DAY 1 / THURSDAY / APRIL 15
USA TO BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
Fly from your home city to Brussels.
DAY 2 / FRIDAY / APRIL 16
ARRIVE IN BELGIUM
OVERNIGHT IN BRUGES, BELGIUM
Bruges City Hall
Bruges is called "The Most Romantic City in Europe" because of its medieval
cobblestone streets,
meandering canals, humpback bridges and green ramparts.
Everything in this delightful, appealing city has been so well preserved that visitors
feel as though they have truly stepped back in time to the Middle Ages.
Bruges, seat of the Dukes of Burgundy, grew into a city of great splendor in the 15th
century, without rival as a center of the arts. From the 14th century, a tradition of
wrought iron work, tapestry weaving and embroidery evolved at Bruges. Its lace making has
also been world famous since the Middle Ages.
Life in Bruges revolves around the Grand-Place, a beautiful square surrounded by houses
with crow-stepped gables,
old guildhalls, restaurants and outdoor cafes.
The Belfry is the city’s most remarkable landmark, 289 feet high. Climb 366 steps to the top
for a spectacular vista of the city and its surroundings. The Belfry’s carillon is one
of the finest in the world, with 47 bells weighing 27 tons.
The City Hall is one of the oldest of the Low Countries, 1376-1420. On the first floor
is the prestigious Gothic Hall, with an impressive wooden and polychrome vault ceiling and
historic wall paintings. The murals illustrating Bruges' glorious past were added during
the chamber's restoration in the late 19th century.
The Basilica of the Holy Blood
has, since 1149, been the repository of a fragment
of cloth soaked with the blood of Christ, brought back to Bruges during the Second
Crusade by the Counts of Flanders.
In the Church of Our Lady is a handsome work, carved by Michelangelo at the beginning
of the 14th century.
Our Lady and the Child Jesus,
bought by a Bruges merchant in
1506 and donated to the church, is one of the few works by the master founded outside
of Italy.
In the choir gallery are the mausoleums of
Charles the Bold and his daughter, Mary of Burgundy.
DAY 3 / SATURDAY / APRIL 17
BRUGES CITY TOUR WITH LOCAL GUIDE
OVERNIGHT IN BRUGES, BELGIUM
Walking is the best way to discover Bruges and your local guide will make the city come alive.
The city is rather small and you could
easily cross it in half an hour, that is, if you were not distracted at every turn by the
beautifully preserved historic buildings.
For nearly one hundred years the house of Burgundy was one of the most powerful in all
western Europe. Its dominion stretched from the North Sea to the Loire and from the
Loire to the Rhine, while Dijon, the duchy's capital, became an important center of
both the religious and secular arts, and the scene of glittering festivities.
Four dukes ruled at the height of the family's prosperity: Philip the Rash,
who founded its fortunes; John the Fearless, who engaged in feuds that almost
destroyed it; Philip the Good, who sold Joan of Arc to the English; and
Charles the Bold, perhaps the richest of them all.
In the afternoon, to see the city from a different perspective, you might want to
enjoy a leisurely cruise on one of the canals of Bruges. The willow-lined Minnewater
or "Lake of Love" is a former inland port and landing stage for barges which provided
regular transport service between Bruges and Ghent.
The
Groeninge Museum
houses a comprehensive and fascinating survey of six centuries
of Flemish, Dutch and Belgian painting, from Jan van Eyck to Marcel Broodthaers.
The museum's many highlights include the world-famous collection of
'Flemish Primitive'
art, works by a wide range of Renaissance and Baroque masters, a selection of paintings
from the 18th and 19th-century Neo-classical and Realist periods, milestones of Belgian
Symbolism and Modernism, masterpieces of Flemish Expressionism and many items from the
city's collection of post-war modern art.
Lace Doilies in the Kantcentrum
Arents House
is a fine, 18th-century townhouse located opposite the coach-house at the
entrance to a picturesque garden. The ground floor is home to the Lace Museum, with its
extensive and varied collection of old needlepoint, bobbin and mixed lace.
Most of the exhibits were produced at Flemish lace-making centers like Bruges, Mechelen
(Malines) and Brussels. A series of fascinating paintings illustrates the use of lace as
a costume decoration over the years.
The Folklore Museum
at Rolweg 40 features reconstructions of old time interiors such
as a cobbler's workshop, grocery store, kitchen, pharmacy, classroom, hatmaker's workshop,
confectionery, cooper's workshop and museum-pub called De Zwarte Kat (The Black Cat).
Brewery De Gouden Boom at Langestraat 47 has been a tradition since 1587, brewing
such delicious beers as Brugs, Tarwebier, Brugse Tripel and Abdij Steenbrugge. De Halve
Maan at Walplein 26, which bills itself as a "family brewery," is newer, founded in 1856.
