Vlieland, the Netherlands

We are now anchored off the southeast end of the island of Vlieland, and the sun is shining and the boat is rocking gently in the current and wind. Peter is getting the dinghy ready to launch so we can go to the island. We slept very well last night in this peaceful place. There was only one other boat anchored nearby. There is a marina, but it is filled with local sailboats, and the entrance is quite tight. We did not go there mainly because we could not reach anyone on the radio who could speak English. It was all Dutch or German. 

White sand beach on the North Sea side of Vlieland

Under a cloudless sky, with 11 knots of wind from the east, we cast off our lines from the Royal North Sea Yacht Club in Oostende just after noon on Thursday, May 28, and set off for this place, traveling overnight in view of the coast, passing many large wind farms. The amount of ship traffic was amazing, particularly near Rotterdam, the largest seaport in Europe and the largest in the world outside of Asia. The port stretches over 40 km along the North Sea and is physically larger than the city of Rotterdam itself. It handles over 27,000 seagoing vessels and over 90,000 inland vessels annually. Out of the big ship channel in designated area, hundreds of ships were anchored, with the mass of them looking like cities themselves. To get past the entrance to the port, we turned on our engine and reported in to the harbor traffic control via VHF radio, as required. We were told exactly which bearing and which speed to use to pass through safely, as dozens of ships cruised by our bow and our stern in perpendicular lines at more than twice our speed. We had never seen so many vessels appear on AIS on our electronic charts before! 

Once north of that area, the white, red and green lights of hundreds of floating behemoths faded into the distance. Although there were always several ships in sight, we no longer felt overwhelmed. With good wind, we were able to sail smoothly across the surface of the sea until the 8:30 a.m. on Friday, May 29, when the wind speed dropped and we were forced to use the engine. Peter had been on watch in the early morning hours. After making breakfast burritos for us, I took over. A few hours later, Peter woke up to find that we had recently passed over a wreck without incident (There were no markers, just a small icon on the charts) and the mainsail had backed as the wind shifted from west to NNW. Somehow, I hadn't noticed, probably because I was composing the last blog post. Unable to raise anyone on the radio, we motored through the channel between Vlieland and Terschelling into the Waddenzee while watching about a hundred small boats cavorting just offshore of the islands. We easily found a great anchoring spot, dropping the anchor at 3:15 p.m. and settled in for a peaceful afternoon and evening, listening to harp music. 

Now, back to our grand day out in Brugge. After descending the spiraling steps of the belfry, we emerged into the bright sunshine. We then made our way to Museum Sint-Janshospitaal (Museum at St John’s Hospital) across from the Church of Our Lady. The property contains some of Europe's oldest surviving hospital buildings, dating to the mid-12th century, and there are exhibits of medical devices, religious icons and Flemish paintings. It treated ailing pilgrims and travelers and was later expanded with the building of a monastery and convent. It served as a hospital until 1977.

Peter under one of the arched gateways to the hospital

Part of the complex holds the Hans Memling collection, which was the main attraction for me. Memling is a famous 15th century German-Flemish artist of the Early Netherlandish school. In 1465, at the age of 35, he became a citizen of Brugge (which had to be purchased at the time), where he became wealthy. The hospital's museum displays seven of his masterpieces, four of which were commissioned by the hospital's friars and nuns. The large triptych of the two Saints John the Baptist and John the Evangelist was completed in 1479 and has five paintings. It is stunning, with vibrant colors, amazing perspective, minute detail and balance of composition, inviting viewers to sit and contemplate it, as we did. All seven works are marvelous, but I was particularly drawn to the Portrait of a Young Woman/Sibylla Sambetha. The delicacy of the lace, the pure and realistic color of the skin, the texture and luminosity of each fingernail show the fine skill of the artist. Also special is the Gothic wooden reliquary, the Shrine of St. Ursula, which was commissioned for the hospital and is considered one of Memling's greatest works. Constructed of carved oak with gilding and meticulously painted tondos in oil, it displays scenes from the life of St. Ursula and her 11,000 martyred virgins and other religious stories. 

Saints John the Baptist and John the Evangelist tryptich

Shrine of St. Ursula

From this part of the hospital museum, we went to the historic 17th century apothecary, which was run by the nuns, who also maintained a garden of healing herbs.

17th century apothecary in Museum Sint-Janshospitaal 

Scales and medicine jar in 17th century apothecary in Museum Sint-Janshospitaal 

Outside St. Joseph's Hospital, across the street beside the Church of Our Lady, two young buskers were entertaining passers-by with short pieces played on stringed instruments. It was teatime for Peter, so we stopped in a small cafe for a piece of cake and a refreshment for him. I had water because there is only Coke Zero available here, and I much prefer Diet Coke. 

