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0:00 intro
0:25 walk or ride
0:41 boats popular
1:21 boat ride begins
2:09 buildings along canal
4:36 Van Eyck
5:22 role of canals in economy
7:12 Spanish House
7:23 beer
8:10 Dijver
8:33 boat route on map
8:44 Notre Dame
9:15 economic decline
10:52 swans
11:25 Beguinage
12:29 Gruuthusemuseum
13:11 suggestions for ride
14:00 guide farewell
We're going to take you on a boat ride tour through the picturesque canals of a fairytale city that was built on water. Bruges, in Belgium, is one of the world's great cities to visit with the best-preserved collection of medieval buildings in all of Europe. This is a beautiful place, especially attractive when seen from a canal boat.
You can easily explore Bruges by walking because it's rather compact, only about one square kilometer in size. You could also take a tour in a horse carriage or maybe rent a bicycle and pedal around. Yet one of the most popular ways to see Bruges is taking a boat ride in the canals, getting a special angle, enjoying these unique sights from water level.
It's such a popular activity that nearly every visitor does it, but you can beat the crowd by starting early or late in the day. There are five different boat companies, each with their own separate loading dock clustered near the central Markt square of town, easy to find them. They all take the same route and charge the same price for the same 30-minute itinerary.
In front of us, we start immediately with one of the symbols of Bruges, is the Belfry tower, 83 meters high, 366 steps to the top. 47 bells you have hanging there with a total weight of 27 tons.
The canals are lined with a mix of medieval and Renaissance-style houses adorned with unique architectural features. It seems like no two buildings are alike. While the boat gently glides along, you're treated to these breathtaking views of centuries old buildings, and passing some of the approximately 80 bridges of the city.
The boat ride is a relaxing, scenic and educational experience. And while it might seem like a very touristic thing to do, which it is, of course, it is for tourists, you don't see any locals aside from the guides riding around in these boats. But this is one of those almost mandatory activities that you want to enjoy when you're visiting Bruges. You get to see the town from a special perspective that you just don't get when you're walking around in the streets.
While the buildings look like something out of the Middle Ages, many of them are more recent, from the 16th and 17th centuries, and there has been a lot of renovation and reconstruction to keep them in its good shape like this, work from a high tech jackhammer rebuilding the old cobblestone paintings. Even if you were here on a windy day, the waters of the canal are always smooth with soothing sounds of the water, the gentle motion of the boat and calming atmosphere.
It's a perfect way to relax and take in the beauty of Bruges at a leisurely pace.
Canals played an essential role in the glorious history of Bruges, which became one of the wealthiest cities in all of Europe during the Middle Ages because its canals and rivers enabled Bruges to become a trading and economic superpower, during its golden age, which lasted for several hundred years from the 13th century through the 15th century.
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You'll be walking over many bridges in your visit, but only on the boat ride can you go underneath them. Boniface Bridge is one of the most scenic and photographed. Bruges became rich in the Middle Ages because of these canals, which provided that watery highway for transporting all of the merchandise that Bruges was importing and then exporting, trading throughout Europe.
There are 250 swans in Bruges that are well taken care of by the government and have become one of the beloved symbols of the city. This is the place where you'll always find the biggest gathering of those lovely white birds. We have arrived at the end of the canal because here it reaches a barrier called the Lock House that connects it to the Minniwater lake on the other side. So the tour boats turn around and return the same way that they came.
Let me share a few tips for you to get the most out of your boat ride. They only take cash. Current price is 15 euro. They don't take reservations unless you're a big group over 25 people.
If riding in the middle of a warm day, bring along a hat and sunscreen to protect you from the sun. Best seats for taking pictures are towards the front or the back. Schedules vary depending on the season and the boat company, but generally they run from 10 a.m. till 5 p.m.. Best to get on as early as possible.
You might have to line up, but there are departures every 15 to 20 minutes. Don't make noise while the guide is talking, and if you were pleased with his presentation, give him a nice tip.
