Bruges are often referred to as the Venice of the North because they are interwoven with a network of canals formed by the Reie River. Boat trips on the city canals are a popular tourist attraction. The canals also connect Bruges with other cities such as Ghent, Ostend and Zeebrugge.Bruges was a location of coastal settlement during prehistory. This Bronze Age and Iron Age settlement is unrelated to medieval city development. In the Bruges area, the first fortifications were built after Julius Caesar`s conquest of the Menapii in the first century BC, to protect the coastal area against pirates. The Franks took over the whole region from the Gallo-Romans around the 4th century and administered it as the Pagus Flandrensis. The Viking incursions of the ninth century prompted Count Baldwin I of Flanders to reinforce the Roman fortifications; trade soon resumed with England and Scandinavia. Early medieval habitation starts in the 9th and 10th century on the Burgh terrain, probably with a fortified settlement and church

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拍攝者： Mirosk