Holes in houses...

A question someone asked me once was about the funny little gaps you sometimes find next to some doors of houses. 
 Many people thought these “holes” were for cats and/or dogs to get into the house… 
But if you take a real good look at them then you’ll see they’re only about 20cm (8 inches) deep. So they don’t go straight through the wall !

Also, if they really were openings to let the pets get in, I think you’d have a bigger problem with rats or other pests getting into the house. So, sorry, but they really weren’t “pet-doors”. 
Take another look at the pictures I added… 

See the little iron or stone edge at the bottom ? In the old days, the streets didn’t have those nice cobbled stones, but were dirty roads, with sand, dust and mud. 
When you come to Bruges, you’ll noticed we do get some rain from time to time… 

You want to get in your house or go visit someone. But you notice that there’s a lot of mud sticking at the bottom of your shoes. They didn’t have a coconut-mat back then. 
Well, to scrape that mud off the bottom of your shoes, you had those holes. 
So, they’re a way to clean off your shoes before entering the house.
Who knew? Be honest!

Hey boys & girls, another fun fact you can tell your friends when you see one of those holes. It’ll make you look smart! 
You’re welcome…