By Adrienne Smith

Apr. 27, 2016:  Bruges, glorious Bruges! The next stop on my Belgian itinerary, where I stayed in a lovely one-bedroom apartment in a converted warehouse in the center of Brügge, its more-used, Flemish name.

Brügge's main square, complete with its climbable belfry, is, perhaps, the best-preserved Renaissance locale in Europe and has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The city was a major center of trade and finance from the 12th to the 15th century and was home to what was reputedly the first stock exchange in the world. However, access to the city via a river to the sea was slowed by accumulation of silt, and, despite a limited rebirth in the 17th century as a lace center, it suffered a major decline.

Happily, Brügge was revitalized by comprehensive restoration in the 1960s, and now it plays host to more than two million visitors a year, who pass their days in a multitude of hotels, inns, and B&Bs, while dining in the many excellent restaurants scattered through the area.

Known as, at last, a Venice of the North, it is set among numerous canals in whose waters the stunning buildings abutting them are magically reflected as one strolls around the city at night.

If a trip there is not in the cards, I suggest watching the rollicking 2009 comedy-drama In Bruges, set mostly in the central square, and featuring Colin Farrell, Ralph Fiennes, and a cantankerous dwarf. For the more traditional, The Nun's Story, one of Audrey Hepburn's favorite movies, was partially shot there.

For those existing on a slightly less cultured plane, you might be fascinated to know that Eva Longoria's basketball-playing, very brief husband, Tony Parker, was born there.

However, the highlight of my stay was a visit to the Sint-Janshospitaal, which has been converted into a museum, to see an exhibition titled Bruegel’s Witches.

Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1526/1530-1569) is renowned as one of the finest Flemish painters. The exhibition takes off from two of his prints, within which are first-time representations of witches stirring cauldrons by fireplaces. Prior to this time, the occasional painter had depicted specks of witches flying through the air on broomsticks, but Bruegel added to the symbolic repertoire.

Why, you ask, is this significant? The answer is that from the 15th to the 17th century, Europe was seized with a witch-hunting mania, much of it centered in the Low Countries, which included what is now Belgium and The Netherlands.

It has been estimated that somewhere between 40,000 and 60,000 people were executed at the stake or by hanging, following confessions forced by torture. Although most victims were women, men and even children were not exempt.

Theories abound as to why this frenzy occurred, an obsession that might have seemed more likely in the Middle Ages than in these Early Modern times. Among the considerations were the printing of Malleus Maleficarum (The Hammer of the Witches), made accessible to readers by the then-recent invention of the printing press, a papal bull issued by Pope Innocent VIII acknowledging the existence of witches and granting authority to eliminate them, the sectarian conflicts resulting from the Reformation itself, and a long period of crop-damaging cold known as the Little Ice Age, which lasted from 1560 to 1660.

In addition, wizened old women, especially those who behaved erratically, could become easy prey to explain local disasters and deaths, even infertility and impotence.

Because Brügge at the time of Bruegel had become a printing center, his prints were widely distributed, and, as the exhibition demonstrates, became a hallmark, incorporated by numerous other artists, many of whose works have been collected for the show.

So Brügge is a place for wandering, for wonderful food, including endless variations of steamed mussels, and culture. Consider going there, but try to make it off-season, as the summer months are jam-packed.

Pictured here:  Bruges at night.

Photo by Adrienne Smith

By Adrienne Smith

Apr. 6, 2016:  I've been thinking a lot about Brussels, both because of the strong reactions to my last write-up and because, on further examination, I learned how incredibly complicated Belgium's, and Brussels', present-day political situation is.

Belgium as a political entity dates back to post-Napoleonic times when, at the Congress of Vienna in 1815, it became a part of Holland. However, fifteen years later, it seceded, taking with it its colonial empire in Africa.

Skipping 185 years, Belgium is now a country divided by language and, to some extent, by ethnic origin. The majority of its population of 11.35 million, 59% to be exact, are Dutch-speaking Flemish people, residing primarily in northern Belgium. Most of the rest, the Walloons, speak French and are found in the south and constitute a majority in Brussels itself. Of course, many people speak both languages, some also speak English, and there is a small German-speaking population.

