Most Belgians of my acquaintance tend to be rather disparaging about Bruges. It’s a theme park, they say, a Flemish Disneyland. Antwerp is livelier, Ghent is more authentic. A lot of its historic buildings are actually clever fakes. All of this is true, but that doesn’t stop it being one of Europe’s most beautiful cities — and an ideal destination for Christmas shopping. Given the choice between Bruges and Westfield, I know which shopping centre I’d choose.
Like a lot of pretty cities, Bruges is a monument to boom and bust. Commerce paid for its ornate medieval architecture, but then the river silted up and Bruges became a backwater. Preserved by poverty, it was rediscovered by the Victorians as a romantic refuge from modern life. Today’s tourists are merely the latest in a long line of escapist travellers, all looking for somewhere unsullied by modernity (with all mod cons, of course).
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