12/11: BRUGES - MORE PHOTOS

During our short trip to Bruges last week I took far too many photos.

I've posted some photos showing canals and waterways and now this group is all about 'transport' - mainly  Horses, Boats and Bikes (sorry Bicycles)!

The horse drawn carriages are a great tourist attraction in Bruges and I was happy to see that the horses are all well looked after, given regular breaks and seem to enjoy their work.   They know the 30 minute routes off by heart and probably don't need the 'drivers' whose main function is to talk to the tourists and give them lots of local information.

The horses get a 5 minute break in each 30 minute tour

You can see they are all well looked after, fit and happy.   I did feel sorry for this little one though .... only a pony compared to the bigger horses and quite elderly I think judging by the grey around his eyes ... he was making the most of his break and his nose nearly touched the floor at one stage ... bless!

Somewhere under that blanket is a Yorkshire Terrier enjoying a nap!

 

Considering how many horses there are in Town the streets are very clean .... and its all down to these ingenious 'horse nappies' that form part of the harness

When the horse does 'its business' the manure goes straight into the nappy and not onto the road ... and judging by this display of veggies we saw in a neighbouring village shop, its all put to good use:

but I digress .... back to modes of transport in Bruges:

Bikes dominate in Holland and Belgium - people of all ages use this method of getting around and as a pedestrian you have to keep your wits about you to avoid getting mowed down.   We saw a few mishaps whilst there with cyclists falling when their cycles skidded on wet cobblestones or they hit uneven bits in the road but they just got back on board and carried on so obviously an occupational hazard here

All around Town we found areas like this ... full of parked cycles.

but what fascinated me/us most was the weird and wonderful ways cycles have been adapted to deal with family living:

We actually saw the family using this contraption - Mum and 3 children ....  not sure if she bought it like this or if 'dad' is a handyman and just bolted all the extras on   :-)    and there were many similar variations on this theme .. most didn't look very safe I have to say!

and this little chap was quite at home, strapped into the plastic basket on the bike's handlebars!

this bike isn't going anywhere

There are five families allowed to organise excursions in open boats on Bruges' canals and I've read that each family operates 4 boats.    At this time of year when its pretty cold a lot of the boats weren't working but I imagine in the Summer months the canals are pretty busy.