On our first morning in Bruges we were up early for breakfast and then out the door to meet our tour guide for a two hour guided tour of the city. I booked this tour through WithLocals again and our tour guide Igor was very interesting. He is a historian and had just come home from an archaeology dig.
We saw many lovely canals and crossed over the oldest market bridge in the city. We visited the Beguinage which was a community where single women stayed, saw more guild halls and many, many chocolate shops as well. We learned the history associated with the swans of Bruges and why they are legally protected, it involves the execution of a good friend of the Emporer Maximilian I of Austria and his decree in the 15th century that the swans would be cared for by the Belgians until the end of time.
We had heard of the Madonna of Bruges because of its mention in the movie Monuments Men about the US Army group that was assigned with finding, recovering and returning priceless works of art stolen by the German Army during World War II. It was returned to Bruges where you can see it today in the Church of Our Lady. It was sculpted by Michelangelo in the very early 1500's and I believe was his only sculpture to leave Italy in his lifetime. (Incidentally the Ghent altarpiece was found hidden in the same salt mine as the Madonna.) We were able to see the sculpture and some other interesting exhibits in that church.
We also visited the Church of the Holy Blood where you can actually see two churches. One is the subterranean Romanesque church and the other is a small Gothic church with a very important relic. We are not Catholic and we view religious relics with a skeptical eye because you never really know if they are truly what they are supposed to be. This church has a piece of cloth that is said to be soaked with the blood of Jesus. We went inside and the small chapel with the display altar was pretty full so we took a seat in the adjoining room which faced left from the first room. We decided to wait because someone said they would bring the relic out shortly. As we waited, a bell rang and a door opened in a chapel that we were facing and two priests (I don't know if the Catholic Church has female priests but one of them was a female. I don't know what she would be called if she's not a priest, sorry.) came out and one of them was holding a glass container with a stained cloth in it. Our seats were right on the aisle so the container passed within 12 inches of us as they proceeded to the display case. If it truly was the blood of Jesus then that was a remarkable moment.
We had to do some laundry while we were in Bruges and Mike had a fun time watching a giant crane truck trying to back out of a work site onto the tiny street. I think the driver made something like twenty attempts due to the tiny street behind it and the edges of the buildings across the street and impatient drivers. The truck driver finally managed though without any damage to the truck or the buildings. Bravo!
Bruges was really a lovely city and we wish we had spent another day here. Our hotel (Hotel Heritage) was lovely with a really comfy bed and hot eggs cooked to order for breakfast. There was also a coffee shop across the street and many restaurants on the Grand Place and surrounding streets.
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