Trip to Bruges 4-6 September 2015
Wednesday 16 September 2015
Needlemakers and their guests had an early start catching the coach from Stratford or meeting it at Ashford International and heading through Le Tunnel for our destination – Bruges!
We stopped en route for lunch in the main square of the pretty town of Veurne, setting the standard for the gastronomic delights ahead!
We arrived in Bruges late afternoon and settled into our very smart 5 star accommodation, the Dukes’ Palace Hotel, which was very conveniently situated just a few minutes walk from the centre. We then re-convened to take a horse drawn tour of the city so that we could see some of the landmarks and get our bearings.
We then alighted for dinner at Chagall Restaurant, sampling some of the culinary delights of the area. Very fully fortified, we retired to bed as there was a busy day ahead.
Saturday dawned and we departed after breakfast for a walking tour, led by Liveryman Dan Doherty and Neil Fullbrook who know the City very well and pointed out some of the buildings, museums and galleries for us to visit later. Our tour was punctuated by a stop for hot chocolate at one of the many tea rooms. We were presented with huge cups of milk into which we tipped real chocolate chips – delicious!
Afterwards we went our separate ways to explore, meeting up again for yet another delicious dinner in Cafedraal Restaurant.
On Sunday morning we walked to the canal where we boarded a boat for a tour of the canals. This gave us a completely different view of the city and we were fortunate to have a captain/guide who gave us a lot of information as well as a number of very amusing anecdotes. We then headed off to explore once more, meeting late afternoon for the coach trip back home, laden with and chocolate and other goodies!
