Benelux 2025 Region Trip://Leg 3.2~ In Bruges Without Data

             Date:5/17/2025-5/28/2025

Destination: Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg

Goal: Coasters, Culture

Distance: 4079 Miles

Means of Travel: Flight

Potential Credits: 39

Dag 3/Jour 3 (continued)

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Across some water is the medieval quarter of an old European town. Old brick towers and French and Flemish architecture dot the cluster of buildings.

The drive to Bruges was the longest hour of the trip. Belgium is just not an interesting country to drive in (at least Flanders isn’t), I’m sweaty, I’m waiting on these cold tablets to kick in, and by the time we get into Bruges we had to sit in traffic for a bit in a city that predates cars.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A garage staircase is flimsy, white and made of wood, going up at a 60 degree angle over some bikes.

Eventually we find our AirBnB, but the keypad says to look at the message I was sent on Booking. I pull up Booking…and with no working mobile data, Booking can’t load the message! I had to wander around this little canal street looking for a public WiFi signal, once I found one I got the code, opened the lockbox, and opened the garage like it was some kind of escape room. First thing we noticed was that the staircase belonged in this Death Stairs group I'm part of on Facebook. Two grown men can't reasonably climb this thing, you feel it flex under your feet, and it's hella steep and basically a ladder.

WTF did we get ourselves into with this place? I found what looked like a beautiful and authentic canal house on Booking, and that's what we got, but I didn't realize how...preserved everything here is. It isn't unusual for European apartments to be 400 years old, but here, the rafters in the ceiling and floor of the bedroom were original and medieval. The toilet was outside and you had to throw your toilet paper in the trash (this was disgusting), that being said, the packet said that all of this was normal for an old Brugge home. So we got the experience, staying anywhere else would've been the same, but it wasn't nearly as comfortable as it was authentic.

But hey, this place had WiFi. I had to laugh.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A medieval town street along a cobblestone road against a canal.

After settling in, we hopped on the bikes after I aired up the tires, and got to exploring this perfectly preserved European medieval quarter!

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Jarrett stands against some buildings on a canal, one with a tower, the other flies a Belgian flag. Jarrett wears a blue bicycle helmet.

Like anywhere in the Dutch-speaking lowlands, the bike is king in Bruges. People bike all over this medieval city, often on cobblestone roads, as their own vehicle for getting around and living life. I wasn't fearless enough to forego the helmet like the locals do (I was in a bike accident in college and it might've saved my life), but the bike has always been a part of my life and part of who I am, so it was cool to get to cycle here in beautiful Bruges.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: On a cobblestone square rises a tall medieval belltower, with a clock atop the octagonal spire.

John and I biked to the main town square first, he had wanted to check out this belfry, but it was sadly closed at the moment.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Three ornate buildings, a gray one, a white one, and a brick one, all have ornate towers, spires, and dormers coming from them rising over a square. Many of the buildings have flags, a blue tour van is seen in the foreground.

This square is kind of the beating heart of Bruges. Everyone comes here, everything worth doing can be accessed fairly easily from here, and there are plenty of tours that leave from here.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Across some water can be seen an array of medieval buildings, with a willow tree on the left.

We stopped by this spot, definitely the famous photo spot in Bruges and possibly the most famous photo spot in all of Belgium, to take some photos. The lighting was sadly garbage, with the sun pointing right at us, so I told John I wanted to come back here later.

I also left behind a small green heart-shaped stone for Keely, in tribute for her favorite artist Lil Peep, who passed away on the way to Belgium. Symbolically helping him finish the journey on her behalf.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A row of narrow brick canal houses serves as a few businesses, one of which is Mr. Waffle & Sandwich, another is Casa Patata.

Bruges is the perfect city to just kind of hop on a bike and explore, see what pops out at you, rather than having a hard set destination.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A beautiful medieval building dotted with towers and turrets, made of brick. 

Seriously, where else can you just hop on a bike and run into this??? I think this was a museum or something.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A black and white still of a street in Bruges, with a banner hanging for "PROCESSION DU SAINT-SANG."

Some festival was going on, though we couldn't find any festivities beyond these banners.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A tall tower rises from the trees, made of brick and with turrets and a steeple atop.

Another odd church, we couldn't go in, but it was pretty to look at! Not sure the era of this one but it felt more modern, despite definitely being medieval. This could easily be a brutalist-styled Catholic church in Ohio.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A tarnished bronze statue sits atop an ornate marble base, with narrow red homes and a yellow flag in the background. Two men are depicted in the statue, one with a sword, the other with a flag.

Both of us were hungry, having only eaten at Plopsaland, so we found dinner back at the square.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A square with a statue and gray ornate Gothic building, with a few flags reading "BRUGGE."

When my father went to Brussels, he talked about how fun it was to get a beer, frites, and street cart sausage near Mennekin Pis, and just sit there and people watch. That's kind of the point of these restaurants, you sit on the square and people watch. It was getting cold, but I toughed it out because it's Bruges and when else do you get to do this?

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A square with several narrow canal-styled houses, and the statues and buildings from earlier are surrounded by flags. John takes a photo of several bikes near a concrete planter wall.

We sit down, I ask (in French, same language I was using at Plopsaland) if we may be seated, and we find a spot by a little fire lantern. Then, when asked by nobody their opinion, this crusty old Belgian lady pops in with, "we do not speak French here, it's Flemish! Just use English, it's easier!"

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A wooden paddle contains a bowl of fried balls and three cups of dipping sauces.

We got some Bitterballen for the table. These are an iconic Dutch food, but Dutch food is present in Belgium, Belgian food exists in Nederland, it's three closely connected countries. But these were delicious, despite John biting right into one while they were the surface temperature of the sun!

