Biking in Brugge

My friend biking and filming.
Sometimes recording your experiences requires
multitasking skills!

Biking is a great activity to enjoy in any major European city as they are extremely bike friendly. There are usually clearly marked bike lanes, and motorists and pedestrians alike respect the boundaries and keep out of them. I accidentally found myself walking in the bike lanes a few times in Cologne and Brugge, and the citizens politely reminded me to stay on the proper side of the sidewalk or road! As someone from a city where virtually everyone drives daily, it took a while to get used to a high volume of bike traffic.

When my friend and I went to Brugge, our main activity was biking around the city as we weren't interested in wasting our money on shopping or spending long periods of time in museums or old buildings (we had done enough of that in Paris and Cologne). 

Bikes on display at a rental shop near
the train station.

Renting a bike is a fairly easy endeavor in Brugge. There are several bike rental shops near the train station. The bike shop we patronized offered about three bike rental packages which differed according to time. We chose the four-hour package because we had an appointment for a light brunch at Carpe Diem Cafe. Besides, four hours is sufficient time to see the outskirts of Brugge. I wouldn't bike in the city center; it's crowded with tourists and can be covered comfortably on foot.

In order to rent our bikes, we had to leave a deposit; we were able to do this using our credit cards, which I liked because it's more convenient than using cash. Naturally, they won't withdraw the money unless you damage or fail to return your bike.

Waiting for the road to rotate itself back.
I'm unsure what the proper name for
this type of road is.

In under ten minutes, we were on our bikes and free to explore the city. The bikes allowed us to travel to the area of town in the north where the windmills were situated, and we had a blast taking pictures there. For me, it was generally nice to finally be a bike rider rather than a clueless pedestrian illegally strolling in the bike lane!

As expected from European-made bikes, our ride was smooth and comfortable, so the rental was worth the money. I love tour bikes; they can handle rugged pathways, yet offer the rider an upright position to better take in his or her's surroundings.

Windmill lane.

A quiet neighborhood with neat houses.
I assume the people who live here must be wealthy!

An old bridge at the edge of town.

Somehow, I managed to take pictures and a bit of video while biking. You can view my footage below.

Biking is a fun way to site see!

All in all, biking around Brugge was definitely worthwhile, especially since we wanted to capitalize on the fact that bikes allow one to see areas of town which are somewhat inaccessible by or inconvenient to venture to on foot. Also, it's clearly great exercise!