Minnewater - Belgium

To prolong the romanticism, take a stroll down to the small square that edges onto the famous Minnewater, or 'Lake of Love' and hire a horse-drawn carriage to take a tour of the city the old-fashioned way, to the rhythm of horse trots. Indeed one of the quirks of Bruges is that you won't see many cars driving through the city.

The aforementioned lake takes its name from a legend dating from the Roman Empire period, having possibly inspired Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. It tells of Minna, daughter of a Saxon pirate, who falls passionately in love with Morin. In despair after parental refusal, she spends several days in the forest next to a brook and her lover only finds her in time for her to gather her last breath. In order to pay homage to his lost love, Morin diverts the course of the brook, digs out a grave for his beloved and then laid her inside before reversing the course of the water. Unite forever in another world, it is said that they still haunt the waters of the lake.

  The canals

Glorious gables