August 18 – Ghent

Today we took the train for a day trip to Ghent, the capital of East Flanders in Belgium.

We bought an all-day pass for the trolley and headed off for the old section of town.  It was a good thing we didn’t try to walk…it would have been a very long walk.

Our stop was Gavensteen Castle.  The castle was built in 1170 and served for a while as the seat of the Count of Flanders. 

We climbed all the way to the top of the castle where we had very good views of Ghent.

Eventually the castle was used as a court house and it now houses a museum of torture devices used as punishment. 

After the castle visit we took a boat ride on the Liei River and the Ghent Canal.  This allowed us to see the castle from the river...

as well as many of the old buildings.  Ghent was known for its textiles and beer.   Some stretches of the canals were lined with what were once large warehouses and factories. 

The farthest point we could reach on the river was the Rabot, a twin-towered gateway that was originally part of the city wall.  

We had lunch in what was the Butcher’s Hall where butchers once plied their trade.  There a large number of Flemish hams suspended from the rafters in the hall, curing until ready to be served at the restaurant.

We then visited St. Nicholas’ Cathedral

and the Belfry.

*************************************************

Watch video of the ringing of the bells.

*************************************************

We took the elevator to the top of the Belfry for more views.

Then it was back to Brussels to see the completed small floral tapestries.   

Catalonia (section of Spain)

Japan

Germany

Spain

Italy

Malta

Mexico 

and Belgium.  

From there we wandered around and found wonderful treats of all types available at the various stores.

However, we settled on a regular restaurant for dinner.  It turned out to be in a very old building that had beautiful stained glass in the ceilings and walls.