Sorry if this post takes ages to load, I took way too many photos in Bruges and these are only a few - oops! It was such a beautiful city, I wanted to share some of my favourite photos of the stunning architecture. As you stroll around you spot gem after architectural gem, carved bears peek out at you from around corners, you'll spot little alcoves high above doors and arches and so many beautiful Virgin Mary's up on the corners of buildings. Even the downpipes to carry away the rain water have beautiful intricate grates at the bottom!
One of my favourite things about Bruges was the lovely markets. Our hotel was situated in one of the squares so right outside our hotel on the Saturday was a clothing and food market and on the Sunday there was a cheese market (with a mobile champagne bar and oompah band!) but my favourite was the bric a brac market along the edge of the river near the Groeninge Museum which, by the way, is wonderful. My sister and I purchased several things on the market - some items were kind of pricey but I got a few bargains which I'll share in a later post and my haggling skills came into play. We also visited a flower, fruit and vegetable and livestock market with some of the most gorgeous flowers I've ever seen and some of the biggest, tastiest looking vegetables. I'm not going to lie, it put my local market to shame.
I had tried very hard to pack light on this trip and so only brought one outfit for each day and only one bag and pair of flat, comfy boots as I knew we'd be doing lots of walking. I actually ended up buying some padded insoles for my boots after the first day as we literally spent the entire days walking around the city so by the end of each day my feet were aching and tired. Don't even think of attempting heels here, every bit of street is cobbles or stones and you'll stand no chance trying to keep balance!
I went for comfort in all of my outfit choices but of course didn't want to leave my sense of style behind so I teamed dresses with leggings for most of the weekend and travelled in a top and skirt. It was actually really warm in Bruges and there were no breezes so I'm glad I took all short sleeve dresses with the option of a cardigan. I actually found it a little disconcerting as we were walking around Bruges as people were really staring at my sister and I. It was odd but people didn't really seem to have a particular style over there, everyone was in plain but good quality clothes and I didn't see a single bright hair colour and definitely no other women with tattoos - I think we stood out quite a bit. Although I'm used to being looked at when walking around town as I tend to wear things that stand out I found it quite uncomfortable over there as people would literally stare and even if you made eye contact they'd keep staring. I found it quite rude to be perfectly honest, but it wouldn't stop me going back as I had such a lovely time.
Look out for tomorrow's post when I'll be sharing my favourite restaurants from the trip! If you want info on anything you've seen just leave me a comment and I'll help as best I can!
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