice old building on the market square. They lead you through a number of rooms with video clips telling a story set in medieval Bruges.

You can look out over the market square from a balcony.

1/250 at f8, 23mm, ISO200

Quite a nice staircase window.

1/250 at f2.8, 23mm, ISO800

We walked through the town a little before visiting an art gallery in the afternoon.

Mixture of buildings near the market square.

1/500 at f8, 23mm, ISO200 51°12′30″N 3°13′32″E

Shop window. (Probably a chocolate shop? They weren’t selling caravans or pigs, anyhow.)

1/125 at f4, 23mm, ISO200 51°12′25″N 3°13′45″E

Building having some work done.

1/60 at f8, 23mm, ISO200 51°12′24″N 3°13′46″E

Part of the Groeningemuseum (art gallery) complex.

1/500 at f8, 23mm, ISO200 51°12′18″N 3°13′34″E

After the gallery we walked around a little more.

Canalside buildings.

1/250 at f8, 23mm, ISO200 51°12′17″N 3°13′30″E

Nice blue-painted doors (and fancy doorbell).

1/250 at f2.8, 23mm, ISO200 51°12′15″N 3°13′27″E

Church of Our Lady (Onze Lieve Vrouw).

1/250 at f8, 23mm, ISO200 51°12′15″N 3°13′26″E

Nice sculpture by entrance to Sint-Janshospitaalpark.

1/60 at f2.8, 23mm, ISO200 51°12′12″N 3°13′19″E

Bridge over road (Zonnekemeers).

1/250 at f8, 23mm, ISO200 51°12′9″N 3°13′21″E

Nice house sign, and crack.

1/30 at f5.6, 23mm, ISO200 51°12′2″N 3°13′30″E

Old church (for sale, I think).

1/60 at f8, 23mm, ISO200 51°12′5″N 3°13′37″E

The small hotel we stayed in (Hotel Van Eyck) wasn’t particularly expensive, but it was very central.

View of the Belfort (in market square) from the window of our room.

1/15 at f2.8, 23mm, ISO800 51°12′28″N 3°13′20″E

Thursday

The hotel room also had quite interesting decor.

1/15 at f2.8, 23mm, ISO200

We set off right after breakfast to visit the Belfort (belfry), the tallest building in the market square. There was a queue to get in, but it was much worse later in the day when we left!

The Belfort is kind of a ridiculous building. Definitely a high point of the visit for me (pun intended).

Face in nice sunlight on a lower floor.

1/60 at f8, 23mm, ISO200

Brick roof arches.

1/30 at f2.8, 23mm, ISO200

Shadow portrait of R and myself.

1/125 at f8, 23mm, ISO200

Nice oval window-opening.

1/250 at f8, 23mm, ISO200

Looking up at bells in the very top. (They play tunes, using a mechanism on the floor below.)

1/125 at f8, 23mm, ISO200

Bell View.

1/125 at f8, 23mm, ISO200

Looking north toward Zeebrugge.

1/500 at f8, 23mm, ISO200

Topmost flight of wooden stairs (1).

1/30 at f2.8, 23mm, ISO400

Wooden stairs (2).

1/60 at f2.8, 23mm, ISO400

Interesting pipes.

1/250 at f8, 23mm, ISO200

Brick stairs lower down.

1/15 at f2.8, 23mm, ISO400

Looking out from stairwell down to exhibition display (and R).

1/125 at f8, 23mm, ISO800

Gates to treasure chest.

1/15 at f2.8, 23mm, ISO200

After leaving the Belfort, we took a walk around some of the city’s canals.

Nice street corner.

1/500 at f8, 23mm, ISO200 51°12′37″N 3°13′31″E

Buildings near Jan van Eyckplein.

1/250 at f8, 23mm, ISO200 51°12′39″N 3°13′30″E

Streetlamp shadow, Langerei.

1/125 at f8, 23mm, ISO200 51°12′51″N 3°13′42″E

Canal reflections, Langerei.

1/500 at f8, 23mm, ISO200 51°13′4″N 3°13′43″E

Lifting bridge, Langerei.

1/500 at f8, 23mm, ISO200 51°13′4″N 3°13′45″E

View down side alley, Langerei.

1/320 at f8, 23mm, ISO200 51°13′7″N 3°13′45″E

Swing bridge, Wulpenstraat.

1/500 at f8, 23mm, ISO200 51°13′14″N 3°13′56″E

The canal along the east of Bruges is used commercially with barges carrying goods (and we did see one). It also has several windmills.

The northern windmill Koeleweimolen.

1/250 at f8, 23mm, ISO200 51°13′3″N 3°14′11″E

Another windmill, Sint-Janshuismolen.

1/500 at f8, 23mm, ISO200 51°12′55″N 3°14′18″E

Further view of same windmill.

1/500 at f8, 23mm, ISO200 51°12′54″N 3°14′16″E

Jeruzalemkerk (a church).

1/250 at f8, 23mm, ISO200 51°12′43″N 3°14′1″E

After this we went to see the folklore museum, which was interesting - basically full of random stuff in themed rooms, like one about school, for instance. We also got there just in time to see the end of a traditional sweet-making demonstration.

We walked a little more of the canal circuit on our way back into town.