Bruges Trip, June 2011 Day 2
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- Category: Blog Entries
- Published on Saturday, 11 June 2011 20:15
- Written by Alex Vokes
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It turns out that when you are recovering from a night out in Bruges it is a good idea to put the "Do not disturb" sign on the door handle of your hotel room. This turns out to be best all round and minimizes the embarrassment caused when maids that work in the hotel walk in and find two hungover englishmen in a state of semi comatose in their respective beds. It turns out that my hangover wasn't that bad and this surprised me as I'd been drinking mostly 7-9% beers all evening. I'm guessing that their strength had something to do with it as you tend to treat Belgium beers with more respect and drink them slowly. Even so it took me a little while to regain my humanity this morning and once Paul and I had showered we headed down to the Brasserie opposite for some caffeine in Paul's case, and hot chocolate in mine. We sat there for around an hour drinking our hot beverages, marveling at the sights and sounds of Bruges and eating the chocolate wafer tubes that come free with the drinks. Over the course of the hour the other joined us and we readied our plan of attack for the day.
We set off into the middle of town for a bit of an explore, and very soon we came across some tourist information boards and hung around them in a most convincing manner. We decided that we'd split into two groups. The first would head for the tower in the main square and ascend via the hundreds of steps to the summit. The second group would visit the chips museum. I opted for the latter as I was intrigued to what else there was to know about potatoes, oil and deep fat fryers. It turns out that there was quite a lot I didn't know about chips. Potatoes originally came from Peru and belong to an extensive family. Peeling the potato was a serious business and maidens hoping to marry would have to first peel the most difficult variety. We saw some impressive fossilized potatoes, and learned that potatoes contain no fat and are actually very good for you. Drinking raw potato juice is supposed to be excellent at curing stomach-ache, maybe this information will be useful this weekend. The Belgiums take their chips, or frites very seriously and there are medals awarding for producing them. The two frites stalls in the main square have a rent of 100,000€ per year. We learned the secrets of cooking the perfect frites, how to make music using potatoes and the origins of mayonnaise. At the end of the tour we used our discount tickets to buy a portion of the real thing each. They were absolutely delicious and were great as our breakfast.
The frites cafe was situated in the basement so we were unaware that it had started pouring it down outside. We set off into the rain and cut a comical sight. I was wearing my bright orange t-shirt and Paul had donned his balaclava with matching moustaches. All the locals of Bruges had taken cover under the capacious awnings that covered the pavements outside the various shops. We dived inside a Brasserie for a quick glass of Leffe Bruin and contacted the others. We decided that we should head for the local Halve Maan brewery and see if we could have a tour. When we got there we learned that we'd missed the last tour (4pm) and that the brewery's kitchen had closed for the day. We ordered some beer and took a look at the menu anyway. There were some very interesting dishes and most of them seemed to be made with beer. We agreed that we should return tomorrow for lunch. I thoroughly enjoyed the Straffe Hendrix Quadrupel that I had there (11%). It was so smooth and easy to drink that you soon forgot just how strong it was.
One of the places that people always talk about when the go to Bruges is De Gaare. This small pub is notoriously difficult to find but I was keen to try as I'd heard that it brews it's own house beer. I really did take us a while to find the tiny little alley off Breidelstraat but it was well worth the recommendation ( thanks internet! ). It was small and rustic inside with around 3-4 tables on the ground floor and some rather steep steps up to further seating on the first floor. It was the only place in Bruges I have visited so far that has a unisex toilet. We managed to grab a table next to the bar and had a look at the beer menu. The owner of the establishment was a friendly chap who instantly identified us as tourists and asked if we'd like to try the house beer. This was one of the reasons that I had come to Bruges so I was immediately keen on the idea! The owner rushed about procuring glasses and I couldn't help but notice just how busy he was with two floors of people to serve. The service was excellent and soon we were drinking the locally brewed tripel from bell-shaped glasses and eating the free cheese on sticks that accompanied the round. Halfway through the beers we all started to notice the effect it was having on us and Frank asked the owner just how strong the house beer was as we couldn't find it listed on the menu. "11%" replied the owner without any hesitation before disappearing to serve the next table. The choice of beers here was so good that we decided to stay for another and I managed to find the Trappist beer Achel Blonde from my list. The whole round was very interesting and my Achel was in good company with Chimay, Guillotine and Kwak ( with it's strange wooden serving glass holder ). I could understand just how tired the owner was as every beer had to be served in the correct glass and finding the right one must have taken him ages. When we decided to escape and find food the bill was presented to us written on the back of a couple of bar mats. I liked this bar, and although it was just off the square it felt very local. I'd recommend this to anyone visiting Bruges and hope to come back here before the holiday is over.
Our next stop was De Kelk, a local bar that had a good beer reputation. As luck would have it we found it just up the street from our hotel. This bar had a huge range of beers for such a small place, and the poor girl serving us admitted that it was here first day so she didn't know all the beers on the menu. One of the beers we tried here was the Girardin Black Label 1882 Gueze which was absolutely excellent. As we'd accidentally had more beer and no food we asked the bar maid for a good place to get some food for a reasonable price. We were directed to what would be fair to call a kebab shop. I ordered a Bicky Burger as I was in the mood for trying something unusual. I assumed it would be some type of Belgium Hamburger and when it arrived this turned out to be true. ( * A bicky burger is apparently a Belgium brand ). After eating this we took to the streets again in search of some new drinking venues. We passed a smokey bar and split into two groups. Frank and Paul and I decided we'd try this bar and see how it fared. The choice of beers wasn't great by Bruges standards and the locals looked at us liked we'd just landed. I was keen to try and sample some of the local atmosphere of Bruges so Paul and I stayed for another whilst Frank went to join the others. After the second beer I'd decided that I'd had enough and wasn't really up for a huge night out. I returned to the hotel and climbed into bed - remembering this time to put the do not disturb sign on the door. There is only one day left but I'm starting to feel like a know Bruges a little better now.
