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@Philip_J_Fry
I've just returned yesterday and I thought I might update on how it all went:
It took me a lazy half day to get to Bruges on Tuesday. The whole aim for me was to relax, as I'm in between jobs/countries at the moment, so it seemed like a fitting place to do it. Hotel was 4 star, and I got a rather cheap deal because it was last minute and a single room (I'd normally go 3 star prices or whatevers cheapest on booking.com). They provided me with a "Discover Bruges" discount card which actually gave some decent discounts at places.
The tower climb is obviously a must (even according to the movie IIRC). The canal restaurants are horrendously expensive, but the hotel staff provided some good recommendations on restaurants. My favourite and one I highly recommend, De Vlaamsche Pot, had the most amazing Flemish Beef Stew ever, and I got 75cl of Tripel Karmeliet ( @maryann it was amazing - definitely my favourite). Also the Bagelsalon did amazing Bagels for lunch.
I spent 2.5 days in Bruges, for a whole day I hired a bike, and I found it was much better in terms of mobility and sightseeing, especially riding the excellent ring cycle path around the city border.
I took a day trip to Oostende, very much a local tourist spot, instead of an international one. Beautiful beach, although a bit empty as it was a weekday.
Brussels I got lucky, as it was the annual "car-free Sunday" where they block off the entire city to ride around/play in the streets with no traffic. Loads of bike events, including the Eddy Merckx World Shortest Time Trial 222m. My friend and I hired some Villo! bikes to ride around the city, unlike the Boris bikes they do not need to be docked every half an hour and are cheaper for a day (EUR1.60). Ended up dancing the night away in a random Tango Club. A thing to note is that they free pour spirits in Belgium, so a double vodka is actually 3/4 of a glass, for about 15EUR in a Grand Plaza bar. 15EUR seems like much but they actually gave you a quarter of a bottle in a glass haha.
Did a day trip to Liege, nice if you have the time but not overtly necessary.
I'll see if I can get some photos up from the time trial event.