CENTRAL EUROPE BLOG May 1st, 2026 - BRUGES

 

5/1/26– Our bus to Bruges, Belgium leaves at 8am, however, we still need to get to the bus station. Instead of dragging our luggage to the metro again I thought it best to call an Uber, which takes less than twenty minutes. 

Turns out it arrives quicker than expected as we get dropped off forty minutes before our departure time. The wind is quite chill, and with no place to duck inside to escape the cold we opt to park ourselves under an overpass while we wait. Now I know what a hobo feels like.

We board our Flix bus with assigned seats, however, there’s no place to put my large backpack conveniently as the overhead space is way too small. Once we start to drive, I find another open seat to spread out, of course that only lasts thirty minutes as more people board at the next stop. Luckily, I find another section of seats not taken and quietly enjoy the remainder of the four hour journey. That is until traffic delays us another hour.

 

We take an Uber from the train station to our AirBnb and arrive shortly after 1pm. Once settled, we buy tickets for the Belfort later today and waste no time in getting our day started. First up is food as we are pretty hungry and find a place along the way to the town center. The tacos are a bit dry but honestly I’m too hungry to really care at this point. The cucumber in it also is surprisingly good.

Since May 1^st is Europe’s holiday (like our Labor Day) we knew there may be a crowd, but didn’t expect a full blown out festival. People are out in droves crowding the scenic Quay and hogging the streets, so much so that it’s impossible to comfortably walk without dodging.

         

We make our way to the town center and it is vast. Horse-drawn carriages sporadically clunk by as the view of the buildings leaves me in awe. This is the type of town I’ve been waiting to see.

The heat is starting to bake, as it’s now up to 84 degrees, which is quite a change from Amsterdam and London. I am regretting not putting on shorts and a t-shirt now. To escape, we duck into the Provincial Palace (free to enter) and roam around it stylistic building and mini museum for a bit.

Afterwards, we split up for a spell while I check out the Church of Our Lady down the road. The walk is only about 7 minutes but again the heat makes me crave the shadows, but once there I’m relieved to be in a well air-conditioned place.

Next up is the Boniface Bridge around the corner. It’s very small, medieval type bridge but literally loaded with people. I don’t know how much it can actually hold but it appears the world is about to find out.

I meet back up with Kelvin and rest our legs for about an hour before entering the Belfort (Belfrey of Bruges) at 5:30pm. We needed that break because the 366 steps to the top is quite grueling, but luckily they have landings every so often to rest at.

High above the ground (272 feet) we can see an entire 360 degree view of Bruges and the surrounding area. The slight, calming breeze is perfect until the bells begin to chime loudly above us. It’s a small tower, so not much else to do now but to trek back down the stairs.

Happy with day so far, we stop over at our AirBnb to change clothes before ordering a local favorite, Stoofvlees (which is a type of beef stew made with beer and mustard sauce). You can layer over fries but that didn’t seem appealing enough as the stew is all we need. The presentation isn’t the best, looking like chef-borardee out of a can, but it tastes very good which is all that matters.

Exhausted, we stay in for the rest of the night. Not sure what will be the plan for tomorrow as we did most of what we wanted to accomplish in Bruges. I wouldn’t mind checking out City Hall and getting some pancakes, but also looking forward to just getting on our six hour train to Luxembourg.