Gorgeous Ghent – Historic Flanders

While still in California, we pulled out the map to see which central location we should be in on our first month in Europe.  We had traveled to many major cities in our prior vacations.  Since we had not been to Belgium we decided that would be our first stop.  In Belgium, we were considering Brugge and Ghent.  Ghent won the toss. Being centrally located and well connected by trains.  After being here for two weeks, I know we made a very good choice. Not only is Ghent centrally located, but the place is absolutely gorgeous.  We found out that Ghent was the second largest city in the world after Paris from the year 1000 to 1500!

Looking for apartments in Ghent was not difficult.  There are a lot of vacation apartments available for varying budgets.  I wanted some space as you know the Amsterdam room was tiny and if we were to be in one place for a month, a bit more space was necessary.  As photographs are deceptive, I had made sure by writing and asking the apartment owner a lot of question about the apartment. The location and the floor it was on, the square meters etc.  Yes, space is measured in square meters and not square feet.  I found out it did not have air conditioning.  Now not having air conditioning is not uncommon in Europe. So I asked them if they would provide a fan.  After about 25 emails back and forth, I finally booked this apartment.

We arrived on the train at Gent Sint-Pieters station.  As the train pulled in I saw part of the station was under construction.  We got out  and dragging our carry on's boarded tram no 1 to go to our apartment.  A 5-6 minute ride and a block of walking got us to our apartment.  The owner was waiting for us. We walked up the one flight of stairs and entered the apartment.  The apartment was as it was shown online.  We loved it the moment we moved in.  Since we had arrived just after lunch, we had half a day to explore the area. The Gentse Feesten was in its last few days.  There were a lot of people, music, cafe's with people eating and drinking. The weather absolutely perfect. As we walked around the corner, we saw "Belfry" (Bell Fort) its tower so impressive that we stopped in our tracks.  An awesome sight!  Our first thought was," We made the right decision to come here".  Cobbled streets, Belgium chocolates, 1500 varieties of Beer, music to accompany it, and medieval architecture….Was this a dream?

But what struck me as awesome was the artwork on ceilings at the train station. The outside looks like a castle. A station built in 1912. The bus and tram system is just amazing. They run every 5 to 10 minutes and cover most of Flanders. We have bought an OmniPass for one month like a local from the transport company called De Lijn.  The cost of the pass is 38Euros per person for the month. What a deal! If you have the time you can travel in Flanders where the bus system operates. The country has two languages, Flemish in Flanders or the northern half and French in Wallonia the southern half.

Our routine was decided when we left California. Every place was going to be like our home. So when we wake up in the morning, and that is no longer with an alarm, we have our first cup of tea and breakfast and head out  for a walk.  Our walks have been interesting. We take a different route without pre-planning where we will go.  We walk for about an hour and head back home.  Our guide to getting back home are the Spires of the churches and cathedrals!  We have a couple of local grocery stores (chains), where we have been several times now and the staff has got to know us. Makes us feel at home.  On Fridays, there are two major markets.  One selling a variety of cheeses, meats, and fish.  The other selling fruits and vegetables. We go to both the markets as the prices of food are much better and it is interesting to communicate with some English that they understand and sign language to get what we want from the vendors.  The first few days were challenging to read all the names as everything  is written in Dutch.  But now we can tell what it means, and it's only been 2 weeks, or maybe we are making good guesses. LOL!

Being in the center of Ghent there are a lot of apartments around us. Large windows of the apartments are common and people do not shut the blinds.  We look into each other's apartment.  Across the street, opposite our building, we see a young lady come home every evening. One day Hemant saw someone cleaning her apartment. He thought she was the owner of the rental apartment. It happened to be the mother of the young lady who was renting the place.  The mother had come to clean her apartment. What a lucky girl!  But then a couple of days later we saw the young lady herself, cleaning the apartment all over again.  It is a small area, how often would one need to clean it? Read on more and you will find out why!

People are mostly friendly but keep to themselves.  So we decided that we would stop and ask directions and then get into talking to them.  We were successful many times. One lady we talk to yesterday told us that people in Flanders are all about cleanliness.  They keep cleaning their apartments all the time. And if one gets invited over ( I am hoping one day soon) they will  say " please ignore the mess" when their apartment is absolutely spotless. Explains why that young lady cleans her apartment every night!

Most people after having kids move to the smaller towns and villages as they want more space for larger families.  But with transport which is so efficient and punctual, they are only 20-25 minutes away from the bigger cities. We found that it's also a very safe place. Several times when we came home late, we saw young people walking around without any worries. Hemant said that a couple of times, when he woke up at around 2, am he peeked out and saw ladies walking without any fear.  Speaks volumes about safety in this city!  The roads are 3 lanes: a track for trams, and a lane for cars and buses, and a lane for the cyclist. The bicyclists have their own traffic lights.  Yes, watch out for  the bicyclist here too!

The Ghentse Fest is a 9-day event.  One of the largest festivals in Northern Europe after Oktoberfest.  There were 38 venues for the festival with music, plays, puppet shows and more. Something for everyone. And the cafe's and bar were offering all the mouthwatering food and drink to confuse your palate.  We went to the open air performances where latin, jazz, pop and you name it music was entertaining large crowds.  It's like, all worries of the world are forgotten this week! Even the rain one evening did not dampen the spirit. It was wonderful to experience this vibrant city with its canals with boat rides and food to enthrall the most pickiest of people.

A lot of energy and a lot of fun!