Backstreet Bruges: Belgian town is rich with historical treats and hidden treasures
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BRUGES, Belgium — Long before Bruges became clogged with tourists clutching boxes of chocolates, Pierre Cattrysse, 67, wandered its quiet canals and cobblestone streets.
A retired teacher and grandson of a lace maker, Pierre, now part-time guide, can rattle off historical facts about the city's rise and fall as a wealthy medieval textile and trading center. But he also knows the people who make Bruges a 21st-century delight.
There's his friend, Henri Maes, the brewmaster; Marie Brat, the dressmaker, and Luc Putman, the artist who straps his easel to his bicycle each morning and paints outdoors in fingerless gloves.
So I trusted Pierre's instincts when he offered to show me what draws 3 million tourists to Bruges each year. It is a city, after all, that by the 16th century spiraled into a riches-to-rags decline so severe it inspired a novel called "Bruges la Morte," ("Bruges the Dead"). Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is has been named a Cultural Capital of Europe for 2002.
We walked in morning sunlight to the Markt (Market Square), the central plaza lined with cafes inside gabled houses ringed in colored lights. I could hear the clomping of the horses that carry tourists in carriages along cobbled streets. Later, I'd climb the 366 stone steps to the top of the 800-year-old belfry. But for now, I was content to see Bruges at ground level.
We strolled along the Dijver canal across a stone bridge to Mariastratt, passing the spired 13th-century Church of Our Lady that houses Michelangelo's white marble Madonna and Child.
We came upon whitewashed Alms houses, cottage-style apartments with flower gardens and window boxes, maintained by wealthy merchants during medieval times for the poor and aged, now owned by the city to provide housing for older residents. And we met Sylvia De Boey, 69, who invited us in to see her rooms inside Godshuis De Meulenaere, an Alms house with the date 1613 stamped into her stone fireplace.
We drank "Strong Henry," the local beer named after five generations of men named Henry, and sipped hot chocolate at a table set with saucers of melted chocolate and pitchers of steamed milk.
Something old
It was only when Pierre insisted I follow him into the local Holiday Inn that I began to doubt his judgment about what might pique a visitor's interest. In Bruges, a 300-year-old building is considered "new." Why was he taking me inside an American-style hotel built in the 1980s?
"We're going to see the oldest spot in Bruges," he told me. I was curious enough to follow him through the glass doors and down the steps into the basement of the hotel.
It turned out that along with a sauna, swimming pool and fitness center, the hotel houses the remains of a 10th-century city wall and a choir gallery from a 12th-century cathedral.
Excavated when the hotel was being built, these and other artifacts — Roman coins, glass goblets, clay pots and shards — are housed in a small, unadvertised museum open to anyone who knows it's here.
"It's like a catalog of our history," Pierre told me. "This is the story of one building, but our whole town is like this."
Ebbing and flowing
Brimming with architectural and artistic treasures produced for its traders and cloth manufacturers, Bruges, a Flemish city about an hour's drive from Brussels, was a town whose fortunes rose and fell with the strength of the Zwin, the river on which it is built.
When the Zwin began to silt up in the 16th century, traders moved their business to nearby Antwerp. By the 18th century, Bruges had fallen into decline, forgotten and abandoned by its wealthiest citizens.
By the time writer Georges Rodenbach published "Bruges la Morte" in 1892, some restoration had already begun. But the book put the spotlight on Bruges, and tourists began to take notice. Centuries-old buildings were restored; others were rebuilt incorporating the fluted roofs and bright colors that characterized the Gothic style.
Egg-shaped Bruges, with a historical center encased within a moat that follows the city's medieval fortifications, is small enough to walk around in a few hours. It is among the most perfectly preserved cities in Europe, but it yearns to be seen as more than just a medieval theme park.
"A lot of people consider Bruges as a kind of open-air museum," says Geraldine Leus, a member of the Bruges2002 staff. "They come here on big buses and make Bruges a quick stop. They see the faces of the buildings, but they don't really see what's behind them."
Big year planned
With its designation as one of two European Cultural Capitals for 2002 (the other is Salamanca, Spain) by the 15-nation European Union, the city will host 160 concerts, art exhibits and other cultural events, from a major showing of the works of Flemish artist Jan van Eyck to live theater performances inside the town prison.
The events are likely to mean Bruges will be more crowded than usual, especially during summer weekends when the "streets are so packed, you can hardly walk," says Jean-Pierre Drubbel, the city's tourism director. But, he says, "the majority are day-trippers," who make Bruges a quick stopover on their way to or from Brussels, Paris or Amsterdam.
The ideal way to catch a glimpse of behind-the-scenes Bruges? Settle into a B&B or cozy hotel for a few days, and visit during the week rather than on a weekend.
The Dieltiens B&B, a home built in 1832 on the foundations of two houses, one dating to the 1500s, was my base for four days. A few minutes' walk from Market Square, the house was restored by Koen and Annemie Dieltiens, two music teachers, incorporating an old marbled black-and-white floor and spiraling wooden staircase into an upstairs with three modern guestrooms. At $39 a night, with a breakfast of homemade jam, croissants, juice, cheese, ham and fruit, it was a bargain.
Behind the scenes
Most of the historic sights lie in a compact, walkable area between the train station and Market Square. But there's much more to explore, especially at night when the tour groups leave and the lights come on, bathing the canals and warm brick buildings in a yellow glow.
"Most tourists stick to the city center, but if you walk just a half-block in another direction, you'll see a part of Bruges you wouldn't expect to find," says Dirk Cleenwerck, 37, a Bruges native who designed an online walking tour of the city.
