Ghent and Spectacular Gravensteen Castle

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So incredibly thankful we had moved on from Ypres from the music festival and a decent night sleep was had.

Onto the town of Ghent (Gent) which had been relatively untouched by war as the Germans had moved through prior to forces advancing and were retreating fast at the end of the war. It is a student/university town and the sheer number of push bikes attest to this.

Helen was meeting us, coming from Antwerp, so Marie and Philip went into town first, while we waited for her train to arrive.

A trip in on the tram to the centre we came across an 'interesting' person (still not in agreeance on the sex) who went above anything expected in the rain, guiding us to another tram which literally dropped us straight in front of Gravensteen Castle. Spectacular is the only word to describe this castle.

Gravensteen Castle is also known as the Castle of the Counts and is pretty much the only remaining medieval fortress in the Flanders region that has its defence system basically intact. It was left to ruin in the late 1800's and only in 1913 when it was acquired by the government and restored did it become a tourist attraction. It had previously been a cotton mill. It also has a torture museum and weapon museum inside its walls and houses the justice museum as well.

Heading into Daskalides for as it turns out the best coffee we have had in Belgium. Also a fantastic brownie for Amelia and the most expensive cucumber lemonade drink for Helen at €4.50, more expensive than our coffee or a glass of wine!!

Coming across quite an impressive statue of a lion, Phil pointed out poisiedon on the house behind. They do love their statues here.

Walking back around Gent in awe of the gothic architecture of the belfry and St Michael's Church. They almost look superimposed on the background and if they weren't there in front of me not sure I would've believed the photos.

Looking into an entrance we were quite shocked to see parma hams (local ganda ham) hanging from the ceiling. Turns out the building is the great butchers hall, dating back to the 15th century. It is now the centre for 'promotional products' aka local foods.

It was starting to drizzle with rain by this stage so we decided to head back to the hotel and move onto Bruges.

Amelia decided Dad's shoulders were the perfect place to fall asleep.. Not so sure Phil agreed with this!

Getting back onto the tram it was a quick ride back, the public transport system here is certainly user friendly.

Driving to Bruges, the weather started to turn bad, interesting times to drive on the wrong side of the road in that.

Finding our place got the next couple of nights, 3queens, just on the outskirts of the main centre. Marie, Helen and I headed to the supermarket to pick up a few things before a home cooked meal, a couple of drinks and then bed.

Off to explore Bruges tomorrow...

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