Running out of money? Don't have much time to travel? Well that's what happened when I only got 1 week of summer holiday instead of 3 like I got last year, and limited budget. This summer I went to Belgium, visited 4 gorgeous city of Belgium. I've posted some story about Belgium before, so I don't think I need to explain about Belgium anymore in this post. In summer, Belgium railways have a special "Summer Deals" which able you to pay only for 7.50euro per trip to go to everywhere in Belgium. This time I use the opportunity to go to Gent, Bruges (Brugge), Brussels, and Dinant. I only spent 22.50 for ticket in total (Essen-Bruges, Bruges-Dinant, and Dinant-Essen). How about Gent and Brussels? Well to go to Brugge you will pass Gent, so you can just as well stop there and walk around for a little while.
Day 1 - Gent & Brugge
This time I'm not travelling alone, I have my partner in crime Stephan with me. We took 9am train from Etten-Leur to Gent, and we get there around 11ish. Gent (Ghent) is a city and a municipality located in the Flemish region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province. The city started as a settlement at the confluence of the Rivers Scheldt and Lys and in the Middle Ages became one of the largest and richest cities of northern Europe. WHen we get there the city was kinda quiet in a weird way, but after a few meters walking from the train station we know the reason why.
The day before we arrived there was the last day of Gentse Feesten, 10 days of party, booze, etc. So when we got there the city still quite messy and you can see lots of people still up from the party last night.
First stop is the tourist information, it only takes 15minutes walking from Gent Dampoort (it's a smaller station, not the main station and only passed by the train that comes from Antwerp, but it's closer to the center). You can ask for a free map and lots of suggestion what to do and where to go.
Next to the Tourist information you can see Gravensteen. The Gravensteen is a castle in Ghent originating from the Middle Ages. The name means "castle of the count" in Dutch. The present castle was built in 1180 by count Philip of Alsace and was modeled after the crusaders castles that Philip of Alsace encountered while he participated in the second crusade. Before its construction, there stood a wooden castle on the same location, presumably built in the ninth century. The castle served as the seat of the Counts of Flanders until they abandoned it in the 14th century. The castle was then used as a courthouse, a prison and eventually decayed. Houses were built against the walls and even on the courtyard and the stones of the walls were used to erect other buildings. At one time it even served as a factory. At the end of the 19th century, the castle was scheduled to be demolished. It's free to enter this castle (if you're under 19) and you have to pay 4euro if you're between 19-26,and 8euro if you're older than 26. Or if you look younger than your age you might benefit cheaper price like Stephan (he's 28, but they think he's younger than 26). Oh from Gravensteen you can also see the whole city from the top
After the Gravensteen we walk our way through Korenlei (where rows of typical Old Belgium houses lay across the river de Leie) and to the St Michielskerk, St. Niklaaskerk, and through the way to Stadhuis, St Baafskathedraal, Belfort en Lakenhall. I used the walking tour suggested by frommers and the map I got from tourist info. It takes around 4-5hours to walk around Ghent.
After finish walking around in Ghent, we took 5pm train to Brugge, the train goes every 15 minutes from Ghent Sint Pieters to Brugge. It took around 30 minutes from Ghent to Brugge. The weather wasn't really friendly when we get there, and it was starting to rain. Tired from walking around Gent, we decided to go to our hostel first to freshened up. We're staying at Snuffel Backpacker Hostel, and paid 18euro/night/person. To be honest it's not the best hostel I've stayed in for that price, but good thing about this hostel the price is included breakfast, and they have a nice one. Okay, back to Brugge. Bruges (Brugge) is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located in the northwest of the country. The historic city centre is a prominent World Heritage Site of UNESCO. It is oval-shaped and about 430 hectares in size. Along with a few other canal-based northern cities, such as Amsterdam, it is sometimes referred to as "The Venice of the North". Bruges has a significant economic importance thanks to its port. At one time, it was the "chief commercial city" of the world. In my opinion Brugge is quite similar to Ghent but only smaller and more quiet which I like. The coldness of rainy day doesn't stop us to explore the city at night, with the free map we got from the hostel we start to pin the place we want to go to. Our first stop is one of the city gate, Smedenpoort that has a bronze skull of a traitor that opened the gate to let french people at the end of 17th century (Stephan has a thing for bloody story). Our next destination is 't Zand, or what people say the modern Brugge, where they have the famous concert hall, and as you can see in the picture, it's different from other building in Brugge, because this one is practically new.
