Day 10 Brugge, Belgium

A day of complete contrasts, and also the day we have found one of our favourite cities. We left our Berlin hotel at 7 15am in the tour shuttle bus, for a 40 minute drive to the airport. Having arrived so early, we checked in and dropped our bags- -all pretty easy. We then filled in almost 4 hours with coffee, looking at duty free and reading. We were very pleased when it was finally time to board. After our one and a half plane ride we are relieved to see our bags and then navigated our way to the train station down below. We were very impressed to receive huge help with buying tickets and directions from a young girl working there who spoke good English.
We then boarded the train to Brugge. It was yet another hour and a half before we arrived but we spent a lot of it talking to a local man who gave us lots of tips about train travel. We finally arrived in Brugge and having loaded our bags into a taxi he was not very impressed when we told him we were staying at the Raddison Bleu as it was less than 300m away and definitely walking distance! The hotel is beautiful and am sure we will be happy here for the next two nights.
We set off at 4 for the centre of town and were not disappointed. Oddly it was warm and also very light compared to Germany. The streets were amazing- the most stunning lights yet and so full of character. There was a Christmas market but we simply enjoyed walking around and stopping for David’s first Belgium beer. We then found a beautiful little restaurant where we ate dinner- mussels and beef stew. We then spent two hours wandering around with the highlight being the ride we took in a horse and carriage. There were many of them and the half hour ride was so interesting and a good way to get our bearings. We loved it. After another stop for a sweet treat- waffles and ice cream, we headed back and we’re relieved to hit the pillow knowing we don’t have leave the bags out at 6 30 !!Read more