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00:10Oh
00:30Oh, thank you.
00:39Raise your travel dreams to their upright and locked positions.
00:43Join us now as we discover the ins and outs of travels in Europe.
00:57Oh, it looks good.
01:12I'm Rick Steves, taking a break from researching my guidebooks to be your travel partner.
01:17Together we're exploring the best of Europe's offbeat nooks and backdoor crannies.
01:21Glad you're with us.
01:22We're on a tour that's taking us from Ireland and Great Britain, south through Europe to Spain and Portugal.
01:28This time we're checking out Belgium and Luxembourg, two tiny countries usually missed by whirlwind travelers.
01:41In this program we'll visit Belgium's medieval wonder town, Bruges.
01:45We'll cruise along some of the most intriguing canals north of Venice.
01:49We'll jump off the train for a short stop in bilingual Brussels to enjoy one of Europe's most historic and
01:56lively city squares.
01:58We'll sample peasant life at Boekreich, Belgium's colorful open-air folk museum.
02:02And we'll get to know one of Europe's many countries, Luxembourg, where we'll explore its imposing fortifications, the remnants of
02:10a long and war-torn history.
02:17We're starting off in Belgium, washing down a plate of local cheese with raspberry beer.
02:25It's Sunday. The banks are closed, but that's no problem. We've brought ready cash from home.
02:29Before I go to Europe, I go to my hometown bank and buy about $50 worth of local currency for
02:36each country I'll be visiting.
02:40It's good. Raspberry.
02:42It costs the same to change money at home as it does here. Then I just store the bills in
02:47my money belt.
02:48That way I can function even if the banks are closed.
02:52And I'm not at the mercy of lousy rates and long lines often found at off-hour exchange bureaus and
02:57at the border crossings.
02:58Tomorrow I'll take care of banking conveniently and economically.
03:03Until then, I'll be enjoying Bruges.
03:05The reckoning house to be? Is that what you said?
03:08You are, sir. The bill?
03:09Ah, $380.
03:10$380, please.
03:11Out of $500.
03:18$120 back.
03:23Okay, my snack's finished and I still have plenty of cash for some entertainment.
03:27To feel the pulse of the real Bruges, I like to find a performance for the locals, not the tourists.
03:33And a student pipe organ concert fills the bill.
04:05In the heart of the year, the poet sounds like a grown-up.
04:10It is, it is not a guitarist and a dancer who looks like a mega HEAC, which is going to
04:19have the ありがとう.
04:19It is, it makes me feel like a, a million artists is going to have breathe in the air.
04:23It is a feeling of strength.
04:23The world has never been able to invest in the air.
04:23There are many Squeakers who are in the air.
04:23The air is with the air.
04:23The air has not needed to be a giant, but it is a perfect heat.
04:25The air is a great-to-必 dumAD, the air.
04:26The air is in the air.
04:26The air is the air is a large container.
04:34Let's get oriented. The tourist office is located, as usual, right here on the main
04:39square, and it is full service, even a map of the town in Braille.
04:51We could climb the belfry for a bird's-eye view of Bruges, but that's a lot
04:55of stairs. I think a fish-eye view would be more relaxing, so let's catch the canal
05:04tour. They speak Flemish here, and most of us tourists don't speak this language, but
05:09you can rest assured that any place interested in a tourist business will be very helpful
05:14with translations.
05:31This is the tower of the Church of Our Lady, and it's the highest brick tower of Europe.
05:39375 feet tall, entirely made of brick.
06:10During its zenith in the 1300s, Bruges was one of Europe's great commercial hubs. These
06:17buildings reflect three centuries of profitable wool and lace trade. But already weakened by
06:23foreign competition, Bruges' economy finally ran aground in 1490 when her harbor silted up.
06:30Eventually, she became so poor that nobody even bothered to tear her down and build her
06:34up modern. Then, in the days of modern tourism, Bruges was rediscovered, nearly miraculously preserved.
06:51Now, rather than greeting merchant ships laden with treasures, it greets tourists laden
06:57with travelers checks.
