Bruges or Blankenberge……..

I’ve just arrived back from a 3 day cruise on Ventura with my family, a treat from my dad to celebrate his 80th birthday.

The Rogues Gallery formally known as the Family!

First port of call was Zeebrugge where there were free shuttle buses to Blankenberge to catch the train to Bruges but as we had already been to Bruges a couple of times before we decided to stay in Blackenberge and see what that had to offer, and what a pleasant suprise we had. From the bus drop off point it was only a 2 minute walk to the main street which was lined with shops, cafes and of course lots of chocolate shops, and at the top of the street was the best suprise of all.

Bought 4 750g boxes here. Bang goes the diet!

The main street

The steps to the Beach and Promenade.

At the top of a short flight of steps we were onto a lovely promenade which had a pier at either end of the beach and it was lined with an array of bars and restaurants.The beach was in sections with each section having its own bar, sunloungers and windbreakers and each was in a different style.There was a Bamboo Bar ( yes you’ve guessed it all the furniture was made of bamboo) and another had big bean bags rather than sunloungers and some had childrens play areas with slides, swings and playhouses.

Bamboo Beach Bar

State the obvious… Marina Beach Bar.

One of the beach areas was advertising a sunlounger, umbrella and a drink all for 12 euro which isnt bad for the whole day. After a walk along the promenade and back admiring all the lovely beach bars it was time for a must in Belgium, of course a Waffle with hot chocolate sauce and a lovely cold Leffe Beer to wash it down, would have been rude not to!

Say no more!

So for anyone out there who just thinks ‘ Blankenberge is the place where you catch the train to Bruges’ just take some time to look around this attractive seaside resort  because its a lovely place just to take a stroll  and if the weather had been better I would definately have been using one of the  beach areas! It may not be steeped in history like Bruges is but a great alternative when visiting Belgium on a cruise.

The second port of call should have been Guernsey but unfortunately due to that unpredictable thing called “the weather” we were unable to tender into St Peter Port. The day wasnt wasted though as Ventura hosted various activities during the day in various venues around the ship, including dance classes, feature films in the theatre and lounges and video horse racing in the pub which was great fun and we even won all our money back so that was a result!

I won a whole £9. Must remember not to spend it all at once!

The only problem with these 3 day cruise’s is that they are over before they’ve begun but nevermind roll on September when I’m back on Azura for 3 days!