A few minutes walking from 't Zand is the Beguinage (Het Begijnhof), there's no beguines here anymore but since 1927 lives a community of Benedictine monastery, founded by Canon Hoornaert. In that year, the houses on the west side also transformed and expanded into the Monasterium Vineyard, a priory of Benedictine sisters parish. This place is forbidden for guys after 6pm (sorry guys), but the map given by the hostel said that the garden there is one of the romantic spot in Brugge. But too bad it was already too late when we get there so it's already closed. After taking pictures from outside Het Begijnhof we walked to a street where used to be the "Red Light District" in Brugge. Due to the objection of the churches around, they are forced to close the "Red Light District" but you can still walk through that really narrow street.
Brugge is really pretty at night, but the bad side is you can't enter all the attraction there, because it's already closed. So we continue our journey walking across the must see buildings in Brugge. Overall Brugge is a really nice city to visit. It has gorgeous old building that I haven't seen in any other city in Belgium, it also has beautiful canal, no wonder people call it the Venice of north.
Before we went back to our hostel we make the last stop at Market Square, the view is stunning at night, the lights make the buildings even more gorgeous. Brugge is one of the city I've fell in love with. Maybe someday I'll come here again.
Day 1 - Gent & Brugge
This time I'm not travelling alone, I have my partner in crime Stephan with me. We took 9am train from Etten-Leur to Gent, and we get there around 11ish. Gent (Ghent) is a city and a municipality located in the Flemish region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province. The city started as a settlement at the confluence of the Rivers Scheldt and Lys and in the Middle Ages became one of the largest and richest cities of northern Europe. WHen we get there the city was kinda quiet in a weird way, but after a few meters walking from the train station we know the reason why.
The day before we arrived there was the last day of Gentse Feesten, 10 days of party, booze, etc. So when we got there the city still quite messy and you can see lots of people still up from the party last night.
First stop is the tourist information, it only takes 15minutes walking from Gent Dampoort (it's a smaller station, not the main station and only passed by the train that comes from Antwerp, but it's closer to the center). You can ask for a free map and lots of suggestion what to do and where to go.
Next to the Tourist information you can see Gravensteen. The Gravensteen is a castle in Ghent originating from the Middle Ages. The name means "castle of the count" in Dutch. The present castle was built in 1180 by count Philip of Alsace and was modeled after the crusaders castles that Philip of Alsace encountered while he participated in the second crusade. Before its construction, there stood a wooden castle on the same location, presumably built in the ninth century. The castle served as the seat of the Counts of Flanders until they abandoned it in the 14th century. The castle was then used as a courthouse, a prison and eventually decayed. Houses were built against the walls and even on the courtyard and the stones of the walls were used to erect other buildings. At one time it even served as a factory. At the end of the 19th century, the castle was scheduled to be demolished. It's free to enter this castle (if you're under 19) and you have to pay 4euro if you're between 19-26,and 8euro if you're older than 26. Or if you look younger than your age you might benefit cheaper price like Stephan (he's 28, but they think he's younger than 26). Oh from Gravensteen you can also see the whole city from the top
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| Gravensteen |
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| City of Ghent |
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| Gravensteen |
After the Gravensteen we walk our way through Korenlei (where rows of typical Old Belgium houses lay across the river de Leie) and to the St Michielskerk, St. Niklaaskerk, and through the way to Stadhuis, St Baafskathedraal, Belfort en Lakenhall. I used the walking tour suggested by frommers and the map I got from tourist info. It takes around 4-5hours to walk around Ghent.
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| Kraanlei |
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| St Michielskerk |
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| Stadhuis |
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| Belfort & Lakenhalle |
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| St Pieterskerk |
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| Citadel Park |
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| Smedenpoort |
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| Fountain at 't zand |
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| Concert Hall |
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| "Red Light District" |
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| Het Begijnhof |
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| Jerusalem Church |
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| Church of Our Lady |
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| Gruuthuse Museum |
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| Canal in Brudge |
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| Random Building |
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| Street View Brugge |
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| Belfort |
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| Provincial Court |