Day 024 - Exploring Ghent 🏰🇧🇪⛪️🍫🧇

Day 024. A solid day exploring Ghent on foot. We take the #1 tram to the Vogelmarkt, the old bird market square that's now a quiet green edge of the city centre, and walk in from there. First stop is Neuhaus for a box of truffles, which we eat sitting in front of the Belfry, the 91-metre medieval tower that's been Ghent's watchtower, alarm bell and civic strongbox since 1313, and is now UNESCO-listed. Then Saint Bavo's Cathedral, which holds the Ghent Altarpiece by Jan and Hubert van Eyck, a 1432 polyptych that is one of the most important paintings in Western art and also the most stolen artwork in history. We walk the historic centrum to Graslei, the row of guild houses along the old harbour, some dating to the 1200s, and reckoned one of the most picturesque stretches of waterfront in Europe. We have a picnic on the steps and watch the boats go by. Next is Gravensteen, the Castle of the Counts, built in 1180 by Philip of Alsace as a moated stone fortress designed to remind a rebellious merchant city who was in charge. Over the centuries it served as a courthouse, a prison and a place of public torture and execution, and the museum inside doesn't soften it. There's a room of instruments, a guillotine, and a frank account of what was done to people in that building. Heavy going in places, and a real conversation with the boys afterwards about what justice used to look like. We shake it off at Het Waterhuis aan de Bierkant, a canalside bar with well over a hundred Belgian beers, in a building that reportedly did business as a brothel before it did business as a pub. Then to the House of Waffles for a waffle buried in chocolate along the Graslei, and a look at the work in Werregarenstraat, the narrow alley where graffiti is legal and the walls get painted over every few days. We walk home through Citadelpark and call it a day. 📍 Today's stops Vogelmarkt Neuhaus, Ghent Belfry of Ghent Saint Bavo's Cathedral Graslei Gravensteen (Castle of the Counts) Het Waterhuis aan de Bierkant House of Waffles, Graslei Werregarenstraat (Graffiti Alley) Citadelpark 👨‍👩‍👦‍👦 We're a family of four from Halifax, Nova Scotia, spending a year travelling through Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Portugal, Hawaii, French Polynesia, New Zealand and Australia. New videos every day of the trip, so subscribe to follow along. #Ghent #Gent #Belgium #Gravensteen #Graslei #SaintBavos #VanEyck #Werregarenstraat #BelgianBeer #Waffles #FamilyTravel #Sabbatical #TravelVlog #TravelWithKids