The Markt

The Markt used to be a commercial centre back in Medieval time. Now, it's a square full with tourists! It's not a bad thing, it's lively. It's nice to spend some time there, enjoying the bell that struck every 15 mins from Belfry, and all the horses at the square. If you want to, you can always approach them, to have a horse ride around the city. It's a nice place to sit there and observe people too. I like to do this and make guesses where the tourists come from.

There are three very recognisable structures in The Markt, the Belfry, the Provincial Court & the statue of Jan Breydel and Pieter de Coninck. I do not know who are they, but you won't miss the Markt if you recognise these few structures.

The Provincial Court

On our first day it's cloudy so I turned the picture into black and white

The Provincial Court at night

The next day when the weather is all lovely and sunny

Roof of provincial court

Roof of the provincial court

The Statue

On a good day, the square flooded with tourists

The statue

The Belfry

The Belfry

The Belfry and the provincial court

We did visit the Belfry, so there will be post on Belfry in more details.

When I was doing homework for Bruges, a lot of posts warned tourists not to dine at the restaurants surrounded the Markt. When I checked in to Hotel Ter Brughe, the lady at the counter warned us not to dine there as well. According to them, the restaurants are overly charged with food that is not as good. So I'm just doing my due diligence to warn you the same thing again here :)

You can always visit Bruges with a day tour from Brussels or Paris. However, if you have enough time, it's always nice to stay at least one night here. To enjoy the small little town to the fullest. One good thing about staying here is, the day tour tourists will swamp out of the town by evening, leave this place to its peace and quiet. (Tips: Bruges is very accessible. You can come from Ghent, Antwerp, Brussels, Paris etc. Intercity train between Bruges and Brussels cost 13.80Euro per person, and it takes approximately 1 hour.)

I didn't get to do a lot in Bruges, but I surely like this place :)

Hotel Ter Brughe, Bruges

This is the only night of hotel we stayed during the trip.

Hotel Ter Brughe is located very near to The Markt. In Bruges, that's where you want to stay because it's the centre. And it's very convenient to hunt for food, or looking for a place to drink.

This building is built in year 1470. It's originally warehouse for goods at the basement, which is currently where the guests have breakfast, while enjoying the view of the canal. It's also listed as heritage building at 1985. I am guessing that is probably why they could not do renovation of the hotel.

It has 46 rooms. We're on the budget, so we booked a normal room, located at the top floor. There are also rooms with canal view.

This is the hotel, the tiny windows beside the canal is where we had our breakfast. 

The second day when we left, the weather was perfect!

That's our room

Tiny table

The bathroom. With a view when you're sitting on the toilet bowl :P

The hotel cost us 100euro per night. We paid this through internet when making the booking. But, we do have to pay for the tax after we check out, which is about 4euro for two person.

The service was good. The ladies at the counter were very friendly and warm. The only complain I have is the fact that there is no kettle in the room. I had to go to the counter to request for warm water every time I need them.

When we checked out, the lady gave us a discount card for the next booking. If any of you are interested, please PM me.

Noordzee Mer du Nord, Brussels

If you're going to Brussels, this will definitely be something that I would ask you to try. You may not like museums, you may not love arts, but you must eat! Right?

There are two reasons to eat at Noordzee Mer du Nord. First, for the fresh seafood. Second, for an experience of what locals do. I always like to try what locals do or recommend. When I was doing homework for this trip, this small little shop just keep popping up on Tripadvisor, or some other blogs. So, I've decided no matter what it takes, I MUST go!

And we finally did!


When we asked Jan, the owner of our B&B regarding this place. He told us this shop started as a shop that sells seafood. Then one day, they served the customers fish soup. And somehow the fish soup got famous, and slowly they started to serve meals. But still, they sell the fresh seafood like they always do.

I knew exactly what I want to order even before I go (after nights and nights of reading what other tourists had....)

No. 1: Fish Soup


No. 2: Scampi


These were the two most recommended on the internet.

No. 3: Scallop (Saw some very appetising photos by Japanese tourists)


It appears the scallop was only average. Don't be confused, it's really one scallop. When the kind girl asked me, one? I said yes, I thought that means one portion... Apparently it meant one scallop! But it's a mistake in a bliss, since it's just average, we have more stomach space for more food!



She recommended this to us, but sadly I've forgotten the name of the dish. I'm not a shell person, we ordered because she recommended and yes, it's fresh.