07:20The best way to feel right at home in a medieval town is to sleep in the old center. Located
07:25just
07:26off the main square in a safe, quiet, and handy setting, the Hans Memling is my kind of hotel.
07:39It's run with a classy touch. Chandeliers, classical music for breakfast, antique furniture.
07:54All in a simple and affordable shell. If Hans Memling had stayed here, he could have set up his easel
08:01in room 34.
08:25Let's see. Hotel, tourist information, canal orientation tour. There's still a
08:32just one more thing. Could I have a large order of French fries, please?
08:41Locals will proudly remind you these are Belgian fries. I'm not really in Belgium until I get
08:48a dish of the best fries in Europe. I'm still getting used to the mayonnaise.
08:58Ah, now we're ready to explore Bruges' rich past. Everything of sightseeing importance is within a few blocks of this
09:11square. Bruges was a wealthy place in its glory days.
09:20The city hall is a work of art. Just look at the stained glass in this chapel.
09:37Right.
09:40Okay.
09:44It will be king.
10:13CHOIR SINGS
10:24And only a real power could afford a Michelangelo.
10:29This Madonna and Child in the Church of Our Lady
10:31is the only finished Michelangelo statue in northern Europe.
10:36It was destined for Siena,
10:38but a wealthy Bruges merchant snapped it up.
10:41It's wowed visitors here for 500 years.
10:53But even in a prosperous business capital,
10:56life was pretty bleak for the masses.
10:58Luckily for the poor, almshouses provided free meals.
11:05While there was such a thing as a free lunch in the Middle Ages,
11:08shelter had to be earned.
11:09This courtyard is lined with tiny flats.
11:13Local rich folks provided housing for the poor.
11:16The rent, lots of prayer.
11:22A peaceful and wistful variation on this almshouse theme
11:25is Bruges' Béganège.
11:28Most Belgian towns come with a Béganège.
11:31But if there's a Béganège in heaven, I bet it's like this one.
11:34These medieval housing projects were nearly nunneries.
11:38Belgian society, because of wars and the general brutality of medieval life,
11:43had fewer men than women.
11:45Each community would arrange for these women without men
11:48to live decently in peaceful and pious surroundings
11:50in the town Béganège.
11:52From here they tended the sick and performed other good works.
11:58Upon the labor and artistry of women
12:00rested one of Bruges' most important industries.
12:03Lacemaking was a cottage industry
12:05which employed large numbers of women and girls
12:08and provided for Bruges
12:09a commodity of trade equal to that of wool.
12:12Today, local women still keep this tedious
12:15and traditional craft alive.
12:18Lace makes a great souvenir.
12:20Light, unbreakable, affordable,
12:23and purchased memorably right from the person who makes it.
12:35One of the saddest slices of medieval life
12:38was the bubonic plague.
12:39Carried by fleas from infected rats,
12:41it thrived in the unsanitary conditions of medieval Europe.
12:44The plague gutted the population, especially the poor.
12:49Charitable hospitals like this did what they could to help.
12:56The hospital pharmacy was in use for over six centuries,
12:59right up until 1972.
13:13Located in the hospital is the city's treasured collection
13:16of the work of 15th century painter Hans Memling.
13:20He lived most of his creative life here in Bruges.
13:28Bruges is Belgium's medieval time capsule.
13:31But no visit to this country is complete
13:33without a look at its capital, Brussels.
13:41And a quick visit is as simple
13:43as stepping off the train at the central station.
13:46Note when trains depart for your next destination.
13:49Check your bags and walk down the street
13:52into one of Europe's greatest medieval squares,
13:54La Grande Place.
13:56The Hotel de Ville is the only building here
13:59to have survived the 1695 bombardment by the French.
14:03The square was rebuilt by merchants and guilds
14:06who competed to outdo each other.
14:12Today, Brussels is the capital of the European community,
14:15a magnet for politicians, bankers, and lovers of jazz.
14:28Brussels has a well-deserved reputation
14:30as one of the hottest spots for jazz in Europe.
