Flanders Day 3: Bruges—Venice of the North

Rik and I hopped on a train for Bruges--directly west of Ghent and where Rik grew up (his parents owned a hotel called The Golden Horn). Our first stop was the Burg. The Burg is a spacious area where the Hôtel de Ville (town hall), belfry and Basilica of the Sacred Blood are located. The Basilica was my favorite church because its Gothic interior was so colorful (it’s also got an austere Romanesque lower chapel, but it wasn’t quite as cool). Only managed to take one picture because pictures weren’t allowed. The reason it’s called “Holy Blood” is because it houses a piece of cloth contains blood that Joseph of Arimathea wiped from Jesus’ body. Various myths surround it, but the most likely history is that the relic was sent from Constantinople to Bruges in 1204 during the Fourth Crusade. Of course, whether or not it’s actually Jesus’ blood is subject to debate.

Next up were some churches and museums. In Bruge’s Notre Dame there was a marble statue of the “Virgin and Child” by Michelangelo that faintly resembles the “Pièta.”
The Groeninge Museum is home to Jan van Eyck’ “Madonna with Canon Joris van der Paele,” Hiëronymus Bosch’s “Last Judgment,” works by Hugo van der Goes, Marcel Broodthaers, Jan Brusselmans, René Magritte, James Ensor, and other Flemish painters. Van Eyck’s “Madonna” was beautiful with astonishing details like light from the windows reflecting off the knight’s armor. Bosch’s piece was creepy because it showed people being tortured and skinned alive. I prefer his other, more famous piece “The Garden of Earthly Delights,” the other one gives me the heebie-jeebies.

Bruges is known as “Venice of the North” so naturally we had to take a canal ride. Again, the boat ride was wonderful. We passed about 20 swans just napping in the grass and navigated in between the buildings on either side of the canal. I’m so impressed that these buildings stayed intact through both World Wars. Each building was marvelously different from the one next to it.

In the streets there were many horse drawn carriages pulling people about making the city, making it feel even more like a time capsule. We even came across a woman making lace (another thing Bruges is known for.) Our last stop was the Beguinage which is sort of like a monastery or convent, but less strict. God seeking or spiritually minded women could live in this small community and seek refuge from the outside world. They took vows of obedience and chastity, but not of poverty and could leave the community at any time they wished.

We returned home and I got a tour of the Verbeke’s apartment which is almost a museum in its own right. They’ve got miniatures from all over the world: China, Thailand, the US, Africa, etc. Rik also showed me a bunch of photos from his military life in the Belgian Congo. He had some old black and white photos of his men cutting open an enormous snake and finding a partially digested antelope inside!

Rita made salmon and white asparagus (I’d thought there was only the green kind) for dinner, which we ate on the balcony. And then we had sundaes with Belgian chocolate and chocolate “Conga” sprinkles.

Yum!

Heidi

P.S. There’s also a recent movie called In Bruges with Colin Farrell and Ralph Fiennes. If you liked Pulp Fiction, you’ll probably like it. It’s violent, has excessive swearing, and consists of black humor with elements both tragic and comic. The best part about it is that it gives you a good idea of what Bruges looks like.

Jan Brusselman's "Still Life with a Fan"

Portal into the Beguinage.

The Bruges Belfry.

Flanders Day 2: Mystery of the Mystic Lamb

Day 2 was just as busy as the first. We got an early start and took off for the 2010 Ghent Floralies (sorry I’m going to leave you with a cliff hanger and explain that in the next post.) After the Floralies, Rik and I climbed the Ghent belfry which was like a mini, vertical museum. Each level had something different: There was a collection of the old bells that were once used as well as the original dragon from the top of the spire, the watchmens’ room and the clock mechanism which looks like a gigantic music box. At the top was a magnificent view of the city. I learned that work was first started on the belfry in 1313 and that it uses 54 bells to chime out the time every fifteen minutes.

Afterwards we walked to the Gravensteen, or Ghent castle. Inside the donjon were a bunch of weapons and a torture chamber with devices like thumbscrews, brands, a stretcher and spiked collars. Very gruesome. The actual chateau was constructed in 1180 by Philippe of Alsace, but the first fortifications were started in the 9th century.
Rita met us for lunch and I got my first taste of Belgian fries. Did you know French fries actually originated in Belgium? Well, they do and naturally the originals are better. Hands down.

Following lunch I met Rik and Rita’s neighbor Hilde for her guided tour of Ghent. She told us (the French tourists and I) that at one point, the castle keep was taken over by University students in protest of the rising price of beer. One of the French guys joked that that was a worthy cause if there ever was one. We passed the old Poissonerie which definitely doesn’t look like a fish market with its statue of Neptune and the Boucherie (Butchery) with fake ham hanging from the ceiling and a colonnade with Napoleon’s eagle. Next was the impressive St Bavo’s cathedral. Inside was a painting by Peter Paul Reubens and the triptych “Adoration of the Mystic Lamb” by Jan Van Eyck.

The triptych, painted in 1432, was wayyy larger than I thought and incredibly detailed. It also features prominently in Nazi conspiracy theory. Bought by the King of Prussia in the early 1800s, it was exhibited in Germany until the Germans had to give it back to Belgium as part of the World War I war reparations. Apparently the Germans greatly resented this because in 1942, Hitler ordered that the altarpiece be taken back to Germany. It was stolen by the SS and stored in a salt mine until recovered by the Americans who gave it back to Belgium in a special ceremony. (No French officials were invited to the ceremony because Belgium was still mad at France for allowing the painting to be taken.) But before it became a German hostage there was an earlier attempt to steal the altarpiece that was partially successful. In 1934, one of the panels “Just Judges” was stolen and it has never been recovered. (Forget Detective Poirot, where’s Indiana Jones?) And that is the true mystery of the mystic lamb.

The last item on our agenda was a canal ride accompanied by coffee and biscuits. I’ve always loved boat rides and this one was so very relaxing. I enjoyed looking at the colorful buildings on either side of the canal and the chess players on the quay.

Right after getting back from the tour, the Verbeke’s and I went to meet Rik's sister, Nicole, and her husband, Hugo, who live maybe 15 minutes away. Hugo is a sculptor and he showed me his workshop, his gallery, the different sculpting tools, and even explained the difference between stone and marble (marble is far more difficult to work with because it’s more crystallized). It was SO cool. I’d never seen anything like it and the smoothness of the stone compared to what it was like before being sculpted was unbelievable.

For dinner we went to the Flemish castle of Ooidonk and ate in the carriage house next door, but not before seeing the Lys river. Dinner was magnificent: filet mignon with mushrooms accompanied with a white wine. And the conversation was even better. What an unforgettable day!

Tot ziens!

Heidi

P.S. The Treaty of Ghent between the US and Great Britain for the War of 1812 happened here. And there’s a LEGAL graffiti wall.