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Review 3724: Holiday Flats Ridderspoor, Studio

users.telenet.be/ridderspoor/EN/welcome.htm

Review by flennie from CA

studio apartment in Brugge, Belgium

When

August 6-9, 3 nights

Location

It is on a quiet street with a couple of small hotels and B&Bs and other flats, about five minute walk from the Burg and eight minutes walk from the Market Square.

Nearby Amenities

A decent supermarket with a deli counter selling pre-cooked and ready to cook food was about 10 minutes walk away. There are also lots of restaurants within a five minute walk and at the Market Square.

The House/Apartment

The building has four stories and it must have been built in the early 1700s (the owner lives about half a block away in a building built around that period). We had the top floor, which was a huge studio loft (~60ft by 20 ft) with modernized bathroom and kitchen area. The ceiling was A-framed with exposed beams which added to the quaint atmosphere. Each of the other three floors was also rental apartments of various configurations. The Belfry Tower at the Market Square is visible from the window. The apartment was quiet in general. There is no elevator.

Garden

At the third floor landing there is a small patio area with a table and chairs, surrounded by plants.

Furnishings/Cleanliness/Living Areas

The furniture was in decent shape though on the worn side. The loft was generally clean. There was a small TV in the living area, with two chairs, a large coffee table, a single bed and a convertible sofa. The dining area, in the middle section of the loft, is right by the kitchen and had a table with four chairs, which were comfortable. There was a small armoire and a chest of drawers. There was no air conditioning; only a floor fan. The temperature was comfortable while we were there, except for the first night when we needed the fan. We could have used another one, though, because of the size of the loft. There were lots of large windows, which was nice as they let in breeze and cool air at night. We were afraid that we'd also let in mosquitoes but that was not a problem.

Bedrooms/Bathrooms

In addition to the single bed and the convertible sofa at one end of the loft, there was a queen size bed at the other end with the bathroom adjacent. The bed was comfortable and the linen adequate, although I could have used another pillow. The linen and covering on the convertible bed could have been better, however. There was only the bedspread for cover. My teenage daughters slept there with no complaints.

The bathroom was small, with a tub and hand held shower, no shower curtain, a good size sink, a toilet, and a bookshelf for your toiletries. There were enough towels, but no soap or any amenities. If you’re tall, you can’t stand up inside the tub because of the sloping ceiling. There was an old hairdryer. There was enough water pressure, but hot water was available in spurts. I don’t know whether this was due to being up on the fourth floor and that lower floor apartments would not have such a problem. However, it made taking a shower inconvenient because you’d lose hot water for a couple of minutes before it became available again. It was not too much of a problem in the summer, but I would hate to take a shower in that condition at other times of the year.

Kitchen

The kitchen was in an alcove area and small, only enough room for one person to cook comfortably. There were ample dishes, pots and pans, utensils, cups/glasses, etc. An electric four-burner stove top (no oven), a small refrigerator, coffee maker, a toaster, and a microwave oven were available. We ate dinner at the apartment all three nights, cooked sausages and chicken bought at the nearby supermarket, and ate them with salad, loaves of bread, and Belgian beer, so the kitchen was adequate for simple cooking.

Problems or Bonuses

There was a computer with wide screen monitor and Internet access. However, it was an old PC and took a long time to boot up, so we kept it on all the time. The keyboard also didn’t work so we had to set up an on-screen keyboard and typed with mouse clicks. It was a plus to have Internet access, but a working keyboard would have been much better! There was an utility closet with a washing machine (which we didn't use), an iron and an ironing board. A dryer was available in the cellar of the building.

Agency and Representatives (and price)

We dealt directly with the owner who spoke perfect English. He was very responsive to our email inquiries. We paid a third of the rental as deposit in US dollars with a personal check, which was exchanged with cash payment on arrival. The apartment building had a secure entry system whose code was sent to me by email in advance. We let ourselves into the apartment with the key that was left in the keyhole. I went to the owner’s house the first evening to make the payment. Other than that time, I didn’t see him again. The apartment was well worth the €95 per night we paid in August.

Do you recommend this vacation rental to others?

I would stay here but only in the summer. I would also try the lower apartments because climbing to the fourth level, though great exercise, was a little tiring. This was not such a big deal for us, but the hot water situation was. Maybe the lower floors would not have the problem.

Things to do in this area

One activity that we really enjoyed was riding bicycles around town and to Damme. There was quite a bit of pedestrian traffic in town (tourists!) and not insignificant amount of vehicular traffic. But, they all acknowledge bikes as part of the traffic so riding bikes there was more comfortable than in my hometown with similar amount of traffic. On the way to Damme, after circling the town, we passed by windmills and rode along canals and pastures. Looking inside the chocolate shops, some with displays of chocolates with risqué shapes, was amusing. Sampling chocolates from various chocolatiers was fun.

This review is the opinion of a Slow Travel member and not of slowtrav.com.

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