A Day Out With My Daughter – or – Weird Shit We Find in Ghent

April 16, 2014

So Ghent (Gent, Gand, or however the heck you spell it depending on what language you prefer – better know them all if you are driving the highways in this country) has fast become the family’s favorite Belgian city. People always rave about Bruges – the canals, the restaurants, the architecture. I really have no frame of reference as we have not yet made it past Ghent to get to Bruges. What I have been told by those partial to Ghent is that Bruges is like a smaller, more crowded, more expensive, touristy version of Ghent. True? I have no idea. But I do know that I love walking around Ghent. And so do all the members of my family. Both girls have asked me to take them back – just the two of us, and I need to take Denver back so that he actually gets to go into the castle (first time we had the dog with us and the second time neither of the girls wanted to explore it with him).

Castle built to keep the inhabitants of Ghent in line

Why do we like it so much? Maybe it’s the scenery. Largely undamaged during both World Wars, Ghent has a wealth of historical architecture from many different eras. This is most notable along the Graslei just off of St. Michael’s Bridge.

The Graslei

You like churches? There are so many cool, old churches it’s overwhelming.

Perhaps it’s the redneck history of the inhabitants of Ghent. They really didn’t like being told what to do.

SONY DSC

Or just maybe it’s presence of all those universities and art and design schools. Ya, I think that’s it. Lol. There is so much creativity just lurking in all the most unexpected places here. We haven’t even scratched the surface of the museums and tourist attractions yet. We have just walked around, photographed buildings, graffiti, and just about every oddity we can find. No matter how many times I go to Ghent, I always find new, strange and bizarre things.