Picking up from where I left off, we arrived in Zeebrugge at about 8:30am. We had to wait a little while to disembark, but soon enough we were on shore and straight onto one of the many waiting coaches to transfer us to Bruges. I'd read somewhere online that the journey was about an hour or so, so we were all pretty surprised to be stepping off the coach in Bruges about half an hour later! It was pretty much straight down a motorway, around an amazingly complicated one way system and we were dropped off at the Central Station at around 9:30am. We weren't due back to the coach until 5:30pm, so we had a good eight hours to explore the city, which turned out to be plenty enough time to see what we wanted to see.





We started off by wandering into the city at a leisurely pace - we could see one of the churches in the distance so we pretty much just aimed for that. Along the way, we came across a square that had a cafe on one of the streets coming off it, selling waffles with chocolate sauce. Well, of[bxA] course we had to stop and get one! Deliciously sweet, gooey and messy, it certainly required some care when eating to avoid getting it all over my cream coat. Whilst we were eating, my friend discovered that there was free WiFi in the city, so logged onto that and used his phone to find out where the first stop of our day trip was - the Halve Maan brewery, where we wanted to go on their brewery tour. It was only a short walk from where we were, but with the first tour of the day starting at 11:00am, we had to get a move on to get there in time!





Surprisingly, we managed to get there just in time, and bought our tickets just as the clock struck the hour. It cost 7€ each (It says on the website 7,50€ but I'm sure we paid 7€), which included a 45 minute tour of the brewery and a glass of Brugse Zot in the pub at the end. We were soon joined by a sizeable group of people and greeted by the lady running the tour, Inga. The brewery was actually going through a refurbishment when we were there (As of March 2014), however rather than distracting from the tour, it actually enhanced it I felt. Inga explained to us why the refurbishment was taking place, and how this was going to affect the brewery upon completion. If I remember rightly, the capacity for brewing their beer was going to be increased threefold - which was great news because their beer is absolutely delicious!






I don't want to give too much away for potential visitors of the brewery, but I will say that it was well worth the 7€ and then some. Whilst Inga didn't go into too much detail about the brewing process, she covered everything of value, with some excellent dry humour thrown in for good measure. Her enthusiasm and passion for the job really shone through and ripples of laughter could be heard quite often throughout the time she spent with us. She talked about the history of the brewery and the family behind it quite extensively - the brewery is the only family-owned brewery that is still in operation in Bruges. I must point out though, that the tour consists of several climbs and descents via some very steep and narrow stairs. There was also several points where one had to duck to go through some short doorways, which were repeatedly pointed out by our guide. However, the climb up the stairs was rewarded by some beautiful and unique views on the roof of the brewery, which was definitely one of the highlights of the tour. On the way back down to the cellars, some of the stairs were so steep that is was necessary to come down them backwards. However, there was quite an age range within our group, and no one ran into any trouble. I found the whole tour to be very informative and well put-together, and I think that everyone, from the seasoned beer enthusiast to the new beginners, will take something positive away from this unique tour.




After climbing up and down so many stairs, you can imagine that we were all in dire need of a good beer afterwards! Luckily for us, we were more than provided for with a glass of Brugse Zot. Weighing in at 6%, this is a golden beer that was rich, frothy and wholly satisfying. It was surprisingly easy to drink, despite its richness but was savoured slowly by everyone in our group. The pub that we drank in was partly under refurbishment, with just one wall still left to complete fully, but was very atmospheric and the perfect place to relax and enjoy an unfiltered beer straight from the tap. There was an opportunity to eat there, with an extensive and delicious sounding menu, but we neglected to take advantage as we wanted to try other delicacies elsewhere. After we had drunk up, we went back to the brewery shop where we were waiting before the tour, to buy a large bottle of Straffe Hendrik each - which I'm hoping to enjoy tonight!









After the tour, we had no real plans so decided to just have a leisurely wander around the city and see what we could find on the way. Chocolate and beer shops are ten-a-penny, as we soon discovered, and in the first shop we came across after the tour we stocked up on some beers to take back home. If you are going on this trip and are planning on doing the same, I wholeheartedly recommend taking a sturdy backpack. I was the only one in our group that did, and whilst by the end of the day I was starting to feel the strain, everyone else had deep groove in their hands after carrying around plastic bags filled with heavy bottles! But, I disgress. We stopped off in one of the many "frites" shops to buy some chips with mayonnaise, which sounds a bit blah but honestly, if you're ever in Europe, this is an absolute must try. The mayonnaise is nothing like the stuff that we get over here - even Martin loves the European version, and he can't stand the one we get in the UK! We got a generous portion in a paper cone for only a few euros each, and it was just enough to fill us up. I also stocked up on some chocolates to take home - the only problem being that I couldn't decide which of the many chocolate shops to buy from! Every shop we went in, beer, chocolate or otherwise, had staff that spoke near-perfect English, so any questions that we had were of no problem to answer. My friend wanted to buy a sour beer in one of the shops just off the Markt, and one of the members of staff was able to advise her more than adequately!






