Ghent
Day 7 (September 20, 2013) [continued]: I was especially excited for Ghent as I had read fabulous things in advance of going — and I was not disappointed. It turned out to be my favorite city of the trip! We arrived at our hotel on Hoogstraat, the Grand Hotel Reylof, in the late afternoon. The hotel surpassed all expectations, especially given how reasonably priced it was. It was very “classic” meets “modern.” They provided complimentary bathrobes and slippers, which is my silly of test for a nice hotel. We settled in and familiarized ourselves with the hotel and explored the pool, fitness center, sauna, library, restaurant, etc.)
After exploring the hotel, we headed out to wander around our new locale. SO picturesque!! We walked by the Graslei and Korenlei (channels), over St. Michael’s Bridge and even checked out het groot vleeshuis, a medival butchers market.
Hungry from all the walking, we split a bite to eat (+ beer, of course). We had a table in the sun which was very nice since it was a beautiful day, and warmer than it had been elsewhere. After we ate, we stopped by Gravensteen castle, but tours had ended for the day, so we made a mental note to re-visit. The castle looked like it was straight from the middle ages — or a fairytale (except that inside is a museum with various torture devices historically used in Ghent — not very fairytale-ish)!
After so much exploring, we figured it was time for more beer, so we headed to a crazy hole-in-the-wall home/bar, café ‘t velootje, that Rob really wanted to visit after reading about it online. We almost couldn’t find it because it was really just a random door into a residential looking place… this is what was inside:
The owner was a bit insane (or plays the part well), but a fun character. In order to make room for us he took his arm to sweep just enough laundry off of a bench to make room for us. His cat (Duval) quickly joined us and we became fast friends. Definitely an experience to remember… though I rather wish I could forget the bathroom in that place (not surprisingly = ew). Tired from walking all day, we grabbed some pizza at Pizza Roma to take back to our hotel. We also stopped at a bottle shop for some brews. The store clerk turned away two girls in front of us because they were paying with a 50euro bill… and then proceeded to accept our 100euro bill for our beer. He went on a tangent for about 10 minutes about “life lessons” and how “sometimes you say yes and sometimes you say no.” We headed back to our comfy hotel to end the day with dinner and a movie.
Day 8 (September 21, 2013): A full day in Ghent! One of the best attributes of the Grand Hotel Reylof was the complimentary breakfast. They served quite a feast with — all sorts of breads and pastries, with delicious spreads (including banana chocolate and caramel apple), fresh juices, breakfast meats, pancakes, eggs, etc. After stuffing our faces with “free” food, we went back to our room to digest before taking advantage of the fitness center. Once showered, we headed into town to tour the Gravensteen Castle, which was built by the Knights of Templar. We toured the nooks and crannies of the castle, took in the torture exhibits (not my fave, but interesting nonetheless) and enjoyed a great view of the city from the highest points of the castle.
And then I sat on a throne.
After we finished touring the castle, we headed back to the hotel to swap out our camera’s memory card (which was, not surprisingly, full of castle-y pictures). After that quick pit stop, we walked around Ghent a bit more before heading to the Ghent belfry, which dates back to 1425! We climbed to the very top and were rewarded with this view:
As the day wound down, we stopped for a late dinner, al fresco, at a charming restaurant along the graselei. This was the view from our table:
Dinner was great – we shared a salad, a monsieur croque and desserts – but, the company was even better.
I had read before our visit that “you haven’t seen ghent until you’ve seen it at night” and I couldn’t agree more. So beautiful!
Then, home again, home again – jiggity jig.
The adventure did not stop though as the electricity went out in virtually the entire city later that evening, including at our hotel. Fortunately, the staff was very accommodating and provided plenty of light-alternatives.
Day 9 (September 22, 2013): Our last morning in Ghent. A sad morning indeed. We enjoyed another breakfast feast, compliments of the hotel, then packed up. Fortunately, we were off to another great city — Bruges (which turned out to be my second favorite city of the trip).