Unfortunately, the Flemish and the Walloons do not all get along. In fact, some Flemish politicians would like to divide the country in two.

Belgium almost had a constitutional crisis starting in the 2010 elections, when none of the seven main Flemish parties and five main French parties received a majority of the votes. It took 541 record-setting days (surpassing the former record-holder, Iraq) for negotiations to create a coalition to govern the country, a country whose motto is "Strength through Unity."

The country is a constitutional monarchy with a bicameral federal parliament consisting of a senate and a chamber of representatives. The executive is headed by the prime minister and includes a cabinet of ministers, an equal number from each of the two main linguistic communities. The central government's powers include the conduct of foreign policy, taxation, defense, and social security.

In an effort to ease tensions between the less-economically advantaged Flemish and the Walloons, the country's constitution was amended a number of times in recent years. As a result, Belgium is officially divided into three governmental regions, to wit, Flanders in the north, Wallonia in the south, and Brussels-Capital Region, an enclave within Flanders, and, if you're still with me, four linguistic regions, including the three areas just mentioned and a German-speaking area that is a small part of Wallonia on the German border. All of these regions are granted some form of autonomy.

Flanders has one assembly; Wallonia, two; and, although you may despair at this point, Brussels-Capital Region has incredibly complex layers of government. First, it has its own parliament, primarily dominated by Flemish representatives. Then there is a French-speaking parliament and a Council of the Flemish Community, which come together in the United Assembly of the Common Community Commission. Some representatives also serve in more than one entity.

At this point you may think that this is a delayed April Fools' joke.  But, alas, it is not.

Brussels-Capital Region also has a minister-president, always French-speaking, four other ministers, divided 2-2 among the linguistic groups, three state secretaries, one of which must be Flemish, and a governor.

Brussels-Capital Region is divided into 19 municipalities, of which Brussels Ville (City of Brussels) is the largest, with a 2015 population of about 176,000, living within 12.6 square miles. The smallest municipality is 0.4 square miles, and the smallest population is 21,500. The terrorist brothers who wreaked mayhem at the Brussels Airport were from a municipality called Molenbeek-Saint Jean.

"Stop!" you say. But each municipality has its own mayor, council, and executive. These officials are charged with responsibility for education, law enforcement, and the like.

This all leads in to the question of why Belgium, and, more particularly, Brussels, have become a haven for the disaffected.

Until fairly recently, Belgium's immigration and naturalization laws were fairly liberal. It received a large influx of people from other parts of Europe, from its former African colonies, most particularly Morocco, and countries like Turkey.

Because Belgium doesn't keep records by race and religion, unpacking the percentage of its originally foreign population can only really be done by country. Add to this, naturalization obscures local origin. But it has been estimated that almost 70% of Brussels itself is populated by people born outside the country, a much higher figure than for Belgium as a whole.

Language barriers for immigrants, combined with high youth unemployment, make for the kind of social problems we have recently seen. The New York Times reported even before the terrorism event that the mayor of Molenbeek-Saint Jean had been given a list of more than 80 suspected Islamic terrorists to monitor by Belgian security, together with a total of $42,000 to deal with the problem. Included on the list were the two brothers who blew themselves up at the Brussels Airport. Said the mayor about the task, "What was I supposed to do about them? It is not my job to track possible terrorists."

The article described the impossibly complex chain of command that Brussels must wend its way through to deal with terrorism, including the three parliaments, the 19 local councils, the two intelligence services, military and civilian, a so-called threat assessment unit, and six local police agencies within Brussels-Capital Region, as well as a federal police service. The article went on to say that Belgium is often referred to as "the world's most prosperous failed state." Most haunting in this enumeration is that it was written on November 24, 2015, almost four months before the terrorist attacks!

Pictured here:  Brussels streetscape.

Photo by Adrienne Smith