Europe's Disney Land

If Disney Land were a concept in the 14th Century, Ghent would have fit the bill without even trying.

 Ghent

Sint-Michielsbrug

I was set on Ghent from the outset of planning this trip thanks to the advice of a coworker. Neither Phil nor I knew what to expect, but the coworker did an extensive trip through Belgium and never stopped raving about this city. So I was convinced! If you look up a little about it, you find it was one of the largest cities in Medieval Europe and then became a hub for the textile industry. It is not a big city today by most metrics, but it is densely packed with awesome structures around the market area.

As far as touring the city goes, the central attraction is one street through the middle of town which displays historic buildings, one after another after another. You have never seen anything like it. Bam bam bam, your jaw stays on the floor.

Inside the one accessible church, Saint Bavo's Cathedral

Gravensteen Castle

Lightning Bird Tree, but we did not get to see it lit up.

Ghent is not only comprised of exquisite buildings.

An alley with legalized graffiti

Ghent is known for one type of food beyond what permeates all of Belgium: waterzooi. It is a creamy stew featuring either whitefish or chicken. We found a place that served both types; Phil had chicken and I had fish. And I must say this was the single best food item I have had on my whole trip, maybe in my life. I continue to talk about it days later. Everything is getting compared to it. I think Phil wants me to shut up about it.

Excited for my Nordic waterzooi. Little did I know how delightful it would be.

There is a Belgian restaurant right next to where I used to live in Indianapolis. It was my favorite restaurant in Indy. It has fries and crepes and mussels and carbonnade (from my previous post) and waterzooi. I doubt I could enjoy it now that I have had the real stuff.

Continue below to read about our quick, unplanned detour in Antwerp.

Antwerp

We only stopped in Antwerp because the Inter-City travel trains from Ghent to Amsterdam go through Antwerp. It was a nice stop for three hours. Really did not need any more time than that. Just a walk from the train station to the water (Antwerp is a medium city with a very large port) and back. The castle on the water was nothing spectacular but worth a quick view.

Cathedral in the background

The main tourist street with a big diamond trade

Close-up of the Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal Antwerpen

The very first European skyscraper (28 stories)!

Antwerp-Central train station

By now, our stomachs are shrinking to European-size. We have trained ourselves onto European portions. Which is great for saving money.

Hetsteen Castle

"Gaze upon my crotch!"

Also my allergies are destroying me. I think something is wrong. I finally picked up some anti-histamines at a Dutch apothecary, and those are managing my sneezes and itchy eyes. But it was rough up to procuring the meds. My allergies once were contained to April, then April and May. Now they breach June and are worse than ever. I have my traveller health insurance, but I do not want to waste time in a doctor's office unless I really must.

Our hostel in Ghent was an eco-friendly boat!

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  Free cheese! How often does that happen? Well, at least twice in a lifetime.