Back from Bruges

Well, I promised some pictures from my brief holiday in Bruges.

Bruges (or Brugge as the locals call it) is the most lovely old city - cobbled streets, gothic architecture and canals. It is amazingly quiet (or at least it is mid-week): you can walk the backstreets for a mile without seeing another human being and I spent 4 days going "Where is everyone?"

We climbed the Belfry and went to a lot of churches and art galleries. I even saw a sculpture by Olivia Knight's mum!

Bruges is really great for the art-lover. There's a lot of modern sculpture about (I knew I'd find a naughty one for this blog - the equestrian with the stiffy is one of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse) but mostly it's Flemish Primitives: the sort of Medieval religious painting that delighted the Pre-Raphaelites - detailed, realistic, eerily calm figures rendered in intense jewel-like colours, before all those fat floaty Renaissance cherubs 'n' crap became fashionable. I love the Flemish Primitive style and there are astonishing paintings to view by Jan van Eyck, Hans Memling and Gerard David.

This one, The Miser and Death, is by Jan Provost. Isn't it wonderful? I'd love to know what is written on the letter he's handing over - in real life you can see the script is legible.