It doesn’t seem five minutes since we were in Ghent but the weeks seem to be flying by at the moment don’t they? We’ve travelled to Belgium a few times now but this was the first time we’d visited Ghent. Seen as one of Europe’s best kept secrets, it has many medieval landmarks lining it’s mostly traffic free streets.
First stop for us was the splendid Gravensteen Castle, also known as the Castle of the Counts, which is the only remaining medieval fortress in Flanders. It’s quite something and amazingly it’s still almost entirely intact. Nearby is the Patershol neighbourhood which combines narrow alleyways with winding lanes that date back to the middle ages. This being where POD accidentally dropped her penguin in the river. We were able to retrieve it thanks to the kindness of strangers who just happened to have a flat nearby and access to a wooden pole!
The Great Butchers’ Hall is a fantastic sight. Dating back to the 15th century, you can still see Ghent’s special Ganda Hams hanging from the wooden truss roof if you look up. The architecture in Ghent is quite spectacular and we found ourselves look upwards on a regular basis. Other sights in Ghent included the gothic style Belfry, St Nicholas Church and Saint Bavo Cathedral to name just a few. Nothing can beat the view from St Michael’s Bridge especially at dusk when many of the sights in Ghent are lit up.
One of the highlights was POD helping to make her own banana and chocolate waffle. She was invited into a Belgian’s kitchen and her masterpiece ended up being almost as large as her head. And very tasty too. We also sampled a few of the local beers when we got the opportunity to do so as well. I would have liked to have seen Graffiti Street, having scoured the side streets around Brick Lane, but we were more than occupied throughout our time in Ghent. In fact if anything we’ve left ourselves with a list of things to do when we return which we absolutely have to.
Ghent is super easy to get to, we took Le Shuttle from Folkestone to Calais and drove from there. Although Ghent is largely car free, we were able to park five minutes walk away from our hotel which was located in the old town. There will be a full post up on our travel blog POD Travels in the coming days but in the meantime, enjoy a little taste of this fabulous medieval city.