Young buskers

Another canal scene

Our next destination was the Prinselijk Begijnhof Ten Wijngaerde (Princely Beguinage Ten Wijngaerde [Vineyard]) which was founded around 1244 and recognized as an individual parish in 1245. It came under the authority of King Philip the Fair in 1299. There is a Gothic church and about thirty houses, painted white, dating from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries around a central yard with grass and wildflowers. (Cows used to graze here.)  No beguines live have lived here since 1927; it is now a Benedictine convent.

Prinselijk Begijnhof Ten Wijngaerde houses

Prinselijk Begijnhof Ten Wijngaerde houses

Prinselijk Begijnhof Ten Wijngaerde garden

We wandered through a beguinage a couple years ago in Belgium when visiting Sam and Emi and learned about this type of unique community in the Low Countries and later in France. The word refers to a complex of buildings created to house beguines, lay religious women who live in a community without taking vows or retiring from the world. The development of beguinages was part of a religious movement in the 12th and 13th centuries, partly in response to a demographic surplus of females, who socially had only the choices of marriage or nunnery for financial support. Between the 12th and 18th centuries, every city and large town in the Low Countries had at least one beguinages. While many of the architectural sites still exist, they have been converted to private homes, social housing or residences for the elderly. Very few serve their original function; Prinselijk Begijnhof Ten Wijngaerde is one of them.

After leaving Prinselijk Begijnhof Ten Wijngaerde, we continued our ambling through the streets and along the canals, passing by two historic godshuizens (God's houses) or almshouses. Starting in the 14th century, wealthy guilds and philanthropists built these white-washed, interconnected cottages around central gardens to house the elderly, widows and the less fortunate. In Brugge, about 40 of them survive, with some still functioning as social housing. Small white-washed archways squeezed between businesses lead to alleys and the housing. It is easy to miss them. The almshouses themselves are in the interior of city blocks, with few or now windows facing the street, a trait developed by the builders to avoid window taxes in former times.

Entrance to a godshof

At 6:30, we returned to Museum Sint-Janshospitaal for a harp concert. It was performed on a small stage within a delightful museum of historic harps, some original and some reproductions of ancient musical instruments. It is all the creation of Luc Vanlaer, harpist, composer and instrument builder. Vanlaer not only entertained us with music on various instruments but discussed with great knowledge and eloquence the instruments on display, some original and some his own reproductions based on such things as ancient Egyptian wall paintings. The concert was much more than we expected, and the education about the history of the harp was wonderful. This experience was the highlight of our day in Brugge.

Harps and other instruments on display

Luc Vanlaer playing a classical harp

After purchasing a flash drive of five CDs by Vanlaer, who only plays music he has composed, we left the museum and walked to Minnewaterpark, a serene space just south of the city center with a large lake where ducks and swans float placidly on the surface--except one swan, who seems to be agrily defending its territory.

Minnewaterpark

Perturbed swan

We caught the 8:38 train back to Oostende, had dinner and then went directly to bed. 

Three more boats, all local, have arrived to anchor near us. Peter is now cleaning the internal parts of our little dinghy engine, which gets gunked up with ethanol. The dinghy is in the water, and we will head to shore after lunch.

Peter working on the dinghy engine

Vlieland from our boat

Belgium to the Netherlands

On Monday evening (May 25), Peter and I took a walk around the IJzermonding Nature Preserve adjacent to the yacht club for a couple hours after dinner. Our favorite spot was the large kijkhut or viewing hut in the wetlands. While we were there, in addition to dozens of rabbits, we observed many types of birds where the high tide had flooded a low place in the marshes. They included many types of gulls, shelducks, Canada geese, common redshanks, common terns and a Eurasian curlew, a first for us. There are birdsongs and calls constantly around the marina and in the wetlands. Our favorite was the distinctive and loud flute-like whistles of the redshanks. 

Rabbits in the late afternoon light

We returned to the boat as the sun was setting. With sunset occurring just before 10 p.m., the days are long and our usual bedtime passes before we notice how late it is.

