Netherlands/Belgium Bike Tour Day 11: Gent
Posted by Cassie, November 11th, 2009
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Gent is neat, old city that has the charm of Brugge without the hordes of tourists. Gent was founded in around 800, so it has a lot of neat, old buildings. The campground was on the outskirts of the city, so we had our first public transportation experience in Europe. The bus was really nice with comfortable seats. We got off the bus right by St. Micheal’s bridge, which has the best view of the city’s monuments. Most of the city center was a pedestrian zone, so it was a pleasure to walk along the streets without dealing with the crazy Belgian drivers. Gent was also a huge construction zone. There were cranes everywhere doing restoration work. It looked like they were doing a lot of work to make the city as big of a tourist attraction as Brugge.
View from St. Michaels Bridge
We toured the Castle of the Counts, a huge castle with a moat around part of it. We walked around the castle walls, and we had a great view of the city. The castle also had exhibition on medieval torture, and it was really gruesome. I would not have wanted to be accused of a crime in the Middle Ages.
Castle of the Counts
We climbed the Belfort tower for another great view of the city. It was much better than the Belfort tower in Brugge because you could walk around the tower outside for unobstructed views. There was an archaeological dig taking place directly below the Belfort, and it was really neat to see it from above.
Belfort
Archaeological dig
View from Belfort - St. Baaf Cathedral
View from Belfort
View from Belfort
Of course, we also had to stop and get some more Belgian chocolates! It is amazing how cheap the chocolates are in Belgium. It is the one thing that is cheaper in Europe. If we bought the same amount of chocolates at Chocolaterie Stam in Des Moines, it would have been much more expensive.
Gent is beautifully lit up at night, and it was neat to walk around the city at night. We decided to walk back to the campground instead of taking the bus, and it was a longer walk that we realized. It took us 1 hour and 10 minutes to walk back. We were so worn out from walking that we were looking forward to riding our bikes the next day. 🙂
St. Baaf Cathedral lit up at night
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