Surprises Around Every Corner in Bruges, Belgium, Brugge, Belgium (B)

Have you ever visited a place that completely turned your preconceived notions of it on their ear? My husband and I experienced this repeatedly during a visit to Bruges.

We expected canals, old buildings, church spires and waffles. While Bruges offers all that, there’s another side to this European city that you have to see to believe.

We assumed that two days in Bruges would be plenty. After all, it’s not a large city population-wise (approximately 119,000). But what we saw in those two days made us realize that this compact city offers up a number of unexpected surprises, despite its size.

We weren’t in Bruges for more than five minutes before realizing we’d arrived in time for some kind of festival. On the bus ride to our hotel, we passed bleachers and chairs lined up along barricaded streets.

When we got to our hotel, we asked the desk clerk what was happening that day. It turns out, we had arrived just in time to witness a once-a-year festival – the Procession of the Holy Blood (Heilig Bloedprocessie in Dutch). ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).