Hello!  If you haven’t already read it, here is PART ONE of this post, where you can read and see pictures from our two days in Ghent, Belgium.

 

 

The night we arrived in Bruges, we checked into our hostel and unloaded our bags.  In Bruge, we stayed at Bauhaus, which is a St. Christopher’s Inn Hostel.  The lobby and connecting restaurant and bar in the hostel were nice, but the room (a ten person shared dorm) was quite gross (in my opinion).  It looked clean, but smelled like sweat and mold and some sort of air freshener to cover it up.  The staff was friendly and free breakfast was offered, but there was no wifi anywhere except the lobby and reception.  This is something they claim to be working on.  The bed was much more comfortable than the bed the first night, so at least there was that bonus.

 

The only thing we did our first night was venture out for some dinner and marvel at the lit up town, so quaint and quiet, like something out of a fairy tale.

 

The second day, we walked and walked and ate chocolate and waffles and criss-crossed all over the city looking for the best chocolate.  Oh my gosh, there were chocolate and candy shops ev-er-y-where.

 

 

Honestly, I left Bruge thinking that there isn’t much to see or do besides shop for chocolate.

 

 

I don’t really think it’s all made there and I think a lot of it is a) a tourist trap and b) a huge rip off. But I won’t get into my feelings on that.  We tried a “Belgian Waffle” which was good, but I wasn’t overly impressed.

 

 

I know I sound like a grinch, but i really think the whole Belgian Waffle thing is another tourist trap.  Yes, I’m an awful person…They were overly sweet and too doughy, in my opinion.  WHERE DO THE BELGIANS BUY THEIR WAFFLES?!  Because it’s surely not from the little stands in the main square…

 

 

So besides hunting, harvesting, and gathering chocolate, we also went on a Bruges walking tour!  But first, coffee.

 

 

This tour was more of a “off the beaten path” kind of tour, full of cursing, politically incorrect statements, and some attempted humor.  The type of thing my dad would not appreciate.  Hi dad!

 

This was our guide…

 

And scenes from the tour:

 

I thought the guide was amusing and funny at times, but I don’t think I actually learned anything about Bruges.  Except that Bruges in Spanish is bruja, which means witch, but Bruges has nothing to do with witches!  This is a rumor that has spread far and wide.  At least we stopped along the way for some Belgian beer….

 

Well, it was a good way to kill a couple hours before dinner- which ended up being the most amazing meal I have had…in months.

 

There is a restaurant near our hostel called Lion Belge which was highly recommended by the check-in guy.  We walked over there our first night, but they were full and wouldn’t take walk-ins, so we made a reservation for the following night.  The menu was short and included a lot of piggy products, a chicken dish, and rabbit.  All for completely reasonable prices, considering many of the restaurants in Bruges go for 17-25 Euro/ plate.  Craaaaaaazy.  I ordered the chicken, which came with vegetables and some traditional Flemish sauce.  And fried pillows of mashed potatoes!  The food was absolutely incredible and worth the price and wait.  Annie had rabbit, which was delicious.

 

 

We had to wait quite awhile to get our food, so the chef gave us complimentary drinks, which was super nice, considering we were in food heaven after trying the food the made.  And those portions you see were SO MUCH BIGGER then they look.

 

Once we were in our food comas, we headed to bed for one last morning/ afternoon of chocolate gathering, gift-purchasing, and other Belgian must-dos.

 

 

And before we knew it, we were boarding our plane back to Madrid!  I can officially say that heading back to Madrid felt like I was heading “home”.

 

 

That’s a pretty good feeling.

 

So overall, our trip to Belgium was well worth it!  I especially enjoyed Ghent and I’m glad I saw Bruges, although I can’t see myself ever making a planned trip there again (but never say never).  I also probably wouldn’t return any time other than winter/ Christmas, because much of the “charm” was from the pretty Christmas lights.  We went, we saw, we ate, we conquered.  Now onto my Christmas diet…