His advice: Put the guidebook away and amble.
He and I met one evening at the De Garre, a beer cafe in an unmarked alleyway between Market Square and the Burg, the site of the town hall where the iron rings on the wall were mounted not to tie up horses, but to hold prisoners.
A taster's choice
Eating and drinking played a big part in Bruges history, so much so that the tourist office has designed a self-guided walking tour around the theme.
In modern-day Bruges, dinner can be an order of Belgian frites from one of the street kiosks ($1.30 for a heaping plastic tray, plus 35 cents extra for mayonnaise); a platter of steamed mussels served fireside at one of the tourist restaurants in the gabled guildhalls on Market Square, or a simple platter of cheese at a beer cafe such as the De Garre.
With its heavy wooden tables and 300 kinds of beers, the De Garre feels more like a wine bar than a tavern. Belgians take their beer seriously, and the cafes are where friends gather to talk or play cards. Most are family places. A stash of board games in the corner is a clue that children are welcome.
"Belgians sip their beer slowly," our waiter told me. I ordered a golden wheat beer called witbier brewed with orange peel, coriander and other spices. Like all Belgian beers, it was served in the local brewery's signature glass.
'A hidden treasure'
We left the cafe and walked along Langestraat, a main street off the Burg that I'd been up and down several times. This time, we veered off on a darkened side street called Ganzestraat, or "Goose Street." Halfway down, without a sign to guide anyone not familiar, we found the Restaurant Ganzespel.
We settled in on wooden benches in front of the fireplace, and opened the menu. Goose was not being served, but Dirk recognized a familiar dish called waterzooi, a homecooked stew of chicken, potatoes and vegetables made with water, or sometimes beer. On the wall were copies of a board game called the "goose game," which he played as a child.
"Sometimes, he said, "if you put your guidebook aside and just set out for a little walk on your own, you'll find hidden treasurers. "This," he smiled, "is what I call a hidden treasure."
Following his advice, I set out the next day in the vague direction of my destination, the Saturday-morning market at 't Zand, once the site of a horse-and-cattle market, now a boardwalk lined with hotels and Parisian-style outdoor cafes.
I found it easy to get my bearings by stopping at the big town maps posted on street corners and looking for the words "U Bent Hier."
Pleasing detail
Without my nose in a book, I began to notice more of what was around me. Everyone, it seems, decorates windowsills with odds and ends to amuse passersby. I saw copper scales, ceramic beer steins, dried flowers and curtains with whimsical designs fashioned from handmade bobbin lace.
There were more than 10,000 lace-makers in Bruges in the mid-1800s. Their numbers have dwindled as the market for authentic handmade Belgian lace, created by moving threads attached to bobbins around pins, has fallen victim to cheaper imports.
"Even a small handkerchief takes about 30 hours of work," said Mìeke Lams, owner of Lace Jewel. Her shop, like nearly all in Bruges, now stocks imported lace for travelers looking for bargains.
"For people who want the real Belgian lace, we still have it, but few are willing to pay the price," she said. "The difference is sometimes five to ten times more. "You can buy what looks like the same thing, and it's handmade," Lams sighed, "not in Belgium but in China, Taiwan or India."
Real Belgian chocolates
Walking along Noordzandstraat, a street lined with a mix of tourist boutiques and workaday businesses, I knew I was getting close to the market when I smelled sausages and onions cooking. Then I spotted the women with boxes of chocolates in their shopping baskets along with fruits and vegetables.
With dozens of shops selling chocolates in Bruges, it's hard to know where to buy. I knew I was in luck when I saw the locals in line at Guido and Roos DeBacker's stand stocked with trays of sweets and stacks of white boxes tied with red ribbons.
I recalled Dirk Cleenwerck's advice about Belgian chocolate.
"If you want heavy chocolate, chocolate-chocolate, go to Switzerland," he said. "Our specialty is the praline, an outer shell of chocolate with something inside of it. It should melt in your mouth, not sit in your stomach."
The DeBackers specialize in the sculptured chocolate shells concealing centers with 63 fillings such as raspberry, mocha and fresh cream. At $2.20 for a box of 16, I bought several for gifts to take home.
Swan lake
It was an easy walk from here to one of the prettiest and most peaceful spots in Bruges, the Minnewater. The swan-filled lake, flanked by willow trees, is popular with canal-boat tours in the spring and summer.
Across a bridge and into a tree-shaded garden is the Beguinage, founded in 1245 as a refuge for single women. The "beguines" were religious and did charity work, but they were not nuns and could leave the community and marry.
Today the low, white-painted gabled houses and a church are occupied by Benedictine sisters. Come here just before noon as I did, and you will find one of them standing in the middle of the church, tugging on a rope to ring a bell signaling to the others that it's time for prayers. I watched as they filed in a procession, bowed to each other and began a chant, a ritual that takes place five times a day.
A view to remember
Later I ran into Pierre's friend Luc Putman, the soft-spoken street artist who captures Bruges scenes with his brushes and ink.
One piece jumped out as I flipped through the finished drawings stacked against the stone bridge where he sat in his folding chair. It was a snowy scene of the Beguinage in winter. He thought it would fit nicely in the bottom of my suitcase, and I agreed
Putman, 60, has been painting on the streets of Europe for 40 years — in Paris, Chartres, Brussels and Ghent, and now Bruges. After three years here, he hasn't yet exhausted all the possibilities. After four days, neither had I.
Contact Carol Pucci at 206-464-3701 or cpucci@seattletimes.com.