April 17, 2023
We arrived early this morning in Zeebrugge. this is the second largest seaport in Belgian after Antwerpen. For today we had booked a tour to Brugge about 30 min down the road.We boarded the bus at 9:00 AM on our way to Brugge. We got off the bus on the outside of the City, because the streets are to narrow to get a tour bus through it. After we got finally off the bus, we started walking towards the center of the town. It was obvious that the North American travelers aren’t used being around this many bicycles on the road. There were a few close calls of pedestrian being run over. It’s going to be interesting when we hit Amsterdam with many more bikes, and they are moving a lot faster. Walking through the downtown of Brugge we truly enjoyed the old buildings, many dating back through the 12th Century. Another danger on the streets are the many horse drawn carriages, they are really moving along and have no intention stopping for pedestrians, so you better pay attention to them. Our first stop today was at a local chocolate factory. Here they showed us the process of making the different kind of chocolates. There was also an opportunity to buy chocolates. After our stop, we had some free time to check out the stores. The streets are lined with many eateries and chocolate shops. We helped ourselves to some outstanding flemish frites with mayo. (So Good)We walked by the Zotte Brewery, they actually have a 2km long beer pipeline running to their Bottling facility in the industrial park. By installing the pipeline, they keep the large transport trucks out of the small streets downtown. By now we had started wandering back to the bus pickup. On the way back to Zeebrugge we traveled by huge holding areas for vehicles to be distributed from here to several other countries. Zeebrugge is a large distribution hub for vehicles, parts and equipment. Later this afternoon we left pretty well on time on our way to my birth country the Netherlands.
Cheers
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