Bruges, Belgium Part 1 - the village of Damme

I cannot believe I am almost at the end of my cruise along the Seine river, and yet I am only just writing about our last tour on my ‘Northern Delights’ cruise. Thankfully I have had a bit more free time on this cruise, or I don't think I would have caught up as much as I have. 

Our last port was Bruges, or Zeebrugge, in Belgium. This is in the heart of Flanders. Until we arrived here, I knew very little about Flanders, I must confess. It is the region of Belgium that is occupied by Flemish people, Our Flemish guide told us that they make up the majority of the Belgian population, the remainder principally being German and French. The region once belonged to the Netherlands but won independence during the 1800s. The three main groups of people within Belgium are all very different in their customs and politics and, of course, speak different languages. Flemish is very similar to Dutch. (In our guide’s view Flemish is superior to Dutch, but she was very biased about all things Flemish.) 

And I had thought that Hercule Poirot, that little French-speaking Belgian detective of Agatha Christie, was representative of the whole country, at least in the language he spoke! 

But while there apparently are some strongly held opposing views that threaten to split Belgium, one factor at least has held Belgians together over the decades since their independence, and that is their monarchs. There have been seven monarchs in all, thus far. 

Anyhow, for our tour we drove through some narrow streets in Bruges to see some typical houses, then out into the countryside to a historic little village called Damme. The first thing our rather quirky guide pointed out was that the cathedral in the main town square is the home babies comes from from. Puzzled, we looked up to where she was pointing, and there was a family of storks nesting on the top of the spire. (For some reason my photo of the storks did not upload on this post. I will add it to the next post.) 

After a walking tour of this charming little town, which is connected to Bruges by a canal, we reached a much older cathedral, half in ruins. When we walked in, we were surprised to find that the cathedral part was still operating, and even was used for weddings.

We then headed back towards Bruges, on the way visiting an old castle, which I will show you in my next post. Our final stop was at a Belgian chocolate factory and shop, where we all enjoyed some delicious free samples and a demonstration. Many of our group came away with huge bags of chocolate to take home, but while I love Belgian chocolate, I knew that it would not be practical for me to carry it around. It was very hard to leave that place empty-handed, I can tell you! 

Inside the very old cathedral. Notice the wooden ceiling.

Looking towards the main altar.

The pipes of the very old organ. 

A couple of houses on the outskirts of Bruges.

The cathedral in the main town square of Damme.The nest of storks was atop this cathedral, on the far left.

The other side of the small town square.

Along one of the streets of Damme.

Two quirky sculptures up on a very old wall.

How is this for your doorbell?

One of the larger homes.

Part of the ruin of the very old cathedral, with a spherical sculpture.

More of the very old cathedral.

Along the canal on the way back to Bruges. A view from the coach.

Another view of the windmill and canal as we sped by.