Zeebrugge and Knokke, the Real Belgian Countryside (part II)

OK, so it's President's day and I'm fast approaching the year's anniversary of our actual trip to Europe. My classes have caused the blog to be neglected, largely due to my claim that I don't have the time. The truth of the matter is I'm frequently bloviating about whatever on Facebook and wasting time in probably unnecessary discourse with people on the politics of the day largely because I'm a politics geek, and I find it fun to say the least. But if I'm willing to burn time on that I might as well wrap the overdue posts on this travel blog.

Zeebrugge and Knokke, are two towns in Belgium that in theory Kate and I thought would be interesting to see. Many posts online billed them as the beautiful Belgian coast which many different Europeans flock to on holiday. As mentioned in the last post, following Ostend, Belgium, we boarded a light rail line called De Kusttram, which reminds you of a more modern version of the green line trolleys in Boston. The tram is reportedly the longest in the world, following the entire Belgian coast. We decided to pick a town to go to along the coast that we thought would be interesting to walk around in.

I turned out there were a couple stops for Zeebruges which added some confusion. Of course I was down with winging it and just picking which ever one looked best. But a woman on the train insisted that she tried asking the driver the question, who of course had no idea what she was saying. So there was all of this unnecessary stress, and I just sat in my niche on the packed train rolling my eyes, while Kate tried to speak in broken dutch to the conductor who was rather busy with trying to get people where they want to go on time. I shifted uncomfortably. The driver seemed to think it was really weird that we wanted to go to Zeebruges, and I think we should have seen that as an omen of things to come.

From internet testimonials and guidebooks, we decided upon Zeebrugges (New Brugges) which was supposed to have a nice breakwater we could walk out on. I don't know if we never found the breakwater, or if its just that the breakwater was nothing more than landfill that locked in the marina, lets just say Zeebrugges wasn't what we hoped it would be.

Zeebrugges is an industrial port with a large un-scenic marina. There is a navy base there and the submarine (above) was a sight that you could tour, however since it was Monday (5/16/11) it was closed since tourist attractions are closed for some reason on Mondays. I guess it actual makes sense when you think about it. People go out on the weekends, but the Belgian government probably is still providing people with a day of rest. Seems like it would be smarter just to have it on some arbitrary day, but whatever.

We walked near the base for a while, but thought we might end up being somewhere where we don't belong, and ultimately headed east, back towards the beach and the board walk. Knokke was in theory only a few miles away, so we came up with our second great idea of the day (Zeebrugges being the first) to head to Knokke on foot. Most of the coastline was densely populated with 10-20 story high rises which I can only assume are a mixture of hotels, year round dwellings, including apartments, condos, and possibly time shares. The north coast was a complete ghost town, where you could essentially hear your own breathing. We saw locals roller blading, biking, and jogging, and the rare kite fliers and children about, but they were far and few between.

(In this picture notice behind the glass wall there are little sheds, these line the beach and people actually own them, and rent them to keep beach supplies, etc in the summer when they come to the North coast. I thought it was something incredibly unique to the North Sea which I had not seen anywhere else.)

(Kate above taking in the scenic beauty of the park)

Just prior to getting to Knokke there was a break in the span of high rises with a small nature preserve. We took the opportunity to hike up the hill (probably just part of the large dike that is the Belgian coast) and lounged about for a minute. We spent our time wondering how far away Knokke actually was, and Kate was beginning to gripe about how we should have just spent more time in Brugges. I was generally good, and took it in stride, it was interesting even if not ideally how I wanted to be spending my vacation. However, to be a pest, I could not resist the urge to begin calculating the hypothetical monetary value of our time spent in Zeebrugges and Knokke.

(Eh... what the heck, you can walk on the beach- but don't try anything else!)

Knokke was literally right around the corner. We hopped on the main road, went maybe a half a mile and found the end line terminal of the tram. This didn't come without some concerns along the way as we walked through the sleepy neighborhoods, which were all exceptionally clean. If there is one thing to mention about the Belgians, is they keep their communities looking spotless, which was a nice change after Amsterdam, which was a mess, easily giving any less travelled portion of urban USA a run for its money in trash .