We eventually came across the Markt, surrounded by quintessentially Belgian buildings, with the Belfry and Provincial Court taking pride of place. The square is very much tourist-aimed, with restaurants and tourist shops everywhere you look. It is known for being notoriously expensive, especially considering that you could get almost everything you could want in the streets coming off the square for much less. So, if you're looking to eat or drink, I would stay away from this area unless you have a lot of money to spare! Me and my friend decided that we wanted to go up to the top of the Belfry, so we sought out a place for the other two to sit and watch the bags. We ended up coming across a place called Cafe Pick, just off the square, that sold a good variety of beers for a reasonable price. We left them there with our bags and a bottle of Leffe Royale each, and me and my friend made our way to the Belfry.








The Belfry (Also known as Belfort), stands at an impressive 83 metres tall and offers a breathtaking panoramic view over the city of Bruges. It cost me 8€ to go up the tower, but if you're under 26 and bring proof of such it only costs 6€. I had left everything behind so I had to pay the full price, but seeing as it was only 2€ extra I didn't really mind. It turns out that the steep and narrow stairs of the Halve Maan brewery was good practice for the Belfry, as there was 366 incredibly steep steps for us to climb! There were two points throughout the climb that offered you a place to stop and take a breather and also some information about the Belfry itself. Eventually, we managed to huff and puff our way up to the very top and take in the amazing view, which was well worth the climb. I'm afraid that my pictures don't really do the view any justice; for one reason or another pretty much all of my pictures came out pretty badly, but never mind! We were also treated to the sight and sound of the clock striking the half-hour, and the clock mechanisms. I've heard that there can be some long queues to climb the Belfry, but as we were there on a Monday we didn't have to wait at all. If you plan on visiting on a busier day, I would advise going up as early as you can, to get the best possible experience for your money.



After we had clambered back down from the Belfry (Getting quite dizzy and disorientated in the process!), we went back to Cafe Pick and enjoyed a well-earned bottle of Leffe Royale before deciding to make our way back to the coach, as it was coming up to 4:30pm by this point. We managed to get a bit lost, as we were trying to find yet another beer shop on our journey, but we eventually found our way back onto the main road and followed it back to the Central Station. We ended up arriving a few minutes early, so we had a last-minute dash around a small supermarket for a last stock up of beer and European food before we left. There was a bit of a queue to get back on the coach, but we got off in good time and we were back on the ship before we knew it, ready for our journey home. The ferry trip back was, as you would imagine, identical to the journey there but we all ended up having an early night after such a long and eventful day. The next morning, we arrived safely back in Hull and drove back home again!

There's a few things that I want to point out, before I end this post, that didn't fit anywhere else:

1. We couldn't really find out any information about this anywhere online, but we did have the same cabin on our return journey. This meant that we could leave our overnight bags there, and not carry/drag them around with us all day, which was a relief. This was detailed by a suitcase icon on our tickets, but if you didn't have one (There was some indication that if you upgraded your cabin, you wouldn't), you could leave your luggage in a secure room at reception.

2. Talking of upgrading cabins, there was an option to do so on the journey there, but not on the way back. There was an announcement that came over the tannoy, not long after we boarded, offering the chance to upgrade to a club cabin. As far as we could tell, these offered tea and coffee making facilities, television, sea view and more space for an extra £25, payable at the reception desk.

3. Pack light. Like mentioned previous, I took a rucksack, but I was carrying around a lot of stuff that I didn't really need. All I ended up using was money, tissues, sunglasses and my travel information - everything else was completely unnecessary. That being said, I would take he biggest bag that you can comfortably manage, or consider taking along a couple of extra tote bags, in you are planning on buying lots of things whilst you are there.

4. I took 100€ with me for the day, which ended up being a bit too much. I brought 20€ home, and that was with me buying things for friends and family on top of what I bought for myself. Food and drink is not that expensive in Bruges if you stay away from the Markt, and whilst we didn't eat a full sit-down meal there, I doubt that you would if you're only visiting for the day.

5. If you think that you can wander around Bruges without a map, think again! We managed to get by with using our phones, but a proper, printed map or a guide book of some sort would have been a whole lot less time consuming and much more useful. I'm not being critical, but all of the streets look very similar, and if you end up off the beaten track like we did on the way back, there's not a lot you can do!

6. Despite what it said online, there is plenty of free Wifi hotspots dotted around the city. I mentioned that there was what seemed to be free WiFi for the entire city (It was detailed on the dodgy photocopied map that we took from the ship as "Free WiFi Brugge", but there was an awful lot of the city that wasn't covered. However, there are many pubs and cafes that offer free WiFi, usually detailed in the window or on the door, so paying extra for using the 3G on your phone is completely unnecessary.

To round things off, would I recommend this trip? Yes, absolutely and 100%. Not only was the trip itself ridiculously cheap, everything went smoothly and without a hitch. The transfer from the ship to the coach and into Bruges was seamless, and the amount of time given for us to explore the city was more than enough. By no means did we see everything that there is to offer in the city - one day, in the not-so-distant future, I would like to go back and do the trip again, even at the full price of £75 per person. I hope that you enjoyed my rather long posts about my little trip!