Cruise Day 12 Zeebrugge

Another shore day .. and another chance to be messed about by Princess. After researching the optional methods for getting to Brugge, we reluctantly decided we couldn't rely on the unknown that was the port-supplied shuttle to and from the port boundary. Hence we paid (too much) for a Princess supplied shuttle direct to the train station at the nearby town of Blankenberge. Alas the contracted business running these was taking the view of using as few trips as possible and so wouldn't go until a bus was full. Thus we sat on the bus going nowhere for at least 20 minutes. By the time we left it was almost time for the train to be leaving. Finally under way we seemed sure to miss it. When we arrived a rep stopped us from getting off the bus in order to tell us we had 5 minutes to walk/run, buy tickets and board or the next train would be another hour away (which we already knew from our research). Thankfully he did also confirm that we could buy tickets on board. We chuffed it and hopped straight on. I don't know how many of the full bus made the train - for the Stockholm shore stop we had later heard of a 45 minute queue just to buy train tickets. Luckily the train conductor came through just after we took off and we were even able to pay by credit. While we went through all this, we watched as people who gone with our original plan - use the port shuttle, walk to the tram, take the tram to the train - go past us with no waiting and no hurry for a fraction of the cost. So, stiffed and extorted. Once in Brugge (which seems to be the local spelling instead of Bruges, I suspect there's a Flemish vs French thing in that) we tried to find an info service and a map. Stiffed again because it wouldn't be open until 10am. That's impressive, not. So I had to use my phone, switching on the European data SIM and use a combination of Google Maps and a PDF that we'd downloaded back on ship. And so, off we walked to the town centre. Actually it wasn't far and while the route was utterly anonymous, it was a gentle introduction to the winding street charm of the place. We chanced across a church - St Saviour's Cathedral and popped in for a look. Yet again, a quite impressive structure with many unique features. This one is participating in an organ festival and the organist and organ tuner were doing a run through for the evening's concert. Also, this one had a great many large paintings sitting and hanging around (apparently mostly moved at the demise of another church building). It also had entirely expanded into its side wings and outer chapels. Even part of the inner structure had also become a private mausoleum. All in all it was a huge space, much larger than it seemed from the outside. From there we strolled along a "high street" that led to the Market Square, which was clearly the central place to be in Brugge. As the weather seemed about to turn wet, we opted to pay for a 50 minute guided bus tour. This proved a brilliant idea as we stayed dry, had information spoken into personal headsets in one of 8 languages as well as occasional extra alerts from the driver in English and French. The bus ran a dizzying route through the narrow and frequently one-way streets, often going in loops to pass something then cross our own route to head to something else. A by-product of this was the place seemed to have twice as many canals than it really does. The tour returned us to the market square. We walked to the corner to check out a Dali exhibit but decided we were here to see Brugges not art from elsewhere. After that we wandered somewhat randomly, buying postcards, inspecting chocolate stores (more per square metre than anywhere else on the planet I'd reckon). We discovered two more open squares, one of which had a very capable music group playing Bach and Vivaldi as an ensemble of violin, accordian, tuba, Russian bass. After looping back to Market Square, we picked up a bite to eat and find yet another small square in which to sit and eat. We have noticed that these historical cities/towns don't have much in the way of take-away food - nearly everything is a sit-in cafe, brasserie or restaurant. By now it was mid-afternoon and I think we'd reached the point where another church, museum or gallery was beyond our car point so we headed in the general direction of the train station, although via a different set of streets. Thus we can across yet another square near the central bus station and with modern sculptures and fountains. Hilariously, as we walked back into the train station a Spanish tourist asked us where she could get a map. We showed her how to find the Info point that had failed us and then decided we'd like a copy too for post-trip annotations. The train took us back, and after a brief stroll we caught the shuttle back to Zeebrugge (translates as Brugge-On-Sea, being the industrial port). So that was Brugge. Very charming place, well suited to tourists (apart from an info both that doesn't open until 10am) - just a pity it is full of tourists. ;-)