To the north of the city centre lies the Sint-Anna quarter, the most atmospheric and least touristed neighbourhood in Bruges. The Lace Centre on Balstraat offers demonstrations of traditional Bruges bobbin lace-making — an industry that once employed thousands of women in the city. The adjacent Jerusalem Church, built by a wealthy merchant family in the 15th century as a replica of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, is one of the strangest and most compelling buildings in Belgium.
The Museum of the Saint Sebastian Guild in the same area houses centuries of archery memorabilia, and the streets around it are quiet and genuinely residential. Wandering through Sint-Anna in the early morning, before the day-trip coaches arrive, gives a truer sense of what Bruges is actually like to live in.