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Chocolate Heaven - one of many chocolate shops in Bruges

How many chocolate shops can you find in Bruges? I am fairly certain the number will comfortably exceed 50, and may even be closer to 100. Not bad for a small city. On almost every street you will pass a chocolatier, proudly displaying their wares and leaving their door wide open to tempt you with the heavenly smell of freshly made chocolates.

The Town Hall, Bruges

There is even a chocolate museum, where you can learn about the harvesting and production of chocolate. Chocolate from so many countries can be found in the little shops of Bruges; even from Uganda, a country I didn’t know produced cocoa beans.

Around every corner in Bruge, another architectural marvel

Only one factor prevented us from filling the car with chocolate of every variety. For us Brits now travelling with such a weak currency (Americans are used to it by now) it was a shock to work out how much everything in Belgium cost. A small 250g box of chocolates was over €12, and at a rate of almost €1 to £1 this was very high. The best value came from buying chocolate off the block, where a solid piece of chocolate of your choice was less than half the price of a packaged box. Not much use for a gift, but perfect if you’re planning to devour it in front of the TV on those dark November evenings.

The main canal, Bruges

We would have stocked up a lot more had it not been for the fact that even good quality Belgian chocolates are around half the price in the UK compared to the current Belgian prices. Even a meal in a restaurant appeared to be more than double what we would pay in the UK. Main courses in the tourist spots were €25, and even away from the centre of the town we found prices for a one course meal were typically around €20.

Evidence of old Bruges - a pull cord doorbell

As always we took the chance to walk the streets of Bruges despite the miserable weather on Saturday. The town is ringed by a canal, and the historic buildings along the canals and alleys hide stories of merchants, traders and warehouses that are now the trendy homes of Bruges’ residents. Dates on the buildings suggest much of today’s city was built up in the 17th century, and many of the old features have remained, including many ornate pull-cords serving as doorbells on otherwise plain facades.

Canal-side living, Bruges

Bruges is small enough to wander around in half a day, and if your feet get tired you can circle the canal by boat or even hire a bike (we hired a tandem on our previous visit and it was great fun). The many stands selling Belgian fries covered with mayonnaise will keep the hunger at bay while ensuring that you keep a constant intake of saturated fat throughout your Belgian adventure. In defence of the Belgian diet, they do not appear to have an obesity problem like the UK and US does. I suspect that they mainly produce all of this unhealthy stuff to feed to the tourists