Chocolate, chips and beer. 3 of the 5 main food groups (which also include meat and cheese) and they can all be found in their finest forms in Bruges! Oh and it’s quite a pretty place to be too. We arrived at our aire in Bruges just after 11am, parked up, then walked into the centre of the city, along with the throngs of other tourists who had the same idea. I could already tell that this would be a different experience of the city from when I last visited in November 2010. Back then, it was November, so it was quite quiet, but I was also in a different season of my life; I was single and I had a heavier wallet! It’s interesting how these things can change how you view a city; the first thing we noticed this time though were guided tours, led by a stunning collection of paraphernalia held aloft.

The happy memories started flooding back as we meandered through the streets, alongside the canals. Bruges really is a stunning city in terms of architecture, but also with regards to the way it conducts itself. OK, that sounds like a pretty odd thing to say, but one thing we’ve noticed in Belgium is that everything seems to be clean, tidy and purposeful. The environment just exudes a feeling of care… or something else. Maybe it’s all the chocolate? In any case, whatever it is, it’s led Kiri to compare it with Venice in terms of favourite cities on our trip and that’s high praise!

Last time in Bruges I bought the Brugge City Card, which gave lots of discounts for various attractions, meaning that we spent loads of time in various museums, on boats and climbing things (namely the Belfry). The budget this time didn’t stretch to getting that, so we weighed up which museums would be worth visiting. Discounting the chip museum (despite it being quite unique, there’s only so much information about chips that you need to know!), we decided that we’d visit the chocolate museum. Once outside though, we did some maths and realised that for the 14 Euros we’d pay in entry fees, we could buy a fair amount of Belgian chocolate in a supermarket as well as a selection of Belgian beers AND we could have chips in the main square whilst appreciating the city bathed in sunshine. Guess what we chose?

(NB: Chocolate not pictured, as it disappeared before the camera could be taken out of its case!)

Sunday morning came, and with it a time of joyful reflection on an empty tomb and the impact that has on our lives today. As we munched on our mini eggs (thanks Mum!) the story that had been so full of darkness when we read it on Friday had a conclusion of light. Happy times! We hit the city again, enjoying the past-time of tourist-watching, appreciating the time that we had to stop and listen to buskers and just taking it all in at a relaxed and leisurely pace. This city really does have a lot to offer.

After a short time back with Bertha as we consumed simnel cake and played Scrabble we returned to the centre of Bruges for an evening Easter service. Last time in Bruges, I’d visited a Belgian church, but we were intrigued by an English church this time. We received a very warm welcome there and appreciated joining with other visitors in celebrating this special day in our own language. It was also lovely to have a cup of tea afterwards but I think we’ll probably stick to non-English churches for the rest of the trip, to broaden our experiences.

Kiri was dragging her heels a little as we returned to Bertha through much quieter streets after the service, not wanting to leave this beautiful city. In fact, so eager was she to remain that she took herself off for a run through the parks before breakfast this morning! However, our 48 hours of parking were coming to an end and we didn’t want to have to shell out for more, so we bade Bruges farewell and headed down the road towards Ghent. It’s very flat around here…!