| Page Views: 6,528 Last Visit to Brugge: November, 2003 | Be seduced by the most attractive blonde in Bruges by tompt - last update: Feb 12, 2006 |
She was born over a hundred years ago in the Gouden Boom brewery. Her character is extraordinary she is refreshing and tasty. You will recognize her mild, round taste and fine hop fragrance. And while you are still enjoying her fruity flavour, her strong, natural aroma is already filling your senses. Once you have met you can't forget her.... (From a commercial for Brugs Blond)
But also try her brothers and sisters: Brugse triple and Brugs witbier. From the same factory come Steenbrugge dubbel and triple. And the other beer from Brugge from the Halve Maan brewery: Straffe Hendrik is also worth trying.
History of Bruges:
Bruges was founded in the 9th century by Vikings who settled at the end of the river 'de Reie'. The name Bruges is probably derived from the old-Scandinavian word Bryggia, which means harbor. Because it was close to the North Sea, the settlement very quickly became an important international harbor. A sea-arm, the Zwin, connected Bruges with the North Sea. Bruges acquired city rights in the 12th century. At that time a first protective wall was built around Bruges. The Zwin started to silt up, outports were created in Damme and in Sluis. In the 13th century Bruges was an important international trading center. In the early 14th century Bruges was the scene of political unrest between the citizens and the count of Flanders. The French king tried to annex the county of Flanders, but the population managed to kick out the French garisson on May 18th 1302. Later the Flemish army beat the French army in the 'Battle of the Golden Spurs' on July the 11th in the Flemish city of Kortrijk. In the 14th century Bruges turned into an international financial and trading center. Several countries had their own representation in Bruges: the Italians, the Germans, the Scottish, the Spanish made the city into a true European center.
The decline of Bruges started in the 15th century: the competition with the bigger harbor of Antwerp and the crisis in the cloth industry resulted in less commercial activity. Bruges continued to construct splendid late-gothic buildings and churches. The Flemish painting school started to flourish as never before. (van Eijk, Hans Memling) By the end of the 16th century the former glory was only a memory. In the middle of the 1800's Brugge was the poorest city in Belgium. The 20th century brought international tourism and the medieval heritage turned out to be a new source of wealth for the Venice of the North.
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In June 2001 we visited Brugge in the great company of our Belgian friend Filip.
The weekend was great, the city is great, the food and drinks are even better but on the downside: the weather was bad. Rain, rain and more rain. During a cruise on the Reie our boat had to stop under a bridge for a long time,waiting for the rain to stop.
It was this weekend that made us go back in April 2002. The weather was a little bit better. But after a few real Bruges beers it didn't seem to mather......
We had another great weekend in this mediaevil city.
|  | | rain is pooring down...... we are under the bridge |
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In november 2003 Ralph was visiting Belgium and we decided to join him, Dannie and Caroline on their trip to Brugge.
We visited the major sightseeing points and ofcourse we tasted the important Brugges beers. This time it was the Garre, own brew of small pub in the smallest street in Brugge.
Our travelogues on this page were already filled so we put pictures of this fun day in Bruges in travelogues at our Provincie West-Vlaanderen page.
More info:
the official Brugge page: http://www.brugge.be | | | after two stong beers in the Garre we needed fries |
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 Comments for tompt about Brugge | | | | |
BruceDunning Sat Aug 15, 2009 19:08 UTC
The blonde beer looks appealing and I like lager-that is one reason to get to Europe and taste good beer. Great display of this city. | Maurizioago Sun Mar 11, 2007 21:11 UTC
Nice place. I'd like to go there one day. Ciao! | roamer61 Sun Dec 17, 2006 17:21 UTC
Great page on Brugge. I went to Gent instead because everyone goes to Brugge. I also wanted to visit the Gravensteen. So next time, I will pay a visit to Brugge. | bpacker Tue Sep 14, 2004 03:15 UTC
Thanks for sharing about the bear of Bruges! I took a picture of him but I didn't know his story!! |
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