Dijver

The Dijver canal bends through the center of Bruges, marked by a stone quay where weeping willows lean over the dark water. This stretch served as the city's original main port during the Middle Ages. Ships tied up here to unload wool from England and wine from the south, turning this narrow bank into the center of European trade. When the silt eventually made the canal too shallow for big vessels, the merchants moved, leaving behind the gothic gables and the quiet reflections.