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Bruges (Brugge)
Travel and Tourist Information
ABOVE: Bruges (Brugge), Belgium at night.
Bruges, or
"Brugge" to
the Flemish-speaking locals, is one of the best-preserved medieval cities in Northern
Europe. This description of the city, published more than 80 years ago in Muirhead's
Guide to Belgium and the Western Front, is still valid today:
"The beauty of its buildings gives Bruges a high place among those European towns
that have preserved their mediæval aspect, and it is renowned for the wealth of its art
treasures, which include several masterpieces of Flemish painting. More than fifty bridges
(from which the name of the town is derived) span the various canals; and rows of gabled
houses, mirrored in calm water, afford many charming perspectives. Some of the picturesque
buildings prove, on closer approach, to be modern antiques in a style of somewhat facile
quaintness; but enough of the older mansions remain to carry the traveler back in
imagination to the age of the Counts of Flanders and the Bergundian dukes."
Quaintness and popularity go hand in hand, as you'll discover if you join the other
tourists who flock to Bruges during the summer season. Still, crowds are the price you pay
for not vacationing in Wichita. And look at it this way: While you're muttering about the
ubiquitous backpackers with their iPods and Let's Go! paperbacks, the retired
academics with
their Blue Guides, and the platoons of group tourists with their American Express
nametags or Rick Steves guidebooks, they're probably wishing you'd gone to
Blackpool or Disney World.
Click now, travel later
This 8-page Bruges/Brugge Web Guide has links to dozens of Web sites that can
help you plan a holiday in "the Venice of the North." Use the navigation table
at the bottom of each page to find general tourist information, Web pages on specific
sights, photo albums, hotel and hostel listings, and details on short-term house and
apartment rentals.
Next page:
Tourist information
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