It is a rainy, gray morning in Amsterdam. After a few days in the Netherlands I am all excited about our trip to Flanders. Why Ghent? Shouldnt it be Brugge? So it was meant to be but then we had Marriott points to use up so thought why not use Ghent as a base? Plus friends suggested Ghent as a place to be in the evenings whereas Brugge they said "will be dead" so we planned a day trip to Brugge, more on that later.
After two changeovers and nearly averting a robbery on the train of our backpack with all the valuables, we made it to Ghent St. Pieters station. A quick ride on Tram 1, get off at KorenMarkt and walk towards Marriott. As we drag our bags on the cobbled streets, not a great idea btw, it seemed like any other town, except for a great big cathedral in front, a huge tower to the right and another cathedral beyond it.
And then we get to St. Michaels bridge and were awarded with this spectacular scene.
Ghent is a small enough that you can catch the highlights in just a few hours or big enough for you to explore various venues for a couple of days.
We just took to the streets and walked around town. A visit to the Belfry tower with a climb (the elevator made the entry fee worthwhile) awarded us with this beautiful view of town.
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| View of Episcopal Palace from the Belfry tower |
There was a lot of construction around town but that still did not take away from the quaintness of this town.
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| St. Bavos Cathedral from the Belfry. |
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| View of St. Nicholas Church from the Belfry |
Off we go to St. Bavos and a 6 Euro audio tour of The adoration of the Mystic Lamb. What an amazing piece of art! If you are not into medieval art though, you can save the euros and just enjoy the cathedral for free and even see a copy of the painting in either one of the Alcoves or the Transept. A walk through Vrijdagmarkt and Patershol and we ended at the Castle. After all these lovely sights in town, an exhibition of torture implements was not to our fancy so we had a nice beer and took a boat trip on the canal.
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| Castle - View from the Canal |
We continued to explore the little alleyways to head out to our dinner destination, Avalon, a vegan place in Korenlei. While Avalon was closed and Marco Polos could not seat us without a reservation, we enjoyed a fabulous Indian meal at a Nepali restaurant, Himalaya.
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| Mystic Pizza in Belgium - just couldnt pass up the opportunity |
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| Countless varieties of Beer, |
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| Lots of pretty sights to see on the boat ride but this light at the end of the tunnel was the best for me. |
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| Six in the evening and the alleyway in Patershol is deserted |
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| A Burmese boat in Belgium |
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| One of the many Chocolateries around town |
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| Belfry at night |
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| Coming full circle, the night view of the canal and hotels in Korenlei |
