Day 110 – 5/4 – Bruges, Belgium

The port is Zeebrugge. David chose to stay on the ship and relax…and write what may seem to be too much about Normandy. Kathleen went into Bruges with some other passengers.

We arrived in Bruges at the Market Square—the heart of the city. This square was surrounded by many picturesque buildings. All along this square and the little cobblestone side streets had lace shops and the famous Belgium chocolates. Bruges is still a center of lace making but one has to be careful as some of the shops were selling lace from China. If it was a cheaper price you can be sure it wasn’t handmade in Belgium.

The chocolates were wonderful!!!! We had hot chocolate that was made with real chocolate—pure heaven! Ended up buying chocolates right off the Market Square in a shop called Galler made with pure cocoa. The gal behind the counter kept giving me tastes of the different chocolates to see which ones I wanted to buy. They were a little more expensive than some other places but a local told me they were the best. The woman in the shop was telling me that their chocolates always ordered by the royal family.

We then walked to Our Lady’s Church. This church has Michelangelo Buonarotti’s Madona & Child. It was made by Michelangelo in 1504 carved in the carrara marble. It originally was intended for the alter of a cathedral in Sienna. It is one of the few statues of Michelangelo’s works that are outside of Italy. The Mouscron family of Bruges bought it and gave it to the Our Lady’s Church.