I’m nearly 54 and can hardly believe it. Born in Bruges and at 18 off to university in Brussels where I lived for over 20 years and more importantly where I became a father! My daughter Nina was born in 2005 and it’s no coincidence that was the very year I came back to live in Bruges, the city of my birth. At the age of 50 I became a father again of a beautiful daughter Emma. I was in Afghanistan, Lebanon, Kosovo and plenty of other hot spots but now, and again, mostly because of my daughters I live a quiet life in the most beautiful city on earth. With my wife Naima, who’s a lawyer here in Bruges and my two daughters we’re very happy in our house in the historical center of the city, not even 5 min away from the market square. It’s the ideal starting point for a discovery of our romantic, picturesque, sometimes quaint but always beautiful city, heaped with history, art and monuments,….and let’s not forget the food and beer, from waffles to the highest levels of gastronomy, we have it all. Our guests are our window on the world now and we try to make them feel as welcome as possible and we hope they’ll come to love the city as much as we do.

The history of our house is fascinating. The original little house that stood here since the end of the 14th century is now my living room and the street it was once in … is now the hallway. Over the centuries it changed a lot. Rooms and structures were added and in the city archives we’ve found out that it once used to be a small brewery, a candle making factory, a textile (gold brocade) manufacture mainly for the clergy and export to Rome, and so on. A very rich history reflecting the city it was built in. In the late 17th century, obviously notwithstanding renovations over the years, it became by and large the house it is today. It’s a historical monument and as such the house has the status of being classified as heritage (not always easy, lots of red tape but hey,… it’s neat!). But it’s not only the structure, some of our rooms are also heritage, there’s a louis XV room (the now living room and original little house) and a néo-renaissance room where by the way we serve breakfast. The owner and his family are looking forward to welcoming you in their house where coziness and a friendly atmosphere are key.

We’re smack in the middle of the historical center of Bruges. There are cathedrals, churches, historical monuments, musea, restaurants, great beers and wines, chocolate, waffles, lace, bistro’s, Michelin stars aplenty, great art collections, culture, everything for young and old, ….. Yet for all of this Bruges is in essence a small, cozy, and with its canals and parks a very green town. Everything is at walking distance. There’s a nice life-and-all-it-brings ambiance, people don’t get lost in Bruges, they dream about all it has to offer and revel in it. All senses are catered to. To give you an idea as to size, there are barely 20.000 of us living in the city center. That is small by even European standards. So we’re always outnumbered by visitors and tourists. That’s maybe why we’re so accommodating and out of necessity very multilingual :-)