Skip to content
Curated category

Port cities and towns of the North Sea

  • Newcastle upon TyneNewcastle upon Tyne sits on the northern bank of the River Tyne, roughly 46 miles south of the Scottish border, and its story begins not with a medieval lord…
  • HamburgHamburg has more bridges than London, Amsterdam, and Venice put together. Around 2,500 of them cross the city's rivers and canals, more than any other city…
  • BremenBremen sits on a dune above the River Weser, and at the heart of its main square stands a stone knight who has been watching over the city since 1404.
  • CalaisCalais sits at the narrowest pinch point of the English Channel, just 34 kilometers from the White Cliffs of Dover, close enough that you can see England on…
  • AntwerpAntwerp sits on the river Scheldt, about 40 kilometres north of Brussels, and for a brief, blazing stretch of the 16th century it was the richest city in…
  • Deal, KentThe Domesday Book of 1086 records the settlement as Addelam. This name evolved into Dela by 1158 and later became Dale in 1275.
  • BrugesBruges sits in the northwest corner of Belgium, a city of canals and medieval spires where the past has not so much been preserved as simply never cleared…
  • EdinburghEdinburgh has been called many things over the centuries: Auld Reekie, the Athens of the North, and "yon Empress of the North" by Sir Walter Scott.
  • CromerCromer is a small coastal town on the north Norfolk shore, and its road signs carry a bold claim: Gem of the Norfolk Coast.
  • OstendOstend sits at the western edge of Belgium, where the North Sea has spent centuries trying to reclaim it. The city's very name comes from "oost-einde" - the…
  • AmsterdamAmsterdam sits about two meters below sea level, a city built on peat that should never have existed. Its very name is a confession of its origins: a dam on…