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A plate holds a big glob of mashed potatoes and greens, with a piece of sausage sticking out of it.

Again with the cross cultural shit, this is Stamppot, the Dutch dish I learned to make before coming here! Mashed potatoes with greens and root vegetables are served with pork fat and sausage, a bit different from mine but it was delicious!

After whoofing down a big plate of mashed potatoes, sausage, and a huge slab of pork belly, I had to get on a bike in the cold and bike back to our house! So we did that, it was brutal, but we made it work. Once I was there, we had to kick one another out of the room to shower, as the shower was a glass box in full view of the beds, so that's how we did it. I called Keely, and then called Boost about the lack of roaming data, which ended up with me on the phone for over an hour trying everything to get my damn data to work. After MacGyvering a bike lock key into a SIM card pin only to have no success, I left it to them to fix, and they said they'd get back to me, as it was 10:30 at night. So I called Keely and we hit the hay, ready for the next day.

Dag 4/Jour 4

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A mirror-like canal reflects a city street of colorful, narrow houses leading back to a bridge and church.

We woke up somewhat early, and I prepped for the cold this time. We both wanted to bike around the city a little more before heading to Brussels, giving us nice morning biking conditions with quiet canals and empty streets. It was gorgeous!

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A row of canal houses reflects into the water below.

THIS, my friends, is how you get those sexy Bruges Travel Channel shots! The morning bike ride around Bruges is one I'll never forget!

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A tarnished copper statue of a man with renaissance clothing and a tome says "JAN VAN EYCK" on the base, at the edge of a canal with colorful narrow buildings in the background.

Among the things we did this morning was running into a random statue of painter Jan Van Eyck at the head of this canal.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A city street is marked entirely with narrow brick houses with stepped gable roofs, curving into a dark alley.

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The whole city kind of looks the same, but that just means all of Bruges is beautiful. This could easily rival Stockholm or Paris for most beautiful city I've been to.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: An outdoor dining area of pink flowers and black umbrellas sits at the foot of a church belltower.

We found this cute little outdoor dining area, though Bruges has a lot of them.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Across water, one can see several narrow brick buildings with pointed roofs and spires, with a weeping willow over the canal. A belltower rises high in the background.

At my request, we did return to that canal corner, where I got much better pictures than the previous night.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Across water, one can see several narrow brick buildings with pointed roofs and spires, with a weeping willow over the canal.

Boom! Most iconic view in Belgium, right there!

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A medieval church with spires on its steeple rises high into the sky, made of brown brick.

We continued exploring Bruges where we found ourselves at this church, which sadly wasn't open and functioned as some kind of guided tour.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Behind a brick wall and wooden gate, several houses can be seen in a gated community. A black iron lightpost is on the street outside the gate,

John had found this little fort district, which served as our final stop In Bruges.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A boat crosses a canal in front of several small brick buildings, with a church in the background.

These boats kept going under this bridge, and every time they did, the tour guide would tell them to duck so they didn't hit their heads!

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: On a medieval town street marked with road signs, one brick building has an archway over the road, leading to a small round tower overgrown with ivy.

Not fully sure what this was, but the architecture was kind of fun to shoot.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A rippling canal runs between rows of medieval brick buildings, with a white swan swimming in it.

The whole city is somewhat touristy, but John found us as far off the beaten path as we were gonna get.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: On a grassy riverbank sit several large white swans with orange beaks and black eyes. Across some water, two medieval brick buildings sit atop a retaining wall.

Around here, we found this little park thing that was home to Bruges's iconic swans! These things are huge, they're mean, they're a national treasure to the Belgian people, and they want to be left alone.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A large swan twists its neck back up and then down, standing on grass covered in white feathers.

They're big fellas. Now I see why that goose at Efteling was so afraid of the one that was chasing him. These are obviously accustomed to coexisting with thousands of stupid tourists, but nobody in their right mind would ever touch one of these. Pictures don't do it justice, they're absolutely massive.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A bridge stretches across a heavily planted canal to a cute two-story home.

From there, we decided to bike back so we could get on the road to Brussels, and were treated to some nice views from the bike path back around the city!

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Atop a hill with steps is a wooden windmill with blades bearing red accents.

Another stereotypically Dutch thing that's shared amongst the whole of the Benelux, Bruges has windmills around the perimeter of the old quarter. And when we saw the one near our Booking, we new we were close!

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A medieval street alley stretches back around some tall, narrow houses, with bikes on the cobblestone street propped against their walls.

"How can a fucking fairytale town not be someone's fucking thing!?" was the quote from the film In Bruges that both of us beat to death over the past 24 hours. This town is kind of sleepy, not much to do short of walk around, but that's kind of the charm. There are surprises hidden around every corner of this ageless centuries-old city, and I'm so glad we managed to work it in!

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A sweaty Jarrett stands in front of the willow tree on Bruges's famous canal corner.

I was so gross, I was exhausted from biking, I just wanted to get out of there, so as much as I loved Bruges, hopping in the car and heading out was welcomed. But this Belgian city is drop dead gorgeous and definitely worth checking out! It's so easy to base your Ride to Happiness run out of Bruges, that's my advice for any prospective travelers that want to ride it. This is where you stop to smell the roses, taste the beer, and pet the swans!

(Wait, no. Don't pet the swans. Not if you want to live to tell about your trip.)

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A large geodesic sculpture is made of gray tubes connecting large chrome spheres in a formation, with the Belgian flag flown from the top sphere.

UP NEXT: We go from medieval times to the Atomic Age, heading to the important European capital of Brussels for the second Belgium-based leg of the trip! We've got knockoff Paris, my French is put to the test, and a delicious meal and trippy light show 300 feet over the Belgian capital!