I adore Bruges, and Ghent for that matter, and have been a few times. The first time I went for whatever reason it felt virtually empty, weirder still since there was some kind of marathon that day. I ended up going to a centuries-old bar and having spaghetti (and beer of course) of all things.

Probably one of the few marathons where finalists receive a free beer ( Brugse Zot ) afterwards.

And probably the only city in the world with a beer pipeline: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/halve-maan-brewery-beer-... !

A place with its priorities straight :-)