Everybody knows that Belgians are the originators of the French fry. Okay, maybe not everybody, but when you go to Bruges, they make damned sure that you know it by the time you leave. Our first meal in Bruges was at one of two the fry shops in front of the Belfry tower. According to our Use-it map, there has been an on-going “Who’s got the better fry competition” going on between the two shops since the late 1800s. When you face the front of the Belfry, we dined at the fry stand on the left hand side. We tried a sauce called “Americain.” Honestly, no offense Belgium, but I wasn’t that impressed with these fries—or the sauce.
On our first full day, we enjoyed Holland Fries, on our trip to Sluis. These fries were nothing to write home about (blogging about it is okay though). This time we tried something called “Joppiesauce,” which I believe is a sweet onion/mustard sauce. We enjoyed the sauce better, but still weren’t terribly impressed with the fries.
The next day we tried the fry stand on the right hand side. We both agreed that although the right-hand side shop lacked the variety of sauces the lefthand side had, the right hand side fries were better. But still not incredible or anything. I can think of probably 5-10 places in Minneapolis establishments where I enjoy the fries more. We had tartar sauce. Good stuff.
Our final fry experience (thank god), was at a snack shop in Bruges. We actually agreed that these were probably the best fries we had in Belgium, but once again---not that amazing. We had the Joppiesauce here too—not as good as the Holland Joppiesauce.
UG--enough with the fries. But I couldn’t resist checking out the Fries Museum, which was not far from our hostel. For 5 euro, I got a comprehensive understanding of the origins of the potato, and the origins of the fry. I also got a coupon for some fries at the end, which I opted not to try. But I feel like I can really count myself as a connoisseur of fries after our Belgium trip.
SNACK SHOPS
Fries weren’t the only thing we ate in Belgium. We also had a lot of other “fast food” from various food stands. Most notably—the “Bicky burger.” I’m holding back vomit as I type this by the way. When we visited our first fry stand in Belgium, Jacob and I also ordered Bicky burgers. It sounded good in theory. Burger, cheese, fried onions, and a special bicky sauce. Those ingredients sound pretty good right? Dear God, the burger patty was so rubbery and nasty, and the bicky sauce was so gooey, it still makes me sick thinking about it.
While Jacob generally had the same reaction—that didn’t stop him from having not just one, but TWO more Bicky burgers while we were in Bruges. It had to be better somewhere else right? Remember—the ingredients sounded good. Bicky Burger in Sluis, was a slight improvement, but still pretty gross. Bicky #3 was at a snack shop. It looked to be of a higher quality than the last two, but it was too late for that. We had been Bickied out long before that.
A little on the snack-shop culture in general: Bruges was filled with cheap fast food shops, which seemed quite popular with both tourists and locals. They were kind of funny places though. Each stand or shop had a little deli counter with a glass case displaying all the various frozen items they’d happily fry up for you. It was completely bizarre—gross yellow lighting illuminated frozen chicken patties, burger patties, several kinds of brats, kebabs, and other meat based products.
Why on earth do they do that? Is it to make it seem like things are fresh? Is it so you better understand what you’re ordering? It was a widespread phenomenon there and very funny. I simultaneously hated it and loved it.
BEER
Oh the beer! And so affordable. So odd to be ordering glasses of Orval for 2 euro, or Karmeleit tripel’s for 2.50. We tried out many different kinds and couldn’t get over how cheap it was. Our hostel had happy hour from 9-10pm, where they offered a lager by Maes for 1 Euro! Crazy right? One night we were sitting in the hostel’s bar area, and at 9:55, Jacob looked down at his watch and said, “I’ve got to get me another one of those free beers.” I erupted with laughter—“Jacob, they’re not free!!” But at the same time I totally understood his sentiment. 1 euro? Come on! It’s an ongoing joke now.
HOLY BLOOD CHAPEL
While I was learning about the origin of the potato, Jacob headed down to Holy Blood Chapel. Weird name, right? Well not for a church that actually contains a VILE of CHRIST’S BLOOD. Or so they say at least. Apparently it’s a relic from the Crusades. They keep the vile behind some glass usually, but every so often they bring it out in a larger vile so that people can actually touch it! Jacob just so happened to be there during one of these venerations, and so he got to touch Christ’s blood! Jacob described it as “dried, scabby, crusty, and dark maroon.” That makes sense I suppose.
OUR HOSTEL
We stayed at a place called the Snuffel backpacker’s hostel (why do hostels always have such strange names?). For a hostel, we thought it was a pretty good spot. Great bar, with great American indie-music, a place where locals actually chill from time to time, and reasonably clean facilities. And a really intense spiral staircase which we had to climb to get to our room.
Quite often when we were wandering around Bruges, we found ourselves coming back to Snuffel because of the reasonable drink prices, and the general good vibe. Met a few people there too. Our first sets of roommates were from England, and the guy was a big American football fan. Of course, he was a fan of the Packers!! Jeeez. The next guys were from Spain. As much as I kind of hate hostels, it’s fun to meet people from all over the world and listen to where other people are traveling. We dug it.
THE CITY OF BRUGES
We really liked Bruges. It was a breath of fresh air after Paris—both in terms of the general environment (fewer people, laid back pace, a smaller, more navigable city) and in terms of the price. When we arrived at our hostel, we were blown away to be able to purchase such high-quality beers at such reasonable prices. While the city of the Bruges is very touristy, Jacob and I both felt that city still had the feel of a working city. Perhaps not as much as Strasbourg, but the locals are out and about in the city center, going to work, school, and just hanging out enjoying their local brews. It’s a gorgeous city with plenty to do and plenty to see, and I’m really glad we made it part of our trip!!
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