Hi Everyone,
Today I am going to be talking about chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate because this blog is about my trip into Bruges because it is the capital of Belgium chocolate!
We arrived at Zeebrugge, which is the port of Bruges, at around 7:30am and we were up this early because we were departing port at 4:30pm in the afternoon. So, today we had to be quick as it's around a 20-30 minute coach ride into Bruges. We took the shuttle which cost €25 per person, children didn't have to pay, and it departs right outside the cruise terminal.
The coach ride into Bruges is actually quite a plesant one as it goes through the port before heading into the countryside. There was plenty of farm animals, wind turbines and coming out of the port there was plenty of new cars and tractors. The coach drops us off at the coach parking which is just outside of the centre but it's a nice walk into the centre.
The walk takes about 10-15 minutes to walk through a nice park, crossing a beautiful bridge which has some amazing views into the city. The path then takes you past the horses and carriage holding area (it's actually the public road but it's where the horse & carriage rides start) so it smells very distinctive, shall we say. Once you got past that street, you turn left at the end and it takes you onto one of the main shopping streets going into the centre of the city.
Our first stop is my favourite chocolate shop, everytime I come into Bruges I stop at this particular chocolate shop, it's called Daya Chocolates. Everything in the shop is made in store and depending what season you visit depends on what chocolate figures you'll find. This time we found Halloween and Christmas figures that ranged from €4-€7 which is cheaper than a lot of other stores in Bruges. This store also sells 1kg slabs of milk, white and dark chocolate that are €18 each. For my son we also found a Lego figurine made from solid milk chocolate which was only €4, this made my son very happy who is obsessed with Lego.
Our next stop was yet another chocolate shop that sells moulded individual chocolates, you can find chocolate cars, coffee capsules and even Lego. This is a much more expensive chocolate shop as each of these chocolates are priced at €1 each. This shop is called Chocolaterie Sukerbuyc which also makes their chocolates inhouse and you can actually see them making it from the shop front. Yes, you guessed, we bought more chocolate!
When walking into the centre we passed Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk which translates to Church of Our Lady. It's a beautiful church from the outside as well as from the inside. You can visit this church through the side entrance, free of charge and it's definitely worth a visit. Little background, The Church of Our Lady is a Roman Catholic church and it has a 115.6 metre high tower which remains the tallest structure in the city of Bruges as well as being the third tallest brickwork tower in the world (which I didn't know till I googled about this church).
Our next stop was yet another chocolate shop called Home Sweet Home which is our favourite place to get a freshly made hot chocolate. This shop has dispensers with chocolate buttons that you fill into a cup, filling about a fifth of the cup, before having hot milk poured onto of the buttons. You are given a stirrer which you use to stir all the buttons, melting them which then creates a beautifully freshly made hot chocolate, Belgium style. It also only costs €3.50.
Next stop which is only a few minutes away is the Belfry of Bruges which is a medieval bell tower. It stands at 83 metres high and is one of three most iconic towers in Bruges. The Belfry formerly housed a treasury and the municipal archives as well as serving as an observation post for spotting fires and any other dangers. This is situated in a square, similar to the Dam Square that I spoke about in Amsterdam, but this had less shops, it has more restaurants lined along the square.
We decided we didn't want to have lunch as the hot chocolate filled us up so we went to a famous photo spot at Rosary Quay. This place is famous because of the views you can capture wherever you stand in this area, it's also a very busy area of the city due to the views. There are small shops and cafes along this road where you can stop to grab a drink or something to eat as well as the odd souvenir shop too.
Our next and final stop in Bruges was Chez Albert which is a Belgian Waffle shop which make fresh waffles with various different choices of toppings. I was told that my auntie 
Even though today was a short day we managed to visit a lot of shops, eat a lot of chocolate and enjoy the fresh air, or shall I say the smell of chocolate. My next stop was Le Havre and it'll be the topic for my next post.
Until next time, stay tuned.