Bryggia - the Venice of the North

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Dreaming spires, the Venice of the North, stepped roofs, a city built on wool. All words that describe Brugges a beautiful medieval city with a history of a school of painting known as the Flemishstyle which gained world renown. Brugges is considered as the most intact of all medieval cities with a 13th century belltower complete with a carillion of 48 bells. I loved Brugges a delightful city full of canals and bridges, higgledy piggledy cobbled alleyways and streets. Calling it the Crown Jewel of Belgium is an understatement. Bruges was a unique city, small enough to be inviting and large enough to be beguiling. Fascinating with its brickwork that looked like streaky bacon, light bricks representing the fat and the red bricks the lean meat of the bacon. I would recommend a trip on the canal from where a different view of the city can be seen - the almshouses, the smallest window in Bruges and the rows upon rows of window boxes filled with geraniums and summer bedding. A visit to the centre must take in the Church of Our Lady (the Gothic cathedral also known as Onze Lieve Vrouwerkerk). Built between the 13th and the 15th century it contains the tombs of Charles the Bold and his daughter the Duchess Mary. Gilded effergies repose on polished slabs of black stone. Beneath the effergieslie the medieval decorated walls and the lead coffins. A unique experience to view the dead in all their splendour. Bruges turned out to be a fabulous place to visit and one that I would not have missed.

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