Brugge

Brugge, Belgium, is very special. It’s about the most charming city in this part of Europe, crossed and recrossed by canals and streets that are lined with magnificent buildings.

During our visit on Sunday August 24, 1980, as we walked toward downtown Brugge we found hundreds of people in costume and medieval dress, along with flocks of sheep and the horses in this snapshot, waiting for a parade to start. This "Pageant of the Golden Tree" recreates the showy marriage of Charles the Bold to Margaret of York (sister to the English king Edward IV) in the summer of 1468. More than 2000 actors, six choirs, and 100 horsemen parade through the heart of Bruges' historical center, telling the history of the town in about 90 scenes. Dancers, singers, horses, flocks of sheep, and hundreds of people in costumes, were organized in one parade scene after another, as they "marched" through the city. It was very interesting, although we learned more than we needed to know about Brugge’s history.

Funny thing, while we visited in 1980, and they say this spectacle is held every 5 years, Google says the next one is scheduled for August 2007, not quite a multiple of 5 years. But now I hear from Toerisme Info that since Brugge “… was the cultural capital of Europe” in 2000, the festival was not held that year, and the Pageant of the Golden Tree was delayed until 2002. Now if you add 5 years, you get 2007, and it is to be every five years from then.

The Cathedral of our Lady, with a nave and six aisles, is almost square, rather than rectangle like most churches. Michelangelo's famous sculpture “Madonna and Child,” is displayed in Brugge’s Cathedral.