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