The next morning, Tuesday (May 26),we got up early and walked the short distance to the viewing hut, but the tide was out and most of the birds were not present, although the handsome shelducks with their striking and well-delineated black, white, rust and deep green plumage were still feeding in the muck. After showers and breakfast, we cast off the dock at 9:30 under sunny skies and with warm weather, excellent visibility and flat seas, but insufficient wind to sail. We motored for two hours up the coast of Flanders to Oostende, Belgium, where we tied up at the Royal North Sea Yacht Club, med mooring for the first time ever. It seemed strange to us to tie the stern to the dock and tie the port and starboard sides to boats on either side of us. It does allow for more boats to fit in. The dock master and the people on the other boats were welcoming and helpful, and the yacht club is situated conveniently where the the city center and the long, wide, white-sand beach meet, so access to both was close by.

Mantra rafted up with a Hallberg Rassy

Each year at this time, the Oostende at Anchor Festival takes place, with over 100 historic ships coming in for the event. The official start was on Thursday, but we were able to walk along the harbor and see the many  boats that were already in port. In every plaza and along every street within a couple blocks of the waterfront, there were many, many more vendor setting up in preparation for the opening than there were ships in port, even including the ones such as us who were not there especially for Oostende at Anchor. Seeing this, we decided that we would not extend our stay at the yacht club in order to attend the event. We would much rather learn about old ships at places such as Mystic Seaport in Connecticut where the total emphasis is on shipbuilding, navigation and history.

Old ship in the harbor

Old ship with leeboards in the harbor

Group of wooden sailing boats

Boat with finely carved and varnished wood

Oostende started out as a small village in the Middle Ages. In 1265, it was granted the status of "town," which allowed the inhabitants to conduct a market and build a market hall. Oostende developed as a major port and resort in the 18th century. Both King Leopold I and King Leopold II preferred to spend their holidays in Oostende, with the latter building a palace, the Hippodrome Wellington (a racetrack), and the Royal Galleries a 380 meter long covered and colonnaded walkway by the wide promenade that allowed the royal family and their guests to walk to the racetrack in any weather. 

The two world wars were disastrous for Oostende so that it lacks the old-world charm of other cities in Flanders. The Germans occupied Oostende during WWI and used it as a submarine base, provoking the British to conduct two naval raids that led to destruction of historic buildings but not to a blockade of the port. In WWII, the German Luftwaffe repeatedly bombed the city in May1940, with the British RAF bombing it right after that because of the fear that Germans would use it as a base to invade England. Oostende was the most-bombed Belgian city in that war, with the Allies dropping 407 of the bombs. 

Nevertheless, we found a few historic places. Sint Petrus-en-Pauluskerk (The Church of St. Peter and St. Paul), a Catholic church, is near the water. A previous church was destroyed by fire in 1896. All that remains is the impressive brick tower near the new structure. King Leopold II made plans for another, grander church, with construction beginning in 1899; the Neo-gothic building was completed in 1905. The stained glass windows were destroyed in both world wars, but the ones installed after WWII, depicting Saints Peter and Paul, of course, and Belgian royalty, are gorgeous. The soaring columns and pointed arches lead the eye upward, toward heaven, as was the intention of the Gothic style. It is, indeed, awe-inspiring. 

The exterior of Sint Petrus-en-Paulusker

Stained glass windows in gothic arches

Carved choir seats

The altar of Sint Petrus-en-Paulusker

The old brick tower behind the current cathedral

After the cathedral, we strolled around in the city center, stopping to enjoy the restful Leopoldpark.

Much fondled mermaid statue

Willows, wildflowers and bridges

Peaceful lake

We returned to the boat mid-afternoon for naps and then dinner before going to the promenade, passing by a unique installation of public art consisting of many bright orange-red shapes resembling crushed cans or large boulders before walking two kilometers and back, as far as the site of the Hippodrome Wellington. There are just a few older buildings including Leopold II's edifices, but most of the hotels look just like the high-rise, beach-front structures that were built in the last 50 years along the mid-Atlantic coast of the U.S. Before returning to Mantra for the night, we walked a short distance on the cool, fine sand beach as the sunlight faded.

Sunset over the North Sea in Oostende

The Promenade

Rock Strangers

The next day was a grand day out. We walked 10 minutes to the train station and rode in a luxurious second-class coach on smooth welded tracks for 13 minutes to reach Brugge, a city that somehow was spared the 20th century war bombings. Because of this, most of the the centuries-old meandering streets and expansive squares paved with cobblestones set in sand are still intact. 

Our first stop was Salvatorskathedraal (St. Salvador's Cathedral or the Cathedral of the Savior and St. Donatius of Riems). The main part of the building was constructed in the Romanesque style between the mid-13th to the mid-14th century. In 1830 it became a cathedral when a new bishop was installed in Brugge, and a 99-meter tower and Neo-gothic additions were made to reflect its new status. 

