We are currently staying on a farm between the Belgian cities of Gent and Brugge and on the Holland border. It is a region of polders, farms, eels, and smuggler's huts.
One such smuggler's hut is the well-known Roste Mause, Red Mouse, now a bar and restaurant. You come there for beer and to eat paling, eel, prepared in several different ways. I have mine provencal style, and later tried it the traditional way, in a green sauce of herbs. While we ate we watched a mother peacock and her fine chicks eating bugs just outside the window. The woman who runs the farm bed and breakfast sent us to the Mause because the food is reasonably priced and they speak English. "The other restaurants around, they have high prices, don't care about tourists and won't speak English. And the people dress up to go there." A main course can cost up to 36 Euros in some places we surveyed.
But among the non-rural attractions are the cities of Brugge and Gent. Each has its charms.
Brugge (Brugges)
Brugge is full of charm. It's clean, the houses freshly built, painted or sand-blasted (they're mostly brick). Experienced travelers are negative over the Disney qualities of a place that's been rebuilt and gussied up for tourists, and in a way they might be right. But still, a walk along a tree-lined canal bordered by evocative buildings without a lot of car traffic has its charm, and Brugge has it in spades. Besides, you can get that medieval flavor of Brugge without the cholera and other bugs that lurked in the canal water in those ancient times. (Yes, drinking water was illegal then, a boon to the brewers of course.)
The prices of a restaurant meal are quite high; Gent prices are about 40 per cent cheaper in some cases. But that's what you pay when the tourists outnumber the working folks.
Brugge was once known for its lacemaking, and a small and inexpensive lace museum is worth a visit. The old laces were unbelievably detailed and complex. If you go at the right time, there are women there who will demonstrate the craft, although not nearly to the level of detail as the old work.
There is also a small brewery museum; for three euros you can see how many breweries Brugge had in the past and see the process of making beer. Afterwards they'll pour you a free brew of your choice, so you haven't actually paid anything for the museum.
Staying in Brugge
A very "cute" hotel in a great, quiet location near a canal is the Hotel Adornes. Doubles go for 90 to 110 Euros and include a bicycle, breakfast, and parking.
The Bauhaus Hotel is the budget choice, running 25-35 Euros for a double, the higher prices for private bath.
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For sketches of Gent, and some words about traveler conditions in Northern Europe click next.
