Ghent reminded me of Antwerp for a few reasons - it was Flemmish speaking, it had a river that ran close to the historic centre and the people were very well put together in terms of their fashion and general healthy-looking-ness. However, the whole city seemed to be a construction zone! They are undergoing a really big project that is due to be complete at the end of 2012. One of the first things we did was go to the tourist info booth and ask if there is any part of Ghent that wasn't under construction. The lady suggested "you should try Antwerp!", which was quite funny!
Our day went by quickly because it was a nice, sunny day and we had lots of fun. Once again, I got my hands on a walking tour which we followed and near the end of which we took a boat ride on the canal and got some really great pictures.
After the boat ride we went into the Marriott to steal some internet and use the toilets which were recommended by the boat tour operator. (Seriously though it was part of his tour ("If you look to your left, you'll see the Marriott hotel. It has two gold swans on the façade which, back in the day, meant that you could get beer there. If the two swans were facing away from each other, that meant you could get women with your beer. It's quite a nice hotel, and it has very nice toilets.")...
Right, so here are some pictures of my adventures in Ghent:
Well, that's that! I believe my next day trip will be Brugges! ... Stay tuned!
Fantastic pictures! The first two reminded me of Holland, as did the cheese shop and a couple of the canal pics. That's a really cool picture of the "Gentse Tripel." I think I would like to visit Ghent. It looks pretty nice. So there were some parts that weren't under construction. Good photography....
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