(One of the typical sleepy Belgian roads we walked down on the way to Knokke, beware the bike lane!!!)

We began our trek into Knokke, making note of the tramway, and when the convenient times to get on to go back to Ostend would be.
The church below was one of the first things we saw when arriving in Knokke proper, and probably the only thing there that seemed older than about 30 years old. It greeted us right next to the tram station.

Knokke was completely deserted. It was supposed to be a tourist haven, filled with upscale boutiques, cafes, and most importantly people. It definitely did not have the people component. It was clearly the off season and was kind of like visiting Old Orchard Beach in Maine in April. A little depressing.

From here we headed back to Brugges to get there in time to eat before the restaurants closed up for the night. It would be a half hour or 40 minutes on the tram, and then another 40 minutes or so on the train from Ostend.

Ostend! The Real Belgium countryside?

After our morning in Bruges, we boarded a train to the North Sea. At the end of the line, Ostend is a city on the northern coast of Belgium. The enclosed harbor in the photo above greeted us at the footsteps of a dated train station. Due to harsh weather that probably lasts 3 quarters of the year, the Belgian coast is largely modern, unlike Bruges. Ostend apparently did not gain much importance or size until the 18th century. Kate had read about the Belgian coast and it seemed somewhat romanticized in many of the reviews and blogs kicking around the internet. We decided it would make an unusual side trip. The church below, Sint-Petrus-en-Pauluskerk, is very impressive to behold but actually is fairly new in terms of European Gothic cathedrals.

The North Sea below does not look very inviting. The water is very brown, I suspect to some degree it may be due to a lack of plant life/ algae relative to what I'm used to seeing elsewhere. Kate and I both made a point to touch it. It was pretty cool, maybe 50s F, or low 60s, and the wind was really kicking up across the water. There were some children running around, but Ostend was pretty dead. What we've understood to be a thriving tourist area during the summer, still had not kicked into gear. It did have a romance to it in a sense. The North coast is not a destination for people from the U.S., but rather is a playground for people who are relatively locale, and is apparently also popular with the British.

The boardwalk is spectacular, it did seem somewhat difficult to imagine it being warm there, but I tried hard to imagine some roller bladers coming by taking in the sun with out a care.

Below is the esplanade which is part of the Thermae Palace Hotel, once a major tourist destination is now generally thought to need a renovation. The architecture is rather grand, but something about it seems almost barrack like, it is sort of cold and foreboding.

Below is a casino/ entertainment center, I don't know if there was some sort of discount on white concrete when they built all these buildings, but I suppose it sort of blends in with the sand and the brown surf.

That dog is totally thinking this would be much better if I had a......

Waffle!!!! Tah dah! These totally lived up to my expectations. Awesome... Awesome... Awesome... and the ones Kate and I got were hot and fresh, not like the stacks of them we saw in touristy places everywhere in Bruges. I asked the woman running the shop how the Belgians preferred them, she was too eager to please and kept rattling off all different combinations. And I pressed that I wanted it like what the average people would get, and reluctantly she admitted plain, which I suspected from what I had read. So plain it was.

Kate of course had to have the chocolate, and you can tell from her smile that she wouldn't have wanted the waffle any other way. And what better to wash it down with than a lovely tooth rotting Coke Light. Mmmmm Mmm!

More beach sights, doesn't that just make you want to get your Boogie board and bathing suit?

Below is the road that led from the train station to the water. In the distance you can get a grasp of the dike that the boardwalk is built on. The water really does seem higher than the main land here and it creates a rather eerie effect walking up to it. These streets are filled with dull modern apartments and condos. Something about it had a certain retro charm to it and while this photo does not indicate it, there were stretches of this road that had a decent amount of foot traffic.

