BRUGES
Famed for its lace and native Jan van Eyck, Bruges (pop. 116,000) is also the most touristed city in Belgium and one of the most romantic cities in Europe. Canals carve their way through rows of stone houses and cobblestone streets to reveal the breathtaking Gothic Markt. The city remains one of the best-preserved examples of Northern Renaissance architecture. Its beauty, however, belies the destruction sustained in World War I; eight decades after the war, farmers still uncover 200 tons of artillery every year as they plough their fields.
BRUGES Photo Gallery
Albert Speer was Hitler’s Minister of Armaments and War Production during World War Two and was the mastermind of the Speer Flotilla, a large transport company under German military and civilian administration in the occupied areas. It operated hundreds of civilian-manned vessels in European and even African waters, the vessels very often being no more than converted barges.) In August 1943, the Eben Haezer became a guardship in the West Baltic Coastal Protection Flotilla. On 9 May 1945 she was seen at Salangsverket, Norway. The Eben Haezer left Drontheim on 4 August 1945 and was taken over by representatives of the Netherlands Government at Kristiansand on the 13th. On 15 August 1945 she left Kristiansand for Copenhagen, where she arrived on the 19th, then arrived at Rotterdam on 20 September 1945. She was renamed Henja in 1958 when she was purchased by Henja. H. Prins at Groningen. Fa.
