Bruged... but unbowed

 

Published in The Northern Echo Friday 20th July 2012. View clip here.

Catharine Hewitson finds the, initially, hidden glories of Bruges are as tasty as Belgium's famous chocolate industry

IF I’m honest, when I arrived in Bruges I felt a little cheated. My guidebooks referred to the Belgian city as ‘picturesque’ and ‘quaint’; ‘the Venice of the North’. Even In Bruges, a black comedy about hit-men, portrayed the city in a fairytale light.

The coach transfer from the port of Zeebrugge dropped my boyfriend and I at the station on the south-west perimeter of the city. I had built up expectations of stepping into a medieval time-warp, but there didn’t seem to be a turret or cobblestone in sight.

Flight of Fancy

Published in The Northern Echo January 30th 2010 - view clip here

Catharine Hewitson nips over to Amsterdam for a short break.

Last month, my friend and I decided we needed a short break. We came up with the following destination wish-list: a European city with good food and drink, architecture and culture. With flights from Durham Tees Valley airport practically our on doorsteps, we chose Amsterdam, and booked a B&B through Easytobook.com.