[Gutenberg 41830] • The Spell of Flanders / An Outline of the History, Legends and Art of Belgium's Famous Northern Provinces

Flanders, my dear, said the Professor, speaking in his most sententious manner-as if delivering a lecture in his classroom-is the most interesting and the least visited corner of Europe. It has more battle-fields and more Gothic churches per square mile than can be found anywhere else. In other parts of Europe you can see mediaval houses, here and there-usually in charge of a smirking caretaker, with his little guidebook for sale, and hungrily anticipating his little fee. In Flanders there are whole streets of them, whole towns that date from the sixteenth century or earlier-but for the costumes of the people, you could easily imagine yourself transported by some enchantment back to the days of Charles the Bold, or even to the time of the Crusaders. - Excerpt from the book