The small country in the heart of Europe whose medieval cloth cities grew fabulously rich, then were preserved almost intact, so that Bruges, Ghent and Brussels keep some of the finest old towns on the continent. Wander Bruges at your own pace, the best-preserved medieval city in Europe and a UNESCO World Heritage site, from the Belfry over the Market Square and the Basilica of the Holy Blood on the Burg to the silent Beguinage, the Lake of Love and the canals that earned it the name Venice of the North, and the Church of Our Lady with its Madonna carved by Michelangelo. Read Ghent where the Leie and the Scheldt meet, its skyline of three towers and the Ghent Altarpiece by the brothers Van Eyck in Saint Bavo's, the guild houses of the Graslei and the moated Castle of the Counts planted in a city that never bowed easily. Cross the Grand Place of Brussels, rebuilt in gilded stone within a few years of a bombardment, climb to the Royal Quarter of palaces and the Sablon, and name soberly the colonial history behind its grandeur. Some of the most tour-packaged heritage in Europe, and all of it better on your own clock, lingering under a belfry or on a canal bridge as long as you like.