Some meats and salads inside a deli window. I thought it looked sort of impressive, and I felt like one of those weird tourists taking pictures of odd items.

After a couple hours in Ostend, we waited for a light rail to take us east, up the Belgian coast. Our adventure was just beginning, and will be continued in my next post. I will try to get it posted before my coursework supercedes it in my list of priorities. Stay tuned for Zeebrugge and Knokke.

A Bruges Morning

We spent the morning checking out some of the churches before we would ultimately head north and see the North Sea and some of the Belgian countryside. Above is a shot of the free breakfast (included breakfast I should say) spread. I enjoyed my boiled eggs, fruit, breads, cheeses and assorted meats. Thank you Hotel Europ.

A shot inside the room. Nightstand complete with a circa-1970s radio that no longer worked. Nice vintage wall paneling. The hotel room was actually nice all joking aside. New carpets, clean, updated bathroom, etc.The next series of photos are from the "Church of Our Lady" a magnificent cathedral built in stages between the 12th and 15th centuries. Notably a Michelangelo statue of the Madonna and Child reside within the church. It is the only Michelangelo piece to leave Italy during Michelangelo's lifetime.

The Madonna of Bruges is shown below. It is unfortunately behind a layer of glass, although this photo which Kate took came out fairly decent.

Inside the of the Basilica of the Holy Blood. This is a pilgrimage site where they claim to have an actual vial of the blood of Jesus Christ. In the Middle Ages such "relics" were popular means to draw people into a church, hoping to be bestowed good luck, or to pray for miracles. We were waiting to see the "blood" itself. There is a weekly ceremony where it is brought out, and people may wait in line to lay their hands on this holy object. I decided to sit this one out and watch the spectacle, however Kate did wait in line to experience this ritual and lay her hands on a vial of "The Precious Blood". By her description she said it was basically a vial or reddish looking dirt, which I suppose is what I would expect really old blood to look like- although I suspect in all likelihood it would more than likely just end up being a stain on the inside of the glass since it should be primarily water. The most unusual claim made by the church is that it miraculously turns to liquid once a year on the same day.

I enjoyed watching the reaction of the public and the priest/ bishop who was showing the blood. I began imagining that the holy man was preoccupied casting judgement on who was a believer and who was a curious tourist. For some he had very warm smiles and greetings, for others he just nodded and seemed to hurry them along. I suppose the truth of the matter was it was I who was judging, but it was a good way of passing the time while watching Kate wait in line.

The Romanesque looking church below was the lower level of the Basilica. There were several graves of notable beneficiaries to the church inside. It wasn't difficult to imagine someone sitting at a pew in a suit of armor.

The color inside the Basilica chapel (below) was fantastic, and really added something when you compare it to the cold granite and brick that you get so acustomed to in cathedrals.

Last item on our agenda before hoping on a train to the North Sea was hitting up the chocolate shops that Belgium is so famous for. Kate was in here for about 20 minutes picking out the perfect presents for her coworkers and Mom. There was a lot to choose from, but I did my best not to get overwhelmed with the options ;)

Evening in Bruges

The thing about writing in these travel-blog entries is I can never add quite enough detail to do the experiences justice. Bruges was spectacular, these swans were in the canal immediately in front of our Hotel. You can't really tell from the photo above, but there is actually a swanling on top of the mother (I assume) swan's back. We stayed at Hotel Europ, which I would highly recommend to anyone who visited. It is somewhat of Budget hotel, but it was far more posh than our lodgings in Amsterdam (which served its purpose despite certain things it lacked). Our room was a bit more affordable because it did not sport a canal view. Kate and I figured we weren't in Bruges to spend time in a room so this was just fine. It was clean, had a great free breakfast, (excellent meats, bread, boiled eggs, and fruit). A comfortable small room, nice bathroom with a fitting decor that seemed appropriate for Bruges.

A better view of the canal below.

Notice Kate in the photo below trucking along towards the hotel. Almost there Kate!

