Why visit Belgium and Bruges?

Belgium is not usually top of the list for most people when it comes to planning a trip abroad. Even if you do travel by car in Europe, Belgium is usually just somewhere you pass through (as quickly as possible) on the way to somewhere better known and far more fashionable. But you may be surprised at what you will find if you start to explore Belgium a little bit more. And there is no better place to start than Bruges one of Europe 's best-preserved medieval cities.

Bruges is small compared to some tourist cities and so you can get to know it and see everything on just a short visit. But once you have been you will almost certainly want to return to this storybook town again and again. Because of its network of canals, Bruges is sometimes called the Venice of the North (as indeed is Amsterdam ) but the canals are not where the comparison should be drawn. Of greater significance and importance is the fact that both Bruges and Venice were major trading cities in medieval times. At this time Bruges was linked to the North Sea by the river Zwin and quickly became an important international harbour. Bruges traded with the rest of the world in a wide range of goods from exotic fruit and spices to cloth and jewels. From 1200 to the mid 1500s Bruges was an extremely prosperous and busy town and was the major economic capital of northwest Europe . However that was all to change when the Zwin started to silt up and competition from the much bigger harbour at Antwerp caused a rapid decline in trade. Very little happened over the next 300 years to improve the prosperity of Bruges and very little changed in the city. However, with the growth of tourism in the 20th century, Bruges was re-discovered and the almost perfectly preserved medieval city was once again very definitely on the map the tourist map.

Bruges today is a delightful romantic collection of cobbled squares, narrow streets, dreamy canals, gabled houses and gothic buildings. In 2002 Bruges was nominated Cultural Capital of Europe and from December 2000 was added to the list of UNESCO world heritage sites. Even if you are unfamiliar with the artistic heritage and rich history of Bruges, you may have savoured (or at least heard about) some of those mouth watering Belgian chocolates or tasted at least one of an estimated 700 different brews of Belgian beer, both of which are easily available in Bruges (Bruges, of course, has its own local brews).

Bruges is very easy to get to from the UK as it is in the north of Belgium and close to the coast. It is only 14km south of the ferry port at Zeebrugge, 100km from Calais and about 100km northwest of Brussels the capital of Belgium . It has good road and train connections with other major European cities including Brussels and Brussels international airport.

 

 

© The Pink Fridge Online Magazine 2008 - Bruges & Belgium City Breaks

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