In 1896 the novelist and playwright Arnold Bennett complained, “The difference between Bruges and other cities is that in the latter you look about for the picturesque, while in Bruges, assailed on every side by the picturesque, you look curiously for the unpicturesque, and don’t find it easily.”

Perhaps so, but for the modern palate, battered by postwar development, Bruges’ blend of antique architectural styles, from tiny brick cottages to gracious Georgian mansions, is a welcome relief - and retreat.