Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
(actually by his Spanish prisoners) in a failed attempt to reinvigo-
rate the city as a port. Today locals fish this canal for eels and wait
for the next winter freeze. Old-timers have fond memories of skat-
ing to Holland on this canal—but it hasn't had a hard freeze for
over a decade.
Windmill: Just before arriving in Damme, you'll come upon
a working windmill that dates
from 1867. More clever than the
windmills in Bruges, this one is
designed so just the wood cap
turns to face the wind—rather
than the entire building. If it's
op en, c l i imb up t h rou gh t he
creaking, spinning, wind-pow-
ered gears to the top floor (free,
Sat-Sun 9:30-18:00).
In its day (13th-15th cen-
turies), Bruges was one of the
top five European ports and little Damme was important as well.
Today all you see is land—the once-bustling former harbors silted
up, causing the sea to retreat. Pause atop the bridge just beyond the
windmill. From here you can see how, at Napoleon's instructions,
the canal was designed to mimic a grand Parisian boulevard, lead-
ing to the towering Church of Our Lady back in Bruges.
• From here the canal continues straight to Holland. (If tempted...you're
a third of the way to the border.) Cross the bridge and follow Kerkstraat,
which cuts through the center of town, to Damme's main square and
City Hall.
Damme: Once a thriving medieval port, and then a moated
garrison town, today Damme is a tourist center—a tiny version
of Bruges. It has a smaller-but-similar City Hall, a St. John's
Hospital, and a big brick Church of Our Lady. You can tell by its
15th-century City Hall that, 500 years ago, Damme was rolling in
herring money. Rather than being built with Belgian bricks (like
other buildings around here), the City Hall was made of French
limestone. Originally the ground floor was a market and fish ware-
house, with government offices upstairs.
• Continue on Kerkstraat as it leads two blocks farther to the Church
of Our Lady. Along the way, you could side-trip to the left, down
Pottenbakkersstraat, which takes you to a quaint little square called
Haringmarkt (named for the Herring Market that made Damme rich
in the 15th century). The trees you see from here mark the lines of the
town's long-gone, 17th-century ramparts. Returning to Kerkstraat,
continue on to the big church.
The Church of Our Lady: This church, which rose and fell
with the fortunes of Damme, dates from the 13th century. Inside
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