Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
With pointy gilded architecture, stay-a-while cafés, vivid time-tunnel art, and dreamy canals
dotted with swans, Bruges is a heavyweight sightseeing destination, as well as a joy. Where
elsecanyourideabikealongacanal, munchmusselsandwashthemdownwiththeworld's
best beer, savor heavenly chocolate, and see Flemish Primitives and a Michelangelo, all
within 300 yards of a bell tower that jingles every 15 minutes? And do it all without worry-
ing about a language barrier?
ThetownisBrugge(BROO-ghah)inDutch,andBruges(broozh)inFrenchandEnglish.
Its name comes from the Viking word for wharf. Right from the start, Bruges was a trading
center. In the 11th century, the city grew wealthy on the cloth trade.
By the 14th century, Bruges' population was 35,000, as large as London's. As the
middleman in the sea trade between northern and southern Europe, it was one of the biggest
