Bruges in a day

What's with this city that's the name always pop up every time I said I'm going to Belgium?

Bruges, or Brugge, or Brügge (the city was highly important in the past that it has more than one way to spell the name), is a city on the northwest of Belgium. It's only an hour train journey from Brussel and cost you around 26 Euros for a two-way trip, or if you have the Flixbus app, it could get as low as 6 Euros one way. I was just too lazy to use the bus so I used the train. I was pretty surprised to see the ticketing system of the regional train in Belgium. Everyone can go inside the train, no barrier at all in the station. Then on the train, there will be a conductor who checks your tickets.... or not, which is what happened to me.

I departed around 8:50s from Brussel central and arrived in Bruges station around 9:50 AM. I have to admit that I'm a sucker for the train station. Both Brussel central station and Bruges station was very interesting to be photographed, so of course I explored the station a bit.

I was pretty hungry so I stopped by at Panos to buy the 1 Euro chocolate pastry. Gosh I love bread in Europe!

After finishing my bread, I directly walk to the city centre. The old city centre, shown by the area surrounded by the river, is only 10 minute-ish walk from the train station, or if you're heading to the market square (Markt), it's only 20 minutes by foot. The city centre itself is easily navigated by foot (and if you have google maps with you cause the street and alleyway can be pretty confusing sometimes).

I wasn't joking when I said that my jaw dropped when I start roamed the road in Bruges. It was just....beautiful! With all the bricks road and building, the chimney on top, and the overall facade that brings you a few decades (or centuries) back. Not to mention the bit gloomy bit sunny weather that brings the ambience a bit moody, love it.

"But it just looks like other European cities!" That's the point, I'm not European, so everything that feels different than what I used to will, by default, looks fascinating :D And if you're a photographer with excitement level like a primary school kid like me, it feels like you're in a candy store and you feel like want to explore every bit of the place.

I love doors and windows so I took quite a number of door and window shots detail as well.

After checking my watch, seems like I'm still in time for a free walking tour by Ambassadors of Bruges, so I rushed a bit to go to the Market Square and find the guy with the yellow umbrella. Our guide that time was Reinout and he was a fantastic storyteller! Even though I already forgot most of the stories now, I remembered how much I enjoyed the walking tour. So yeah, Ambassadors of Bruges, highly recommended, better than what I had in Brussels.

To be very frank, I forgot the route. I remembered we went pass through the Belfry of Bruges, St John's Hospital, and definitely the famous Rosary Quay (Rozenhoedkaai) as well.

But from all, my favourite area is the Arents Courtyard (Arentshof). It was a private manor owned by the Arents family. Inside the courtyard, there was a small bridge called Bonifacius Bridge.

And since the Belgians survived by Beers, Chocolate, and Fries, the walking tour was ended by visiting a chocolate shop and the beer museums (in which I didn't try the beer at all).

During my guided tour, I made friend with a fellow content creator, Andrey. We explored a bit of the city and I had a chance of taking some shots of him.

We went back to Brussels around 4 PM and ended the day. Overall I really enjoyed the trip to the Bruges. My friend told me that visiting the city in the summer will be a pretty bad idea since it will be crowded with tourist, so I think I had good timing by went there during autumn. Not too many tourists and the weather was quite pleasant.

Here are some more street shots of Bruges.