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Belgium: Bruges and Brussels: Travel Details

This is a quick and handy source for details on the sights, hotels, tour guides and restaurants featured in the "Belgium: Bruges and Brussels" show. For much more (and updates), see this year's edition of Rick Steves' Amsterdam, Bruges & Brussels guidebook.

Dumon chocolate shop

Perhaps Bruges' smoothest and creamiest chocolates are at Dumon (€1.75/100 grams). Madam Dumon and her children (Stefaan and Christophe) make their top-notch chocolate daily and sell it fresh just off Market Square (Thu–Tue 10:00–18:00, closed Wed, old chocolate molds on display in basement, Eiermarkt 6, tel. 050-346-282). Their ganache, a dark creamy combo, wows chocoholics. The Dumons don't provide English labels because they believe it's best to describe their chocolates in person.

The Chocolate Line
Locals and tourists alike flock to The Chocolate Line (€3.20/100 grams) for their "gastronomique" varieties — unique concoctions such as Havana cigar (marinated in rum, cognac, and Cuban tobacco leaves — so therefore technically illegal in the United States), lemon grass, ginger (shaped like a Buddha), saffron curry (a white elephant) and a spicy chili. My fave: the sheets of chocolate with crunchy roasted cocoa beans. The kitchen — busy whipping up their 80 varieties — is on display in the back. Enjoy the window display, renewed monthly (Mon–Sat 9:30–18:00, Sun from 10:30, between Church of Our Lady and Market Square at Simon Stevinplein 19, tel. 050-341-090).

Bruges' bell tower carillon
Most of the bell tower has presided over Market Square since 1300, serenading passersby with carillon music. An octagonal lantern was added in 1486, making it 290 feet high — that's 366 steps (daily 9:30–17:00, ticket window closes 45 min early, €0.30 WC in courtyard).

Climb the tower (€5, 366 steps) to the carillon room. The 47 bells can be played mechanically with the giant barrel and movable tabs (as they are on each quarter hour) or with a manual keyboard (as they are during concerts). The carillonneur uses his fists and feet rather than fingers. Be there on the quarter hour, when things ring. It's bellissimo.

The Flemish Pot
The Flemish Pot (a.k.a. The Little Pancake House) is a cute restaurant serving delicious, inexpensive pancake meals (savory and sweet) and homemade wafels for lunch. Then at 18:00, enthusiastic chefs Mario and Rik stow their waffle irons and pull out a traditional menu of vintage Flemish plates (€9-16.50 dinner menu, daily 10:00–22:00, just off Geldmuntstraat at Helmstraat 3, tel. 050-340-086).

Lace Centre
To actually see lace being made, drop by the nearby Lace Centre (Kant Centrum), where ladies toss bobbins madly while their eyes go bad (€2.50 includes afternoon demo and small lace museum as well as adjacent Jeruzalem Church, Mon–Fri 10:00–12:00 & 14:00–18:00, until 17:00 on Sat, closed Sun, Peperstraat 3, tel. 050-330-072).

Gruuthuse Museum
Once a wealthy brewer's home, this 15th-century mansion is a sprawling smattering of everything from medieval bedpans to a guillotine (€6, includes audioguide and entry to apse of nearby Church of Our Lady, Tue–Sun 9:30–17:00, closed Mon, Dijver 17).

Memling Museum/St. John's Hospital
This medieval hospital (newly opened after 2 years of renovation) contains some much-loved paintings by the greatest of the Flemish Primitives, Hans Memling. His Mystical Wedding of St. Catherine triptych deserves a close look. Catherine and her "mystical groom," the baby Jesus, are flanked by a headless John the Baptist and a pensive John the Evangelist. If you understand the Book of Revelation, you'll understand St. John's wild and intricate vision. The St. Ursula Shrine, an ornate little mini-church in the same room, is filled with impressive detail.

The former monastery/hospital complex has two entrances — one is to a welcoming Visitors Center (free), the other to the Memling Museum (€8 includes fine audioguide, Tue–Sun 9:30–17:00, closed Mon, Mariastraat 38).

Straffe Hendrik Brewery Tour
This fun, handy tour is a great way to pay your respects. The happy gang at this working family brewery gives entertaining and informative 45-minute, three-language tours (often by friendly Inge, €4 tour includes a beer, lots of very steep steps, great rooftop panorama, daily on the hour 11:00–16:00, 11:00 and 15:00 are your best times to avoid groups, Oct–March 11:00 and 15:00 only, 1 block past church and canal, take a right down skinny Stoofstraat to #26 on Walplein, tel. 050-332-697, www.halvemaan.be).


At Straffe Hendrik (Strong Henry), they remind their drinkers: "The components of the beer are vitally necessary and contribute to a well-balanced life pattern. Nerves, muscles, visual sentience, and a healthy skin are stimulated by these in a positive manner. For longevity and lifelong equilibrium, drink Straffe Hendrik in moderation!"


Their bistro, where you'll be given your beer (included with the tour), serves quick, hearty lunch plates. You can eat indoors with the smell of hops or outdoors with the smell of hops. This is a great place to wait for your tour or to linger afterward.

Museum of Ancient Art
Part of the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, the Museum of Ancient Art features Flemish and Belgian art of the 14th–18th centuries. It's packed with a dazzling collection of masterpieces by van der Weyden, Brueghel, Bosch and Rubens. The nearby Museum of Modern Art gives an easy-to-enjoy walk through the art of the 19th and 20th centuries from neoclassical to surrealism. Highlights here include works by Seurat, Gauguin, David and Magritte. The Patio, between the two museums, features tapestries from the 1500s (Tue–Sun 10:00–17:00, closed Mon, half the rooms close for lunch 12:00–13:00, the other half close 13:00–14:00, audioguide-€2.50, last entry 30 min before closing time, free first Wed of the month after 13:00, decent cafeteria with salad bar, Rue de la Régence 3, tel. 02-508-3211, www.fine-arts-museum.be).

European Parliament
Europe's governing body now welcomes visitors. This towering complex of glass skyscrapers in Brussels is a cacophony of black-suited politicians speaking 20 Euro languages. It's exciting just to be here — a mouse in the corner of a place that charts the future of Europe "with respect for all political thinking...consolidating democracy in the spirit of peace and solidarity." The 732 parliament members, representing 25 countries, shape Europe with a €100 billion budget (from import duties, sales tax, and a cut of each member country's GDP).

The only way in is to take the 30-minute tour (free, Mon–Thu at 10:00 and 15:00, Fri only at 10:00; before making the trip, confirm the tour time by calling 02-284-3457). From the Bourse in downtown Brussels, catch bus #95 or #96 to Place du Luxembourg (this square has lots of restaurants, good for a €10 lunch). To get from here to Infopoint, where the tours start, go behind the old train station and cross the temporary footbridge through the construction site. Infopoint will be on your left. Go down the steps by Infopoint and find the visitors' entrance, across the street on the right-hand side.


At the appointed time, you enter the main hall through the double doors and meet your escort, who equips you with an audioguide and takes you to a balcony overlooking the huge "hemi-cycle" where the members of the European Parliament sit. Here you'll listen to a political-science lesson about the all-Europe system of governance. You'll learn how early visionary utopians (like Churchill, who in 1946 called for a "United States of Europe" to avoid future wars) led the way as Europe gradually evolved into the European Union (1992).

Back to the "Belgium: Bruges and Brussels" script

Excerpted from Rick Steves' Amsterdam, Bruges & Brussels 2005