My Travelogue: Damme

After spending the day in Bruges I wanted to spend the evening in Damme. The sky was laden with grey clouds and the wind was disturbingly cold.The rain was just around the corner so we decided to take the bus from Bruges to Damme instead of the ferry. As the bus rode back to the centrum we took a glance at all the medieval marvels we had visited that day. The Markt was flooded with tourists clicking pictures inspite of the cloudy gloomy weather. Well, I was one of them too!

As the bus sped out of Centrum and headed towards the Dammeport the grand historic buildings were replaced by small houses tugged next to each other in linear rows. The houses are built in exposed brick masonry with typical Flemish facades. Narrow roads separated the houses from the canals in the front. On the rear side the canals were flowing along the backyards of these houses.

Canal in Bruges.

As we drove past the Dammeport the houses disappeared from the landscape . Large stretches of meadows and stables egded with tall trees dominated the landscape. The road and the trees were shining after the brief showers. The canal connecting Bruges to Damme guided our way. In about 20 minutes we were in front of the Town Hall in Damme.

The Town Hall.

After taking the preliminary information about this city from the tourist information office we started walking back towards the canal. In about 5 minutes we were at the foot of the Schellemollen wind mill.

Schellemollen - the windmill.

This flour mill is the only functional flour mill in this area. It was 4 storied tower with four bright red and brown wooden blades. Gunny bags of the flour were stored in the ground floor of the mill. The climb up to the 3rd floor by a steep narrow wooden ladder was exciting. The window on this floor offered a great veiw of the surrounding landscape.

The wooden gears of the flour mill.

After visiting the windmill we strolled along the canal. Lot of tourists had come from Bruges on bikes to visit the windmill. The beauty of the surrounding landscape was very refreshing. We were blessed with some sunny moments when I captured the scenic beauty in my camera.