Jan Breydel, Ghent

Advantages: Sweet Belgian city with some interesting unique things to see
Disadvantages: Not booming out of season

......pretty and witty and bright...charming, oh, so charming ... Ghent was our the other city we spent time in during our recent trip to Belgium, and I think I preferred it to Antwerp. Your initial feeling when entering a foreign city for a first time can often be an indication of how much you'll enjoy your stay - it's not about how good a city is on paper, or how other people perceive it, but what you think of it that really matters, and Ghent and I got on like a house on fire. Ghent has a rustic Italian feel to it, without being either rustic or Italian. I think what I mean is that it feels traditional, properly-European, complete with old cobbled streets, gaudy cathedrals and churches and a sweet old castle. It's a nice quiet place to look around at times, such as Sunday morning when all good natives are at Mass... Read review

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Advantages: Very pleasant, easy to visit, excellent food and beer
Disadvantages: None

...and cafes and these are all very reasonably priced. I always try to get my usual portion of Moules and Frites (cost about 495BEF less than £8) and have never been disappointed. Of course as I was driving I had to be careful with the local beers but it was a warm day so I had to have one. In the centre of the Market Place there is a statue of Jan Breydel and Pieter de Coninck who fought for independence from the French in 1302. A pleasant part about Bruges is that it s all flat and level so you cn walk around the town to see without excessive exertion. From the Market Square I walked through to the Stadhuis (Town Hall) but unfortunately it is being renovated at the moment so the façade is not visible. Next door is the Basilica of the Holy Blood which is in an ornate casket in a small church shrine. The tourist information and some useful public... Read review

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Advantages: Wonderful buildings, great bars and lots to do.
Disadvantages: Not quite as pretty as Bruges.

...During our recent jaunt to Ostende we decided to go off on the train for the day. In my previous review about the wonderful beer dark beer called Zatte Bie I mentioned that we drank it while in Ghent. This has prompted me to tell you all about our grand day out in this lovely city. We were only there for one day and did kind of just do a glorified bar crawl….but we did get the chance to explore in the process! After getting over the shock of the train leaving on time we settled back for the 45 minute journey from Ostende ~ through some extremely pretty, but extremely FLAT scenery! ~~~USEFUL INFO. Ghent is in an area of Belgium called East Flanders (Ostende is in the neighbouring region of West Flanders…Ned Flanders is a character in the Simpsons and shouldn’t be confused with any of these areas!). The main language of Ghent... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful