More Of Bruges

1 hot choc & 1 cappucino + 1 icecream waffle for 11 euros.

We arrived Bruges at noon and pigged out on their delicious french fries (3 euros) which kept us filled until late afternoon so we rewarded ourselves by taking a break in a nice little tearoom with well-dressed ladies sipping coffee. We tried the waffles and we surprised by how light it was, unlike the meatier version we know.

 The Church of The Holy Blood is on the left.

The dried blood in the vial sometimes turn liquid according to the info given but scientists say that's due to temperature changes. Anyway, The Shroud of Turin has made most people skeptical, including me. In another church, can't remember where, was the Holy Nail, one of those that supposedly nailed Jesus to the cross. I don't know. There should be more people in this church if this is really Jesus' blood from the cruxifiction.

Except for the town square, most of the streets in Bruges are empty of people.

Very nice magnets handsewn on cloth but too bad I couldn't get them for you because they shop was closed.

Chocolate footballers.

Rick Steves highly recommends Rock Fort, a chic French restaurant (chefs Peter Laloo--the Rock-- & Hermes Vanliefde--the Fort) which is linked next door to Barsalon Tapas Bar, also owned by them. It was early and the crowd hadn't come in yet (supposed to be where Bruges' beautiful people converge) so we decided to sit at the bar table for some Belgian mussels but they didn't serve any and the friendly waiter (above) suggested a cockles linguine to which I agree since I've never had cockles outside of Malaysia.

Free tapas of baguette, pork pate (very good) and curry-flavored popcorn.

When the order came, it came in two plates as I'd told him we were sharing. However, each plate was a full portion of pasta with so many cockles we filled a whole big bowl with the shells. It probably helped that I mentioned that I found the place from Rick Steves' book because the waiter said Rick was there a couple of times and later we heard another guy--looked like Peter--saying Rick's name on the phone. This place is more expensive than regular restaurants, the pasta being twice as much at 19.50 euros (I think) than other places. But it was worth the price because the cockles (which were white like clams) were plump, juicy, sweet and fresh (not fishy, chewy-crunchy and red-bloody like the ones back home) and the pasta although not done aglio olio (my preference) but with a light fresh tomato sauce, was excellent.

Belgian beer must be stronger than other European beer because I asked for the lightest and ended up with a red face after just one glass; I didn't like that. It had no effect on Yi as usual.

At the risk of Hub reading this, I did what he wouldn't have let me if he was here. I restaurant-hopped because I wanted to try the famous Belgian mussels with fries (mosselen met frietjes). We couldn't find the one the friendly waiter recommended and ended up in the restaurant on the Bruges map. The mussels were the size of less than half my thumb and cooked with onions and some other veg, no wine. The mussels I had in France were just as small but tastier. I don't know if this is the wrong restaurant or this is not the season for mussels but it's likely both.

A big pot of mussels plus fries, 19.50 euros.


We also tried blood sausage (75 euro cents for the pieces above) but it didn't taste good or bad (was soft) and it just made us uneasy so into the bin it went.