Bruges

The story of Bruges

Bruges likely takes its name from an old Norse or Germanic word for landing stage or bridge, fitting for a city stitched together by canals. By the 13th century it was one of the great trading cities on earth, where Hanseatic, Italian, and Iberian merchants met to trade wool, wine, and money.

The world's first stock exchange operated here: traders met before the inn of the Van der Beurze family, whose name became "bourse" in half of Europe's languages. Then the Zwin channel silted up, the sea traffic left for Antwerp, and Bruges slept for four centuries, which is precisely why its medieval core survived intact enough for UNESCO.

Curiosities: Michelangelo's Madonna and Child in the Church of Our Lady was the only sculpture to leave Italy in his lifetime; the Belfry's 366 steps reward climbers with 47 carillon bells; and the city's swans, legend says, were imposed as eternal penance for executing a lord named Lanchals, "long neck."