In Bruges

First things first, if you haven't seen In Bruges, get thee to Netflix right now, because it's good. OK, it may not be everyone's cup of tea - the language is uniformly foul and there's a hugely generous helping of black comedy - but Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson are fab in it, and Ralph Fiennes's evil streak doesn't stop at Lord Voldemort.  Also, I doubt there are many other films where Bruges is such a central character.

This is the only beer brewed in Bruges itself, and it's brewed in the Halve Maan brewery right in the centre.  We toured the brewery and saw the whole process, as well as seeing the view from the top of the building, where my photo above was taken.  As part of the tour every visitor got a glass of Brugse Zot to try (but only at the end, once everyone was safely downstairs and nowhere near any staircases).  Brugse Zot means Bruges Fools, but apparently it's also a slang word for drunkard, which could be apt.  I have to confess that I was not a beer drinker before I went to Bruges.  My only experience with beer was when I was on a school trip to Germany and drank Bitburger every night, and that was only because that was what everyone else was drinking.  However, Bruges was an education for me.

Yes, that is an actual beer glass.

Yes, Brits like beer.  But when you go to a pub in the UK, if you order a pint of Stella it's just as likely to be poured into a mismatched San Miguel glass as it is an actual Stella glass.  Not so in Bruges.  Each beer seems to have its own distinctive glass, and that beer will come with that glass.  Kwak, above, was probably my favourite, and not just due to the frankly ridiculous glass, although that was what caught my eye in the first place.  A word of warning, however - once the beer level gets below the narrowest part of the glass, it can tend to run all over the place when you tip it to drink, meaning that you suddenly feel an awful lot drunker than you are thanks to the beer running down your chin.
The above photo was taken in Staminee de Garre, which is an amazing place to learn about and try different beers.  It's located in a tiny, easily-missed little lane off one of the main streets of the Bruges city centre, but it has no trouble attracting customers.  The upstairs, where we sat, felt almost like a beer restaurant, in that there were tables with menus as well as a traditional bar. Luckily for us beer novices, the staff were friendly and knowledgeable with recommendations and advice.

A light snack

On to Belgium's most famous food.  These monster waffles were courtesy of Lizzie's Wafels, again right in the city centre.  I don't think any of us were quite expecting something so huge, but luckily we opted to skip lunch.  Waffles, with vanilla ice cream and hot chocolate sauce - what can I say?  Go big or go home.

This is the Belfort, which is probably the best-known Bruges landmark and is pretty much what the rest of the city is shaped around.  Of course, that means huge queues to get to the top, and no, there's no lift.  Duh.  We visited on quite a hot day and there was a fair amount of time spent queuing in bright sunshine, which is not my favourite thing in the world.  The ticket lady was also not the politest person I've ever met, and yes, the stairs are very narrow and crowded, as there are people going up as well as going down.  I think I was a bit too British for my own good that day, as I found myself stopping and giving way for people and waiting for thank-yous that never came. Such is the life of a tourist.

However, the view was lovely. As negative as I sounded, I was really glad I'd done it, because there was no end of views to take photos of.  That was what struck me about Bruges - the fact that pretty much every building, every house was pretty.  You could wander down a side street of residential houses and see something beautiful.

Like I said, I've no idea what if any significance these buildings have, but I saw them as we were wandering on our way somewhere else.  It was just so easy to stumble across something lovely, which I think is really important.
In case you couldn't guess, I would highly recommend Bruges.  We were only there a relatively short time, but we saw so much beauty in such a small space.