Ghent Belgium

Once again our intrepid travelers are off on another adventure, Belgium awaits!  A late evening train to Antwerp then on to Ghent, we were soon at the Marriott near the city center.  Stepping out of the hotel onto the street you were greeted with a magnificent view of  historic Ghent.  One of the first things you notice is there are cobblestones everywhere, all the streets, bike lanes, tram lanes, they were everywhere and let me assure you, cobblestones make for a long day of walking.  The first hundred feet are nice but after 6-7 miles of walking, your feet hate you.

In addition to seeing the beautiful town of Ghent our goal was to see "The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb" or The Ghent Alterpiece as it is called. The panels are housed at St. Bavo's Cathedral.  We learned about these panels from the movie The Monuments Men and wanted to see them.  It is an incredible piece of art, it was nice to have a audio guide to describe each panel in detail. They are housed in a climate control, limited light enclosure. Panels are full of religious symbolism, beginning with central theme and name.

The picture to the right is St Bravo's Cathedral from the Ghent Belfry.  It was a beautiful day and the views of the city were fantastic.  One problem with taking pictures in European cities is they usually have a lot of trams which means overhead wires everywhere.  It is virtually impossible to get pictures without wires crisscrossing your shot.  However, if you get up in the air you can usually get some interesting pictures.












There was no photography allowed in the church so we missed out on some beautiful pictures.  Inside the church there were black marble columns and white marble statues creating awesome contrast.  











The Belfry of Ghent was our second stop for the day.  Great views of the city in all directions.  The original Dragon from the Belfry spire was on display inside, it was a awesome metal piece of art.  













When we were in the Belfry the chimes started just as we walked into the room housing the chime mechanism.  I had no ideal how the chimes worked until I saw the mechanism.  It is just like the "comb" in a small music box but much larger, I very much enjoyed watching it work.

  

Gravensteen Castle is a Medieval castle in the middle of the town and is in surprisingly good condition. Currently it houses a museum of medieval torture. Electric trams run within a few feet of the castle making it difficult to get pictures.  We took a canal cruise and were able to get pictures from the back side without wires.

The canal cruise gave us a brief history of the city and a different perspective of the city center.

We are pretty picky eaters.  You won't find us going into a local restaurant and ordering the "Special of the Day".  We had a wonderful meal at this Irish pub.  A good time was had eating, drinking and people watching in the shadow of the great St. Nicholas Cathedral.

TJ in Holland