Brugge and Antwerp in 24 hours - May 2018
We arrived in Bruges late afternoon. Weather was awful, it was raining a bit and was pretty cold - way to cold for May - we were not prepared for that, so we were freezing.
Little bit about town history - local lands were occupied since bronze era, first fortifications (roman) were built during times of Julius Caesar in I Century B.C. InVI Century A.D. seized by Franks. Bruges received city rights on July 27, 1128. It was an important port city, it was called in the years 1280-1390 "the cradle of European capitalism". From around 1500, the canal connecting the city with the sea began silting, which caused the loss of the city's importance to Antwerp. From the second half of the nineteenth century, tourism has become the driving force of the city. In the second half of the 20th century, the Zeebrugge port was expanded. Originally built in 1907 - during the First World War, it was used by the Germans to produce U-boats. Currently Bruges is an important tourist and port city.
As usual, the time we spent in Belgium was not enough for an in-depth tour of everything, but we saw at least a little bit how one of the smaller European countries looks like. There are definitely more points worth seeing, but much more time is needed.