14:33A festival can be a happy bonus for the lucky traveler.
14:37Unfortunately, we're two days too late.
14:40Oh well.
15:07It's impressive how a little country like Belgium
15:09can survive.
15:11Bombed, invaded, and occupied by Austrians, Spaniards,
15:15French, and Germans, Belgium was seen
15:17as a convenient battleground for leaders
15:19who saw treaties as just another scrap of paper.
15:23From so many influences has come a tolerance
15:26for individual differences.
15:28Not an easy tolerance, but a necessary laissez-faire.
15:32A nation for only about 150 years,
15:35compromise is a way of life.
15:37Small as Belgium is,
15:39it's split into two linguistic regions,
15:41Flemish and French.
15:44Brussels, the capital, is officially bilingual.
15:50While this square is a classy bouquet
15:52offering visitors an impressive whiff
15:54of Brussels' glory days,
15:55the most popular tourist target
15:57is the mannequin piece,
15:59a little squirt who lives just down the street.
16:02It's fun to watch tourists nearly trip over each other
16:04as they jockey for the best photo.
16:14Outfits are sent from around the world for him to wear.
16:19Today, he's waiting for the laundry.
16:22Mannequin piece fans enjoy a visit
16:23to the city museum back on the main square.
16:26It displays the huge wardrobe
16:28he's amassed over the years.
16:30There's the mannequin piece Samurai Warrior,
16:33Jazz Musician,
16:35Hockey Player,
16:38Elvis.
16:44This is all a little goofy, but fun.
16:50You can check out the serious art downstairs,
16:54including work by Flemish master Peter Bruegel.
16:58For works by Hieronymus Bosch and Peter Paul Rubens,
17:01visit the Royal Museum of Art,
17:03just two blocks from the train station.
17:11That's about enough urban art for one day.
17:14Let's catch a train to the Belgian countryside.
17:18My favorite place to commune with the Belgian nature
17:20is Boeckreich,
17:21a park popular with the Belgians,
17:23but virtually unknown to the international tourist crowd.
17:26On these 32 acres,
17:28you'll find the best open-air folk museum
17:30in the Low Countries.
17:32Boeckreich, unique among folk museums,
17:34is a medieval village recreated in its entirety.
17:37The triangular square provided a safe common grounds
17:40for each family's livestock and children.
17:43Fire in your thatch?
17:45Grab that hook and pull your roof down.
17:48So what is this wheel for?
17:51In the wheel, a rana and dog.
17:53A dog?
17:54A dog, in the wheel?
17:54Yes, that's for butter to mark.
17:56To make the butter, to turn the butter turn.
17:58Yes.
17:59In the old days, even Fido earned his keep.
18:03One dog would run out there.
18:04A family dog.
18:11This way, put potatoes in,
18:15put the cows, the food to eat.
18:17First the people would eat the potatoes
18:19and then they'd give it to the cows?
18:20Yes.
18:21Ah, very clever.
18:26Why do they always have to put the pillory
18:29outside the church?
18:30It's so embarrassing.
18:35Italian, Italian.
18:36Italian?
18:37I speak nothing.
18:38My name's Cassie.
18:40Yeah.
18:41My name's Pascal.
18:43Yeah.
18:45Oh.
18:47For lunch, we'll stop by the medieval restaurant
18:50and have the Belgian equivalent
18:52of beef jerky and sarsaparilla.
19:01Europe is diverse and compact.
19:03Our next stop is just a few miles away,
19:06but a whole different country, Luxembourg.
19:11We've just crossed the border
19:13and we're already in the capital, Luxembourg City.
19:16That's the new flag of a united Europe.
19:18Europe is melting into one economic unit.
19:22While no one wants to lose the cultural diversity
19:25that makes Europe such a joy,
19:27most welcome the efficiency of free trade,
19:29uniform laws, the end of border checks,
19:32and the coming of one European currency.
19:38Here in the Low Countries,
19:40you hardly know when you're crossing a border
19:41and it's been that way for over 30 years.
