As we finish mural number 4, we are realising that our hosts
and the people that we meet in each city are as important to our enjoyment as the
location itself. Brugge is without doubt a beautiful city, and it's easy to see
why flocks of tourists come here to see the canals, the beautiful architecture
and to visit the bars, cafes and shops that line the old cobbled streets, but
for us Tine and her team at Europa Hostel made our trip.
We have experienced first hand (and on many occasions) the
generosity of the Belgian people and Brugge did not disappoint us. We were
given great advice on what to do through the day, were fed traditional Flemish
meals for dinner, and offered some of Belgium's finest beers from the bar in
the evening. We were determined to leave Tine a mural that she was proud of..
A big thank you to all the staff there, who all chipped in and give us our first taste of Belgium chocolates from Tine's favorite, Chocolatier Van Oost
So about the Hostel
HI EuropaBrugge; is set in its own grounds just 15 minutes walk from the centre of town. your stay includes breakfast,
free wifi, and acool bar with a pool
table. Outside you a have a great place to
relax, with ping pong tables and a volley ball net in the gardens.
So About Brugges
If you
set out to design a fairy-tale medieval town it would be hard to improve on
central Bruges (Brugge in Dutch). Picturesque cobbled lanes and dreamy canals
link exceptionally photogenic market squares lined with soaring towers,
historic churches and old whitewashed houses. And there’s plenty of it. The
only downside is that everyone knows. That means that there’s an almost
constant crush of tourists, especially through the summer months. So to really
enjoy Bruges stay overnight otherwise you miss the fabulous evening
floodlighting.
It does
feel like you are transported back in time sometimes, to the medieval streets and
the horse driven carts, carrying the tourists around the city, but please don't
say it looks or feels like a museum town to the locals, as one American tourist
asked the driver, "what time does this place shut"
But in
Brugge we were properly introduced to Belgium Beer, from the Westmalle trappist
9.5%, the very average percentage of Duval at 8% to very strong Bush Ambrée at 12%.
Who'd of
thought that after only three weeks in Belgium, that we would have the strange conversion
of "I'm
not drinking that! it's only 7%!"
Belgium beer you have a lot to answer for!
So About the Art
As with many big hostels there are a lot of big white empty walls, all with the potential of a bit of cheering up, but as much as we would like to paint them all, our time at every hostel is limited. Instead of spreading the stencils thinly across the whole hostel we decided to focus our efforts into transforming one room. So after discussions with Tine we decided to paint the TV room.
This was the first time we transported one of our new friends that we'd met along the way on to one of the walls, Leticia from Hello Hostel was stenciled holding the Gent castle . We hope to place one of these new friends all the way around Europe.
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| Leticia from Hello Hostel |
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