01 December 2006 - All About You -

It was the perfect start to Christmas - a weekend trip to a European city for a Christmas market and the chance to soak up some festive spirit. Not to mention beer...

As European cities go, Bruges has to be one of the most atmospheric; beautiful medieval buildings lining the network of canals that wind their way through the city streets. Within easy reach of the UK, it wins extra brownie points for being accessible by Eurostar from London and Kent. With no hanging around airports for hours, a shopping trip to Bruges can be fitted easily into an overnight stay - so a guilt-free option if you are leaving the kids behind.

We took the early train from Waterloo, departing at 8.33am, arriving in Brussels two and a half hours later. Changing onto a local train, we reached Bruges in 40 minutes, and after a short taxi ride to the city centre were checking into our hotel before 2pm (Belgium is one hour ahead of GMT).

Medieval marvel

Bruges is a small city and, particularly with its narrow cobbled streets, feels very compact. It's worth staying in the centre where everything is just a short stroll away – the Best Western Hotel Navarra on St Jacobsstraat is within sight of the Markt, Bruges' main square, and the site of the Christmas market.

The hotel was a fantastic choice, both for its location and its charms: a building both beautiful and atmospheric, with the added bonus of friendly and helpful staff. Over 400 years old, it has played host
to many famous guests, including the poet Longfellow. (The stunning central staircase in the foyer was built in honour of Napoleon's planned visit – but unfortunately he never made it.)

Sustenance

Time for lunch – we ate at Cambrinus, just off the Markt. Food in Bruges tends to be of the hearty variety with lots of meat dishes on offer; seafood is also very popular and a great choice; moules frites (mussels and chips) is a local speciality. Those of a sweet-toothed persuasion will be in heaven – there are lots of patisseries and cake shops, many with tearooms attached so you can sample the delights in situ. And of course it's a chocolate-lover's paradise, though the sight of all those chocolate shops started to make me feel fat after a while.

Our 'cool' cover was quickly blown after my friend's solo dancing foray onto the deserted dance floor

The locals will advise you to steer clear of the cafés and restaurants that line the Markt itself, as they are inevitably tourist traps and generally pricier than those in the surrounding streets. However, deciding to embrace our tourist status, we went there for a post-lunch beer in one of the city's best known establishments, the Craenenburg, a lively bar with no pretensions of grandeur – and a selection of hundreds of beers.

There is nothing unusual about this - beer menus here run to more pages than food and wine menus combined. Everywhere has a selection of local and other beers on draught, as well as an eye-watering, headache-inducing list of bottled varieties. Ask the barman to recommend something unless you want to die of thirst trying to read through it all.

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