19:45United Europe began right here in 1960
19:47when Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg
19:49came together economically
19:51to form the Benelux Economic Union.
19:55The union worked well enough
19:57for these visionary little nations
19:58to inspire the establishment
20:00of a wider free trade zone
20:01called the European Economic Community, or EEC.
20:06One by one, the remaining obstacles
20:08to efficient movement of workers,
20:10commerce, and tourists are falling.
20:12What a far cry from the feudal days
20:14when merchants had to deal
20:16with a chaotic jumble of customs duties,
20:18monies, and standards of weights and measurement
20:20just to take a load of barley
20:22down the river to market.
20:25Luxembourg City is an important financial center
20:28for this united Europe.
20:29People who come here to do business
20:31get a pleasant bonus
20:32in the kind of helter-skelter history
20:34still displayed all around.
20:37No single monument stands out,
20:39but rather a harmonious ambience
20:41where past and present exist side by side.
20:47The cathedral proper is nearly 400 years old.
20:51The local market has brought shoppers
20:54and merchants together for centuries.
20:55The nucleus of alwaysin'
21:20Okay.
21:21Okay, let me see.
21:51Mmm.
21:53On va ici aussi.
21:55Pour ça, tu peux choisir également.
22:32Most fascinating is the elaborate system of ruined fortification rings called casemates.
22:38Three rings with 53 forts tied together by 16 miles of tunnels with 10 gates made this town a 440
22:46-acre fort.
22:49With these, at the time, state-of-the-art defenses, this strategic chunk of land was known as the Gibraltar
22:55of the North.
22:58In fact, after centuries of wars, it was feared that possession of Luxembourg would tip the balance of power in
23:05the favor of whichever alliance Luxembourg joined.
23:12In a treaty signed in 1867, an international conference figured a balance of power was a prerequisite for peace in
23:19Europe.
23:19And the only way to get that was to establish tiny Luxembourg as a forever neutral, independent country.
23:39For good measure, these fortifications were blasted into their present state.
23:50Forever neutral, at least for about 50 years.
23:54In 1914, Germany occupied Luxembourg.
23:58Later, Germany crossed over neutral Luxembourg again as it launched its Blitzkrieg into France at the beginning of World War
24:04II.
24:05Only after four and a half years, in one of the major battles of the war, was Luxembourg liberated.
24:16Just three miles east of the city lie the remains of some 5,000 American soldiers.
24:22That's half of those who died here in the Battle of the Bulge at Christmastime of 1944.
24:38Another mile down the road lie 11,000 German dead from the same battle.
24:44Bastion, the most famous place name of that battle, lies just over the border back in Belgium.
24:51Germany's last-ditch offensive of World War II exacted huge casualties from both sides.
25:11Out of Europe's blood-soaked past comes today's hope for a peaceful and united future.
25:28The best way I've found to learn from the past and appreciate our heritage is through travel.
25:33And every year, as I learn from more experience, and as Europe gets better and better organized, travel becomes smoother
25:40and easier.
25:45One thing I'll never understand is why French fries are big in Belgium and Belgian waffles are the rage here
25:52in Luxembourg.
25:54But I guess some cultural puzzles are best just accepted.
25:58When I'm done with this waffle, we'll be trading in our Belgian francs for French francs,
26:01as we head for the region Francophiles call profound France.
26:08Join us next week for some great French wine and a little barging down the Burgundy Canal.
26:15We'll dine fine in a French campground.
26:24We'll savor the 800-year-old simple elegance of the Romanesque churches that dot the region.
26:30And we'll catch the French jet on rails, the TGV.
26:35Until then, I'm Rick Steves, wishing you happy travels.
26:39And can somebody pass the strawberries?
26:42Home videos of destinations in this series are available for $24.95.
26:47To order the 60-minute two-program tape on Normandy and Belgium-Luxembourg,
26:52or any other destination tapes, call 1-800-866-7425.
26:58Also available, Rick's 422-page Europe Through the Back Door book for $17.95.
27:04To order, please have your credit card ready and call 1-800-866-7425.
27:49Courts can work in America.
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