The day dawned wet and windy as Oceana berthed at Zeebrugga. I hopped down the gangway at 9.30 and headed for the coach which was to take me into the city for the "Bruges on your own" excursion - a 7 hour day. I was part of Tour Group No 11 and donned the necessary sticker as I boarded. Our guide was Vivienne and although her only duty was to drop us off in the city centre and give us strict instructions on the time we were to meet for our homeward journey she went a step further - Vivienne actually gave us our own 30 minute mini guide within the medieval city which was extremely useful in helping me to get my bearings.
Then we were on our own and I headed straight for an oldie worldie patisserie on the main market square. I treated myself to a hot chocolate which came with an inch of cream on the top! The last time I had cream was in the Blue Mountains in Australia in 2009 so this was a real treat.
The rain held off for a little in the afternoon and I took myself off for a walk along the canals which was really relaxing. I crossed one bridge filled with crowds of people all looking down into the murky canal. Had somebody fallen in? No - I discovered that it was a Christmas event where those who were foolhardy enough went for a winter's swim in the freezing cold water. The Serpentine swim would be our equivalent. I then headed for the markets and mooched around the stalls. To my delight I found that lovely hats were on sale at some of the stalls. I had a great 15 minutes trying them all on before deciding on a cool green number!
The courtyard of The Belfry was my next stop because I knew this was one of the few places which had a public loo (apart from visiting yet another patisserie and having another hot chocolate). To my surprise on entering the courtyard I was met with the sight of some 20 little naked ladies all looking skyward. What an artistic display. I had much fun with my camera and wondered what the ladies were thinking and why they were looking skyward - in my mind they were thinking "One day my prince will come"!
On the way back to the square where I was to pick up the coach I stumbled across a local nativity parade. It was wonderful – the townsfolk all dressed up and parading along. The shepherds had a huge flock of woolly sheep which kept trying to dart off the road into the crowd, then came the Three Kings on very large sturdy carthorses, then came Joseph, Mary and the little baby. They were followed by what I presume where the Town’s Burgers and the procession ended with a tractor pulling a trailer on which was an old man playing what I can only describe as a “fence” of bells. It was really very, very good and quite unexpected.
I was back at the meeting point rather early so wandered round the shops in the square. To my delight I found a boutique shop specialising in hats. Oh dear this really is a weakness of mine. Another 30 minutes spent trying on hats and this time I was tempted by a little dark blue number in angora wool - a LOT more expensive than the creation I had found in the market.
And so it was back to the ship - cold, wet and tired but very satisfied with the day
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