{"id":1314,"date":"2024-10-14T00:10:56","date_gmt":"2024-10-14T00:10:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/radtraveladventures.com\/?p=1314"},"modified":"2024-10-14T00:11:42","modified_gmt":"2024-10-14T00:11:42","slug":"chocolate-and-waffles-and-lace-oh-my","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radtraveladventures.com\/?p=1314","title":{"rendered":"Chocolate and Waffles and Lace, oh my!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Belgium Chocolate \u2013 Yes Please!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We were very much looking forward to all things Belgium (especially the chocolate!) \u2013 and while we didn\u2019t go to the City of Brussels, we did go to Zeebrugge (Bruges) which is the port for this particular cruise itinerary.  While we pulled into port at 9:00am, we had some time prior to the excursion we booked via Norwegian called Romantic Bruges scheduled for 12:45 so a leisurely breakfast onboard was a lovely way to start our morning. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bruges is often called \u2018Die Scone\u201d or \u2018the beautiful\u2019 as well as being referred to as the Venice of the North due to its many canals and was recently granted UNESCO World Heritage status.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our tour included just under 5 hours of a walking and exploration through this wonderful medieval town.  I am always in awe of architecture that has withstood time \u2013 the US just doesn\u2019t have the same architectural history and so seeing these buildings with such intricacies is a treat.  It was as if we stepped back in time, walking through the narrow streets, viewing the ancient buildings, tree-lined canals and gabled facades. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We made our way through the town to Burg Square, Bruges\u2019 central plaza containing a myriad of neo-classical buildings, a gothic town hall and a courthouse that dates back to the 1700s. Each building in the square had its own architectural structure \u2013 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is also horse drawn carriage that takes you on a tour of the area which would have been a wonderful way to tour this older town and, though we missed that opportunity ourselves, I would highly recommend checking it out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Belfry Tower is an imposing 13th<\/sup> century belfry overlooking Market Square. Its bells\u2014now a 47-bell carillon\u2014have been a feature of the city for centuries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Chapel (Basilica) of the Holy Blood was originally built in Romanesque style though the upper chapel was transformed in Gothic Style at the end of the 15th century and again in 1823. Only the curved arches giving access to the side chapel of the Holy Cross remain from the original Romanesque chapel.  The exterior of the basilica is decorated with gilded bronze statues and medallions. These statues represent Archduchess Isabelle of Burgundy, Mary of Burgundy, Thierry of Alsace, and Philip of Alsace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The figures featured in the medallions <\/strong>represent Archdukes of Austria Albert VII and Maximilian III, Margaret of York, and Sibylla of Anjou. The latter was the wife of Thierry of Alsace. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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So many more architectural specific buildings: Provestry of St. Donatian \u2013 a baroque building constructed between 1665 and 1666 which are standard during the Counter-Reformation period; Old Civil Registry \u2013 a Renaissance architecture completed in 1537; the Vrije \u2013 Manor of the Castellany \u2013 a neo-classical 18th<\/sup> century style building; Bruges City Hall \u2013 Gothic building constructed between 1376 & 1421 when Bruges was part of the Burgundian Netherlands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in the square – <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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After exploring the town square, we embarked on 30-minute canal tour by small boat. Traveling the serene waterways of this romantic and historical city we were able to see so much more of the town by the waterways. It was a nice leisurely way to view the town – with a unique perspective. I may link to a video of that at a later date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our “tour” ended by walking over the ‘Lake of Love’ via small bridge. Unfortunately, it was very crowded which made photos a bit more difficult to get. Time for a photo dump. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bruges is full of lace and chocolate shops, you\u2019ll certainly find the perfect souvenir as you explore the area on your own. One thing I noticed, even in the areas where there were quite a few of us tourists, it was quiet in this city. Strolling the narrow streets to explore, noshing on the amazing waffles made with crunchy pearl sugar and inhaling the scents of all chocolate shops (more chocolate shops than Seattle has Starbucks!) and trying to narrow down which ones to bring home! Pur Chocolat was our choice for decadent treats to take back to friends back home – dark chocolate melt in your mouth truffle dusted with cocoa powder. Heavenly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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With that – for now – though I might update more at a later date as this was one of my favorite ports, I bid you adieu from Bruges, Belgium!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Belgium Chocolate \u2013 Yes Please! We were very much looking forward to all things Belgium (especially the chocolate!) \u2013 and while we didn\u2019t go to the City of Brussels, we did go to Zeebrugge (Bruges) which is the port for this particular cruise itinerary.  While we pulled into port at 9:00am, we had some time…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1366,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[50,49,22],"class_list":["post-1314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adventures","tag-belgium","tag-europe","tag-travel"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/radtraveladventures.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/IMG_7679.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radtraveladventures.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1314","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radtraveladventures.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radtraveladventures.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radtraveladventures.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radtraveladventures.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1314"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/radtraveladventures.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1314\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1417,"href":"https:\/\/radtraveladventures.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1314\/revisions\/1417"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radtraveladventures.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radtraveladventures.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radtraveladventures.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radtraveladventures.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}