.........Bargain Hunting in Bruges & Gent!

At the beginning of February we took an unusually early road trip to Belgium to stay in Bruges for the annual beer festival. 

We stayed in Bruges in a lovely rented house only 10 mins walk from the city centre. It was lovely to stay in a different part of Bruges to where we normally go and we discovered some great shops, bars and eateries. 

Cool shop window display.

It was nice to discover a newly opened vintage shop called T2 when we are wandering about on the Saturday. We'd been to their branch in Antwerp a year ago and got some bargains so it was fun to have a mooch. I picked up this lovely tartan skirt, a loose knit cream mohair cardi, a lovely cosy dark brown mohair woven scarf and a green tartan wool cape. A great haul!

On the Sunday we drove to Gent to visit the weekly flea market. It was great fun, if a bit chilly, looking at all the interesting things for sale. 

Surrounding the flea market are some great second hand shops such as the Oxfam vintage clothes shop. 

There isn't normally anything in there within my budget but I got lucky this time. I found this lovely pair of second hand Doc Marten boots in a pale beige grey colour. They were my size and fit perfectly and for only £15 they were a bargain! Complete with the original 90s beads on the laces. When I was a teenager I only ever had Doc Marten shoes and was always jealous of my friends who had the boots...now I have my very own pair! They're very comfy and will be a staple in my suitcase for our tour round Scotland in our campervan in May. 

Clare showed us a hidden gem we'd never found before. An amazing junk shop selling everything from world war helmets, antique banjos and real snake skins. 

Strangest hat stand I've ever seen but loved it!

I did manage to make a purchase in this shop, spotting the hidden gems in a cardboard box at the back. I fell in love with these vintage adult sized shoe lasts complete with original leather still attached in places. We're doing up our lounge with a Victorian industrial theme so these will have pride of place on a shelf in there once it's all finished. 

When we'd had our fill of scouring through old junk we hit the tourist shops and had the obligatory cone of "frites" before heading to the first chocolate shop we could find. I loved this sign outside! The choccies were so yummy and Tom discovered his favourite chocolate of all time in the form of a praline. 

Two of Toms much loved pralines with my flower shaped vanilla cream. Nom nom!

Getting back to Bruges we hit the beer festival again and after spending our tokens we hit a traditional beer bar where I had some more of one of my new favourite tipple...apple beer! Great way to end the weekend.