Pancakes, clock towers, and a creepy castle
Trip Start
Apr 03, 2007
1
25
69
Trip End
Jun 16, 2007
Ghent,
Belgium
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Today, I finished seeing the rest of Brugge, then headed not too far away to the town of Ghent. Ghent, like Brugge, has a lot of history behind it, very interesting architecture and buildings, similar cafes and restaurants, plus a medieval castle right nearby the hostel I'm staying at
A chamber inside Gravensteen
.Last night, an Aussie couple stayed in the same room as me. They're going to see Brugge for a couple days, then head into Amsterdam for the weekend. There's some big festival going on in Amsterdam, so a long time back they booked a place to make sure to be there for it. As if it wasn't packed enough, now it will really be packed full of people. They were really nice, and were interested to hear about my travels. I ran into them again later on when I was out checking out the town.
My first stop in Brugge this morning was the Bell Tower. After climbing up the 366 steps (or something like that) and squeezing past people on the narrow spiral staircase, I made it to the top and got some great views of the city. Brugge has so much variety in it, the view out each window was completely different. Next, I headed over to the Church of Our Lady to see the statue by Michelangelo, Madonna and Child. It's one of only 3 statues by the great artist outside of Italy and the only one to leave the country during his lifetime. Needless to say, it was a focal point of a whole bunch of tour groups, so there were hoards of people around it constantly. It's also quite small and you can't get right up close to it, so it's not too easy to appreciate. Guess it's better to go later in the day when the tour groups clear out. I spent awhile longer wandering around the city and it was getting towards lunch time. The map I had said that this one place had the "Best Pancakes in the World", so I decided to give it a try. Now these were good pancakes, Belgian style, with raspberry sauce, pears, tangy fruit ice cream (tasted like kiwi), and whipped cream. Topped it off with the traditional drink with pancakes, cider. It was a really neat little place too, all the décor looked like it was 100 years old, and they were playing nice classical-style music (practically everywhere here plays loud, annoying American rock or hip-hop - maybe there is such a thing as European pop music, but I've hardly ever heard it)
Belfry/Clock Tower in Ghent
. Bidding Brugge and the Snuffel Backpacker's Hostel a fond farewell, I headed for the train station for the ride to Ghent. It was only about 30 minutes and passed quickly. By that time, it had really gotten hot outside (I think it was 77 here today), so when I arrived at Ghent, I got to experience a hot, sweaty, cramped (we're talking elbow in your ear, people just kept getting on at every stop) tram ride into the city center, then another fun hot stroll with my giant pack through the crowded streets to finally find my hostel. On the way, I passed a bunch of cool buildings, the coolest being Gravensteen Castle. My hostel is literally a stone's throw away from the castle, and it's a nice place. Although much smaller than the one in Copenhagen, this one has very clean rooms and each room has its own bathroom and shower.
First stop after unloading my pack was Gravensteen. This is exactly what you think of when you think of a medieval castle - moat, ramparts, tower, dungeons, executions, torture. Yes, they very much got "medieval" on peoples' hineys there. Many of the exhibits were of instruments of execution and torture - guiottines, thumb screws, the rack, spiked collars, they had it all. Some of it was quite gruesome really, but what was really gruesome was the fact that it really happened there for quite a few years back around the 1300's. They had a dungeon and torture chamber too, all quite dark and creepy (although not dank and stench-filled, as I'm sure it must have been in those dark days). They had latrines that just dumped straight outside the walls - hygiene wasn't exactly paramount back then.
Spent the rest of the day wandering around Ghent, walking up its belfry (not as high as the one in Brugge, but a great view nonetheless), and meandering down winding narrow cobblestoned alleys
Brugge Market Square from Belfry
. I think I'm finally getting my fill of cobblestones, but they're still neat to see and wonder how old they are and who might have walked on the same stones years ago. I stopped in a place for Turkish Pizza, it was interesting, they're kind of boat-shaped, with lots of different kinds of meats, cheese, veggies, and eggs in the center. Right along the canal, hundreds of people (mostly students - this is a big university town) were out enjoying the setting sun.Ghent is a neat place (especially with the castle), but overall, I liked the atmosphere in Brugge better. True, there are more tourists there, but there's something special about the place, maybe because of all the canals (Ghent has canals too, but not nearly as many), or maybe just the laid back atmosphere. If you have to choose one, choose Brugge, but with an extra day (or even just a few extra hours) check out Ghent.