Lavishly decorated and colorful walls and columns, altarpieces, reliquaries artwork, tapestries, tombs, tryptichs, carved choir stalls, the ornate pulpit--the splendor and beauty of all of these fascinate the eye and are meant to inspire godliness. The sheer amount of treasure in these cathedrals is overwhelming and displays the masive wealth of the Church as well as the devotion of the believers. 

Salvatorskathedraal interior

Rococo decoration

Items in the Treasure Room

Tryptich behind the altar

Reliquary of Charles the Good

Tapestries above the choir

The gilded, elaborately carved and lushly painted works in the nave, altar and chapels contrasts with the more simple painted frescoes of four14th-century burial vaults from the earlier Romanesque period discovered in the 1990s and now seen under glass floors. In Medieval Brugge, the dead had to be buried within 24 hours of death. To honor prominent citizens, masons and painters hurriedly constructed small, brick-lined vaults and painted them before the fresh lime plaster dried. Because the paint and plaster dried simultaneously and quickly, the rich colors of the frescoes are integrated in to interior walls of the tombs.

14th century burial vault

14th century burial vault

After some time in the cathedral, we strolled past attractively designed and constructed edifices toward the Markt, where the Wednesday market was being held. Grand buildings line the sides of the square, with the Belfort (old bell tower) to the south.

Brick facades near the market place

Elaborate exteriors around the square

Fruit vendor stand

The Belfort

We purchased and ate some the largest strawberries we have ever seen from a fruit vendor and then continued to amble through the old city, stopping in a lace shop to admire the wares and see a sample of bobbin lace making. Only a couple short blocks from the Markt is the Burg, another large open space. The 14th-century City Hall, Renaissance Hall and the 12th-century Basiliek van het-Helling Bloed (the Basilica of the Holy Blood) face this square. We visited two of the chapels of the basilica. The upper, Neo-gothic one is more ornate and displays a reliquary containing some of Jesus' blood. I have to wonder: how and when was this collected and by whom? (Supposedly the drops of blood were brought from Jerusalem by a crusader.) I have the same questions about the body parts of saints. I assume when they died, for the most part, they were given a decent Christian burial. When the deceased person became canonized, which occurs no sooner than at least five years after death, is the body disinterred? Through what macabre process are the relics obtained? Who hacks away at the skeleton and body? It seems ghoulish to me. 

Bobbin lace

Upper chapel in the Church of the Holy Blood

Exterior of the Church of the Holy Blood

The lower chapel is more stark, with Romanesque heavy columns and round arches. This is where the crusaders would have worshipped.

Lower chapel of the Church of the Holy Blood

We were getting hungry, so we walked to one of the many canals and found a restaurant with a table overlooking the water, on which tour boats passed, and enjoyed the food and rest. Afterwards, we walked along the canals to visit the Church of Our Lady

View from the restaurant

View of canals

Architectural features

Bridge over a canal

We visited Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk (the Church of Our Lady. So many churches!). Constructed mainly during the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries, its 115.6 meter (379 ft) tower remains the tallest structure in the city and the third largest brickwork church tower in the world. Flying buttresses, cross-vaults and elaborate decoration reflect its mostly Gothic style of architecture. The interior is a wonderful example of the later 18th century Baroque style of ornamentation. One of the treasures of this church is a Madonna and Child sculpted by Michelangelo in the early 1500s.

Interior of the Church of Our Lady

Vaulted ceiling and pulpit of the Church of Our Lady

After admiring the church, we walked back to the Markt, which was still full of tourists. However, the vendors were gone, so the grandness of the square and surrounding buildings was easy to see. We returned to this place to climb the 366 steps of the 83-meter-high, 13th century Belfort van Brugge (the Belfry of Bruges). This belfry is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, as is the entire historic center. The steps of the spiral staircase becomes less deep and more worn during the ascent. Luckily, there are a couple rooms to rest and see the city's medieval coffers as well as the music drum and keyboard that control the bells.. Near the top is the carillon, comprised of 27 bells, ranging in weight from two pounds to one weighing 11,000 pounds. In addition, there is a swinging bourdon bell that is only rung on the King's birthday and other special occasions. The views from the top are wide-ranging, with red roofs among park areas of green. 

de Markt

Some of the carillon bells

The drum and other apparatus of the carillon

Double iron gates for the coffer safe

View from the top of the Belfry

There is much more to tell about Brugge, but it is past sunset where we are anchored now off the southeast end of Vlieland in the Wadden Sea of the Netherlands. More tomorrow.