The Ghent Canal skirts the whole of the eastern side of the town, from the Minne Water Bridge, that is, to the old Porte de Damme; on its banks stand the Porte de Gand and the Porte Ste. Croix. From the high ramparts beyond the latter gate there is a beautiful panoramic view of the city and of the open country on the other side of the water.
There is also a canal which branches off from the Ghent Canal by the Minne Water Bridge in the opposite direction; it runs alongside of the ramparts as far as the Porte des Baudets, where it turns off into the open country. Its banks are for the most part well wooded, beyond the picturesque Porte des Maréchaux they are high and steep, and from this spot too there is a beautiful view of the city.
Hard-by the hospital for incurable women, a vast and splendid modern building which stands on the banks of the Minne Water, a fourth canal enters the town. This is perhaps the fairest of all the Bruges waterways. The best points of view are from its bridges, which are all save one beautiful and all save one ancient. There are no less than six of them:—the Pont de la Clef, which separates the rue des Bouchers from the rue Fossé aux Loups—Mr. Railton has given us a sketch of it; the Pont aux Lions, hard by the rue du Marécage and the Church of St. Jacques; the Pont des Baudets in the rue d’Ostende; the Pont Flamand, which connects the rue Flamande with the rue St. Georges;—this is the oldest bridge in Bruges, originally constructed by the Augustinian friars in 1294, it was rebuilt by the town in 1391—the Pont des Augustins at the end of the rue Espagnole, and the Pont de la Tour by the Place des Orientaux. The tourist will do well to visit all these bridges and also to follow the road which skirts the canal from the last bridge to its junction with the great canal, about five hundred yards further on. The gardens and houses on the opposite side of the stream are most picturesque. It was here that John van Eyck lived, though, alas! his dwelling has been swept away.
Of the Roya and of the beautiful backwater which connects it with the great canal, at the end of the rue des Dominicains, we have already spoken in a previous chapter. There are other streams too which wend their way through the city. It is impossible within the limits of this manual even to indicate their whereabouts, so numerous are they and so intricate is their meandering. The tourist will come upon them, in the course of his rambles, in the most unexpected places, and he will find them on that account none the less beautiful.