From the 9th till 11th of July, there’s a new edition of the ‘Best small Festival‘ Cactusfestival in the ‘Minnewaterpark’ in Bruges. This single stage rock, reggae, hip hop and R ‘n B festival has been running for more than 20 years now and has become a very popular festival the last couple of years, with the European festival award last year as a highlight.

The temporary line-up looks promising again:

Friday 9th of July

• David Gray (UK)
• Regina Spektor (US)
• Absynthe Minded (B)
• Ghinzo (B)
• I Am Kloot (UK)
• Seun Kuti & Egypt ‘80 (NIG)

Saturday 10th of July

• Jamie Lidell (UK)
• Elvis Costello & The Sugarcanes (US)
• K’s Choice (B)
• José James (US)
• Balkan Beat Box (US)
• Black Mountain (CAN)
• Balthazar (B)
• Fiction Plane (UK)

Sunday 11th of July

• Macy Gray (US)
• Tori Amos (US)
• Admiral Freebee (B)
• Heavy Trash feat. Jon Spencer (US)
• Alela Diana - Duo (US)
• The Low Frequency In Stereo (NO)
• Little Dragon (SW)

Weekendticket: 85euro, Dayticket: 36euro

More info can you find on the website of cactusfestival

Since Bruges was the cultural capital of Europe in 2002, the city planned to organise a large-scale cultural festival every five years. This year there is a new edition, starting the 17th of September till the 30th of January 2011.

‘Bruges Central’ will offer varied programme of concerts, films, stage performances, exhibitions and other events over a period of more than four months. A vision of Central Europe’ will be the theme of this major event.

These are some of the main events of ‘Bruges Central’:

• Luc Tuymans: contemporary artist Tuymans creates an exposition about the historical relationship between Flanders and Central-Europe (22.10 till 23.01)
• Van Eyck to Dürer: Prestigous exhibtion about the influences of the ‘Flemisch Primitives’ on artists from the Holy Roman Empire (29.10 till 30.01)
• Laurel on the Markt: Bruges has a tradition in cultivating laurel and exporting it to Cental and East-Europe. The famous flower-artist Daniël Ost creates an oasis of laurel on the Market place (25.09 till 03.07)
• Jazz Brugge: Jamsessions, workshops and concerts on tree locations. (30.09 till 03.10)
• Enter: Social-artistic productions, a festival for all layers off the population (10.11 till 14.11)
• 500 years of carillon, Grand Music Dictation: The famous Giedrius Kuprevicius from Lithuania has been invited to Bruges as the composer and executor of the Grand Music Dictation. (09.10 and 10.10)

More info about Bruges Central: http://www.bruggecentraal.be/en/home

The popular traveler’s website Tripadvisor awarded a prize to Bruges in 3 categories:

• 9th place for Bruges in the category ‘Top 10 Romance Destinations Europe‘
• 13th place for Bruges in the category ‘Top 25 European Destinations‘
• 23rd place for Bruges in the category ‘Top 25 Destinations in the world‘

National Geographic made a list of top-destinations worldwide, based on the reports of 437 travelexperts who studied 133 destinations worldwide.
The Fjords region in Norway is world’s number one followed by mostly wildlife areas. Bruges is the only mass tourism area in the top 20 of the list.

Some of the comments:

“A treasure of 15th- and 16th-century structures and city design. Visitors are treated to a number of opportunities to learn about Bruges, mostly by walking the streets. Scale of the city is the most striking feature; it is on a human scale.”

“Bruges is lovely, maintaining an almost museum-like quality. This is both good and bad. The architectural resources appear to be in excellent condition. But the city center lacks the feeling of authenticity, of being an actual living city, that nearby Ghent maintains. The town is nearly overwhelmed by tourists, especially on the weekends, but overall the city center is in excellent condition and looks to remain so.”

Top 20 Best-rated places National Geographic:

85 Fjords Region, Norway

81 Kootenay/Yoho National Parks, British Columbia

80 Gaspé Peninsula, Quebec

80 South Island, New Zealand

79 Ancient Kyoto, Japan

78 Vermont, U.S.

78 Slovenia

78 Kakadu National Park, Australia

78 Medieval Granada and the Alhambra, Spain

77 Bavarian Alps, Germany

77 Columbia Gorge Region, Oregon-Washington, U.S.

77 Yorkshire Dales, England, United Kingdom

77 Scottish Highlands, United Kingdom

77 Torres del Paine, Chile

76 Berkshires, Massachusetts, U.S.

76 Douro Valley, Portugal

76 Engadine Region, Switzerland

76 Wales, United Kingdom

75 Bruges Historic Center, Belgium

75 Corsica, France

source: http://traveler.nationalgeographic.com

Bruges brewery ‘De halve maan’ (The half moon) won another 3 medals for their beers. At the European Beer Star awards in Berlin, ‘De halve maan’ won a gold medal for ‘Straffe Hendrik‘ in the category ‘Belgian Style Tripel’, another gold medal for ‘Brugse Zot double brown‘ in the category ‘Belgian Style Dubbel’ and a bronze medal for ‘Brugse Zot Blond‘ in the category ‘Belgian Style Ale’.

There participated 836 beers from 36 countries in 41 categorie.