Our first full day in Bruges and we were off to an even faster start than the first day. Our first stop was at the Historium Bruges, a museum that tells you the history of Bruges. The museum also has a VR exhibit that takes you back in time to medieval times when Bruges was a busy seaport. The VR was very realistic.
As regal as she looks, the picture above is not the actual Queen Elizabeth the first of Bruges, but my traveling partner who may indeed have been a queen in a previous life.
The Duvelorium offers six different beers on tap with tasters of three. So of course, I had to make another trip there to try the second round of three beers. One thing that I didn't realize at the time was that each beer has its own unique glass, which bartenders are required to use when serving that beer. This makes it easy to determine which beers you are drinking in a picture, IF you turn the front of the glass around to show it. It must also make it hell for bars to stock all the different glasses they need for the variety of beers they carry.
Speaking of having a variety of beers… This photo taken inside the Bottle Shop liquor store illustrates the wide variety of beers available in Belgium. More than I think anywhere else I've been. Notice also that each beer is sold next to their specific glass. Quite amazing.
Another amazing thing about beers in Belgium is the price and availability. I was able to buy top of the line Belgian brews for ⅓ or less of the price in the states. A wide variety and inexpensive selection of beers were available not just in liquor stores but also at quick stop type stores such as those near train stations.
In many cities in the world a good way to get a quick overview of a city is using the hop-on hop-off bus or a similar type of tour. In Bruges, as well as Copenhagen, two cities with an extensive canal network, the best way was via one of the boat tours. So that was our next adventure.
After the boat tour we visited the Groeninge Museum, an art museum which features pictures various Flemish by artists.
Click the picture above to see more artworks from the Groeninge Museum and more pictures taken during our canal boat tour.
We ended the day at De Halve Maan Brewery which has a restaurant as well as a brewery and has a tour which includes a visit to a beautiful roop top view of Bruges. Originally Die Maene brewery, which is mentioned as early as 1564, De Halve Maan Brewery was created at its current location in 1856. It remains the only brewery that produces beer within the city walls of Bruges. In 2016 the brewery overcame a ban on tankers used to transport beer from the brewery to the bottling plant, by building a 2 mile long beer pipeline.
Click this link or one of the pictures above to see more pictures in the Bruges Day 2 photo album
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