We realised the crowd started to come in as we're eating, by 12.30pm, customers have to move more tables to the open space opposite the street. And yes, don't be surprised, it is not a restaurant, so you're not expecting a place to sit. Stand outside like everybody else, eat that fresh seafood and drink the white wine :)


We're so tempted to order more, the Man was really happy when I agreed let's eat more! (Because I normally raise white flag that I can't take any more food anymore) He ordered what Jan recommended, shrimp croquette. And deep fried calamari, which I  insisted not to order because of the Spain experience, I generalised that European calamari is not as delicious. But Noordzee Mer du Nord proved me wrong.






So how it works?
Order your food from the counter and make the payment. Then, they will ask for your name. Get a table to stand around, or you can chose to eat at the counter as well, while enjoying the view of the kitchen. Wait for collection of the food, they will shout out your name!

Tips:
If you're going there for lunch, try to make it by 12pm. After that the crowd will start to come in. I think it's a perfect timing because you get to eat, while enjoy the atmosphere.

How to go?
The address is 45 Rue Sainte Catherine. The nearest metro station is St Catherine.

We spent 36.50Euro with whatever I've listed above and two glasses of wine.

Church of Our Lady, Bruges

Church of Our Lady is one of the only church that I've listed in my itinerary. I'm not a religious person, I don't go to church. I'm a free thinker. So when I go to church, I'm plainly a tourist.

On our way to Church of Our Lady

I wanted to visit this church because it has a statue, Madonna and Child, which is an art work by Michelangelo. I have to confess I'm not a huge fan of Michelangelo, but this is one of a few piece of Michelangelo work out of Italy. Since I was there, why not.

Madonna and Child

Madonna and Child

The entrance was 2Euro. And not to my luck, it was under renovation. (I think it's supposed to be 6Euro when it's not under renovation). The only part that tourists are allowed is where we can see Madonna and Child. The place was dusty and noisy, we didn't stay there for too long.

Behold

Cafe Rose Red

So, don't think that cafe only served coffee and some light food. We learned this by drinking.

For we had a pretty heavy lunch at Cambrinus, we wanted to have some lighter dinner. So we went to Cafe Rose Red, it's one of the top 3 recommended by other tourists. I didn't really read what were the comments, I noted down the address and opening hours. (Noting down opening hours is very important when travelling in Europe)

Align with the name, there are red roses everywhere

The name came from Stephen King's book

To our surprise, this little cozy cafe, is not a cafe like what we think, it's more like a bar than anything else. There's no other food, except for some finger foods that they suggested to go along with beer.

The finger food that were recommended by the waiter

This is what we had. Sausages, which is very different from what we had here, the Man didn't like it but I can accept that. Cheese, of course I can take that! The bowl in the middle is pork. The texture was a little like pork floss, and it's supposed to go with the bread.

Trappist Beer

For beer, I ordered Trappist beer. This is one of the beer that everybody recommended. This beer is brewed by monks. It's still the higher percentage alcohol beer, I forgot how much was it but it's pretty good.

Saison Beer

The Man had Saison, lower alcohol content. He didn't like it, to him it's a little bit sweeter.

It's not a cafe that serves 300-400 types of beer, but it is tucked in a quiet alley with cozy environment. I would really say it might be really better than the popular bars where there were just too many tourists. The service was good too! But please don't go if you're not a drinker! Beer is the only thing they serve :)

Cafe Rose Red
Cordoeaniersstraat 16, Bruges 8000, Belgium

The Best of Bruges on One Table

On our second day in Bruges, we do not know where to eat in particular, but we know we MUST try Belgian waffles and mussels for sure.

We ended up in Matinee Restaurant. I didn't came across this name when I was doing researching, but it turned out good :)

We were very greedy, we ordered a lot. I wanted to eat like a local, so it's only with butter and sugar, no chocolates or any extravagant thingy as toppings. But I did scrape the sugar away.

Belgian Waffle

And mussels, that's simply a MUST when you come to Belgium.

Mussels in white wine sauce

Mussels always come with fries. The heat from the pot made the picture slightly artistic.

The best of Bruges: waffles, fries, hot chocolate, beer & mussels, ALL on one table :)

I don't think the way the mussels were cooked in Singapore is any different from Belgium. We think what it makes the mussels so delicious is the freshness of the ingredients. Really fresh, and no funny smell.

The waffle is definitely different from what we had here. It's not dense and soft like we have here. It's crispy. 

The fries however, wasn't as nice as the one we had in Cambrinus.

The only complain I would have for this restaurant is the bad service. The waiters just don't care. Initially I thought it's because of discrimination, well, you know, yellow skin, sometimes we do get that. But no, he treated everybody almost, with that bad attitude. And I found a lot of complaints on Tripadvisor as well... So we're not alone after all.

This meal cost us 32.90Euro.

Oh by the way, we sat beside the window, and we had a good view with the lunch :)