3 Best Sights in Bruges and the Coast, Belgium

The Basilica of the Holy Blood manages to include both the austere and the ornate under one roof—not to mention one of Europe's most precious relics. The 12th-century Lower Chapel retains a stern, Romanesque character. Look for the poignant, 14th-century Pietà and the carved statue of Christ in the crypt. From this sober space, the elaborate, external late-Gothic De Steegheere staircase, with a reconstructed bluestone facade, leads to the stunningly lavish Upper Chapel, which was twice destroyed—by Protestant iconoclasts in the 16th century and by French Republicans in the 18th—but both times rebuilt. (Note that the Upper Chapel is closed to visitors during Eucharistic Mass on Friday and Sunday 10:45–12:15.) The original stained-glass windows were replaced in 1845, and then again after an explosion in 1967, when they were restored by the Bruges painter De Loddere. The basilica's namesake treasure is a vial thought to contain a few drops of the blood of Christ, brought from Jerusalem in 1149 by Derick of Alsace when he returned from the Second Crusade. It is exposed in the Upper Chapel every Friday 10:15–11, and every afternoon 2–3 (sometimes until 4): queue up to place your right hand on the vial and take a moment for quiet reflection. On Ascension Day, it becomes the centerpiece of the magnificent De Heilig Bloedprocessie (Procession of the Holy Blood), a major medieval-style pageant in which it is carried through the streets of Bruges. The small museum next to the basilica is the usual home of the basilica's namesake reliquary.

On a clear day you can see as far as the Netherlands by climbing the 206 steps to the top of the tower of the Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk (Church of Our Lady), which was founded in 1225 and rises high above the surrounding farmland as a symbol of Damme’s proud past. Poet Jacob van Maerlant, who lived and worked in Damme during the late 13th century, is buried under the main portal below the tower. Charles the Bold and Margaret of York were married here.

The towering spire of the plain Gothic Church of Our Lady, begun about 1220, rivals the Belfry as a symbol of Bruges. At 381 feet high, it is the second-tallest brick construction in the world. The art history highlight here is the Madonna and Child statue carved by Michelangelo, an early work. The choir museum contains many 13th- and 14th-century polychrome tombs, as well as two mausoleums: that of Mary of Burgundy, who died in 1482 at the age of 25 after a fall from her horse; and that of her father, Charles the Bold, killed in 1477 while laying siege to Nancy in France. Mary was as well loved in Bruges as her husband, Maximilian of Austria, was loathed.