Sunday morning Joe looked out our hotel window to see numerous luxury sport cars parked in the courtyard. There was some kind of free car show. Joe wanted a Lamborghini for his birthday but Jackie said no.
We parked in a parking garage at the train station which allowed us a free bus ride to the City Center.
Canals and houses that front them.
We went in the Lower Chapel of the Basilica of the Holy Blood.
In the Upper Chapel there was a veneration of the vial of Christ’s blood. I had tried to find more information about this relic before going to Bruges, but didn’t find much beyond what I wrote before. According to legend several drops of Christ’s blood, washed from his lifeless body by Joseph of Arimathea were preserved in a rock-crystal vial in Jerusalem. In 1150, the patriarch of Jerusalem gave the blood to a Flemish soldier, Derrick of Alsace, as thanks for rescuing his city from Muslims during the Second Crusade. Derrick returned home and donated it to the city. The old, dried blood suddenly turned to liquid, a miracle repeated every Friday for the next 2 centuries, and verified by thousands of pilgrims from around Europe who flocked to Bruges to adore it. The blood dried up for good in 1325. Although the Bible never mentions Christ’s blood being preserved, one of the apocryphal gospels asserts Joseph of Amirathea preserved the Precious Blood after he had washed the dead body of Christ.
During veneration, a member of the Brotherhood of the Holy Blood safeguards the relic as those who wishing to lay a hand over the glass cover over the tube. I truly felt the Lord here just as I would after receiving the Eucharist at Mass. It was so moving that 2 women in front of me broke down crying in devotion.
We continued down more streets along canals.
I was really excited to go inside Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk (Church of Our Lady) because I’ve never been to Italy (Joe could have cared less). Inside the church holds Michelangelo’s Madonna and Child, said to be the only statue of his to leave Italy in his lifetime. The Memling Museum seems to have taken over the church so there was an admission fee to see the Pieta. No Michelangelo for me L
More canals.
Begijnhof is an order of women (often single or widowed) who needed a dignified place to live and work since men weren’t as plentiful during the medieval times of war. They were not required to take religious vows. In the 1970s when the last of the Beguines died, this housing became home for local Benedictine nuns. The courtyard was very serene.
Minnewater (Water of Love) is a peaceful lake filled with canals and swans.
Almshouses were a medieval form of housing for the poor. The rich would pay for someone’s tiny room here in return for lots of prayers.
We went on De Halve Moon Brewery Tour. It was a very entertaining and informative tour that included a beer, Brugse Zot, the only beer still brewed in Bruges. The tour included a great view of the skyline from the rooftop. We walked out with our very own souvenir glasses.
Before leaving Bruges we stopped at Dumon, an artisan chocolatier. There dark chocolate was heavenly!
We drove back to Brussels for dinner. We shared more mussels in a cream sauce in the atmospheric cellar at ‘t Kelderke off Grand Place.
We had a few more Belgian beers before spending our last night at Hotel Ibis.
To sum up Belgium: lots of beer, mussels, French frites and chocolates! We had an amazing time!
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