For our final send off from Europe, Olivia and I spent some
time seeing Belgium. On Thursday we checked out of our room and took the train
to Brussels. With plans set to visit two other cities the next two days, we
were excited and wanted to take it easy. However, we had to see Brussels so we
walked to the city center so that we could see the
Cathedral of St. Michael and
St. Gudula along with the
Grand
Place.
The Cathedral has been the site of many Belgium National
Events, including funerals for kings, royal weddings, and Pope John Paul II’s
visit in 1995.
The Grand Place is the most important tourist destination in
Brussels and houses the city’s Town Hall and the Museum of the City of Brussels.
The square was decorated for Christmas and there were several chocolate shops
surrounding the area.
On
Friday morning we took a 30 minute train ride to Ghent. Ghent has a very rich history and is the capital of the
East Flanders province. We were excited to see the city's medieval architecture that remains
intact and is remarkably well preserved and restored. We started our tour of
Ghent with Saint Bavo Cathedral which houses the famous Ghent
Altarpiece. This altarpiece is also known as the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb,
and has survived fire, looting, theft, and the panels have been taken during
both world wars. After the Cathedral we saw the belfry, Saint Nicholas’ Church,
Saint Michael’s Church, had a delicious hot chocolate, toured Gravensteen castle, and took in the architecture along the old
Graslei harbour.
We saved one of the best trips until the last day. On
Saturday we took the hour train ride to
Bruges, aka “The Venice of the
North”. The tourist destination has attracted a lot of visitors and our visit
was no different. We were able to get away from the crowd at the start by
heading to a non-tourist breakfast location. The Tearoom Carpe Diem had some delicious
Belgian waffles and coffee. From there we started off with the Church of Our
Lady and one of the most well-known sites in Bruges, Michelangelo’s
Madonna of Bruges. Both
Olivia and I noted that the detail of this statue was outstanding and the two
figures were incredibly lifelike.
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| Breakfast |
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| Madonna of Bruges |
From there we walked around the city center, taking in sites
like the Quai of the Rosary, Burg Square, Grote Markt Square, the
Belfry, and the
Basilica of the
Holy Blood. The Basilica was built between 1134 and 1157 and houses the
relic of the Holy Blood, collected by Joseph of Arimathea and later brought
from the Holy Land in 1150.
We finished up our tour of Bruges by walking to the
outskirts of the city center to see some windmills and a Kruispoort gate. The
city was incredibly easy to walk around and very small.
Europe has made an impact on me and I'm not saying goodbye. I'll be back and hopefully very soon. For now, I'll finish with a quote
from John Hope Franklin:
“We must go beyond textbooks, go out into the bypaths
and untrodden depths of the wilderness and travel and explore and tell the
world the glories of our journey.”
Thank you for letting me share my journey.
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