Below is the Bruges city hall in The Burg square. This is a short distance from the hotel and where we would be catching a bus back to the train station instead of trying to repeat our "arrival" experience of navigating the cobblestones, suitcases in hand.

After settling into the hotel, using the facilities, and Kate checking out what stations were available on the television we went and found some sustenance in the town. Bistro Lily with its al fresco dining immediately caught our eye. They had Belgian fries with mayo, nice looking sandwiches, and beer.... ahhh beer. Belgian beer! I had a crab sandwich which seemed to be popular- it was "faux" crab, and I knew this going into the arrangement, yet it seemed very popular so I gave it a whirl. Aside from the roll it came on, it wasn't all that great, but I ate three quarters of it. The beer and fries more than made up for it. I can't remember what brand I had off hand (sadly) but it was something I could not get in the states, and it was mighty tasty.

The photo below is a public fish market that unfortunately was not operating when we strolled by. I thought it was photo-worthy regardless.The photo below is the Beguinage, a community of women who have devoted their life to charity and God. This particular community was one of the only remaining communities of this type which is still active. Descriptions of the community are quick to point out that these women are not "nuns". This is probably one of the more beautiful and tranquil places I have ever been. The photo does it no justice. The trees were enormous and permanently leaning from winds that must be quite unrelenting in the sky of Bruges. The breeze, undulating through the leaves made a hypnotic sound that could have had me lying in the grass, gazing up through the branches without much thought to the time I might be wasting. The photo above is Jeruzalemkerk, Kate and I would have loved the chance to explore all of these, but we had the unfortunate luck of being here on a Monday when many of the churches and tourist sites are closed. We would have to fit in some priorities on Tuesday, however we wanted to venture into the Belgian countryside as well so time was limited.

The gate below was near the Beguinage, (Begijnhof- Dutch). The area outside the community was as captivating as the serene area of solitude within. Otherworldly is a descriptor that is lacking in every sense.The photo below is the back side of a complex adjacent to the Basilica of the Holy Blood. This is a pilgrimage site, and we would be taking this site in with more scrutiny later in our stay.The church above is St. Anne's church and it is located in what was once a poorer immigrant community. This once down-and-out neighborhood was a little more my style than De Pijp.WINDMILL!!! There are supposedly 4 of these in Bruges, however since they are far apart we managed to take in two of them. I wanted to climb up to the top of this one, and I probably would have, but Kate had this idea that we were going to get arrested. In truth that stairway was fiercely steep and the whole windmill swiveled slightly so it wasn't the most safe activity to do. If I was younger I would have done it in a heart beat. Lately I'm too much of a klutz so I had visions of myself breaking my neck, and I smartly avoided this.The gate above is one of the old medieval city gates. Complete with outlets designed to facilitate the dumping of hot oil on some jerk you don't want barging in without proper credentials.

So Rick Steves is an ass. Kate had a "Rick Steves" travel guide to Bruges that told us that the city didn't wake up till 10:00 and that was when we should get dinner. In fact just the opposite was true- so much so that this stupid Pizza Hut was the only place save a couple of bars, that was open. My idea of fine Belgian ale with roasting meat, or pots of mussels would have to wait an evening. Instead we had a pepperoni pizza with cheese bread sticks. The weird thing here is they served the bread sticks with ketchup and salsa (no sauce). We asked for some marinara sauce and the waitress looked at us like we had three heads- who knew this was the custom? I had a large beer which was essentially the size of a pitcher. It was just sort of a pilsner, and I've been trying to google what it was, and for the life of me I can't find it. I should have carried a notepad to record all of these important details. Pizza Hut by the way seems to be universally rated one star by people who have been there.

Bruges at night is just fabulous- enchanting. It was quiet, and we felt like we were on an adventure lurking around the old stone masterpieces in the dark, alone with the spirits.

Whooo too much Belgian beer makes for bad photography!!!! These nighttime shots are incredibly difficult to take, especially with my 5 year old digital camera. I'm pretty proud of this one below- it looks photo shopped.