Living in Bruges – Why I love living here

I have to say I live in absolutely beautiful city. Bruges must be the prettiest of all Belgian towns, at least for me. My fiancé also enjoys living here; he says he would love to stay here even forever. We take that to consideration all the time. I mean what’s not to love? Chocolate shops, medieval architecture, little parks here and there, little beer bars and the atmosphere, all that makes it a lovely place to live.

Bruges is not big, but not small either. The population in 2015, according to Wikipedia, was 117,886, which gives it 7^th place in the most populated cities in Belgium. You have the center with medieval buildings, full of shops, museums and tourist naturally; and there is also few suburbs around where there are nice villas and you just do grocery shopping in big supermarkets situated in sort of shopping centers.

This town stole my heart from the first time I visited it when I was 12. I don’t remember much of what I was then, but for sure the Markt Square, Burg with Basilica of Holy Blood, Love Bridge, ‘t Zand fountain… I didn’t think then that one day I get to live in this town. I didn’t think about it even when I was 18 and came here again, even though only to babysit my cousin. For five summers in a row I was here to play Lego mostly and discover the surroundings of two suburbs, Koolkerke and Sint-Jozef. I remember how sad I felt everytime I had to go back home, I really enjoyed being here. So after I finished studies and my plan to live in Scotland didn’t work, I came to try my life here.

I live in center now, very close to main attraction of Bruges, which makes in a busy neighborhood, but I wouldn’t change it for now. Maybe in upcoming years I’d like a house with garden, but now it’s nice to live close to everywhere. Whenever we want a nice romantic walk we just have to leave apartment and go to the right. We’ll be among hundreds of tourists, but around all the nicest buildings and picturesque views. Taking a boat tour or seeing Bruges from carriage pulled by horses is also very popular here. If we want to run away from the crowd we just have to turn to the left and walk along the canal that goes around the center. There are still people there, but it’s a green zone with parks and benches and it’s just quieter.

Of course you don’t have to spend all the time in the town. We have big cinema here, two bowling centers, aqua park, swimming pools, football fields and other team sports fields. You can visit castles around Bruges, mostly situated in parks. There is something for everyone. I wish there were more placed to go out for dancing, but since we’re not really going out much like this, I don’t really have to complain. And I have my Zumba, two times per week – I’m satisfied with my dancing schedule 😀

I love living here. If I’ll ever have to leave this town and move out it will be very hard for me. I got used to this place, I attach lots of beautiful memories here, meeting the love of my life for example. Bruges happens to show on our wedding invitations as well, but shhh, that’s for later, they are not done yet 🙂