Living in the past

is a thing that Europe does better than anywhere else ... and nowhere else is this typified more than in Brugges one of my favorite places in Belgium.

Some notes from a recent trip there for anybody looking to go there ...

The Bottle Shop on 13 Wollestraat in Brugge looks like a tourist trap from the outside. But to not step inside would be a big mistake.

Belgium publishes a 1500+ page guide to their beers, about 900 of them. (it's called the bible locally). This store stocks about 850 of them, along with some nice beer glasses, jars of Genever, Geuzes and an astonishing selection of mineral waters.

It's just off the market and you can always head across to the Hobbit afterwards ...

Of course if you want a real pub it doesn't get any better than at Brugs Beertje on 5 Kemelstraat. Stocks about 300 beers. And then there's the Cranenburg which is set on the site of the house that Maximilian of Austria was held captive. Yellowed walls, elaborate stained glass, and wooden tables make you feel like you're back two hundred years and you're almost tempted to bang your tankard and shout for the wenches :)

And if you want to give the tourists a complete miss, there's the 'T Estaminet which is an old tavern facing Astrid Park, and it also has the distinction of one of the best jazz collections as reported by TimeOut. Try the heavenly Poperings Hommelbier here a golden wild honey flavored beer that goes down like silk.

Another authentic tavern is the De Garre at 1 De Garre, off BreidelStraat set in a 16'th century house with dark wooden beams. It also stocks some 130 beers and I will admit I couldn't get past the first twelve *sigh* Which is why I'll be going back one of these days.

Of course if you want to party there's no such thing as a real club in this town but there's a couple of places like the De Rupubliek which hosts a late night "Cactus Club" the main place for DJ's and live music and "The Top" which plays some decent dance sounds for a mixed crowd of young locals and tourists hunting experiences in the early hours.

For food, the Karmeliet on 16 Langestraat (very expensive with main courses starting from Euro 50 and up) is very hard to beat. The food is simply out of the world and the place itself was just down the street from where I was staying. Try the farm chicken with goose liver, or the rack of lamb with garlic morrels. The Chagall is a small cosy seafood restaurant and their scampi and north sea mussels are particularly good.

For Chocolates there's a lot of good places. I'd recommend that you go around checking out the free samples as there's a lot to like in each place and it's tough to say which one is the best. Dumon is the famous one, and next to it there's a couple more stores ... honestly all of them are really good.