Last week you could see some beautiful photos of our daytrip to Ghent… and here’s part II! I will tell you more about the second part of our daytrip and will treat you to some evening photographs which turned out quite alright if I may say so myself 🙂

So where were we… oh yes, the Great Butcher’s House! After that delicious piece of Aalsterse vlaai we devoured there, we continued our walk and made our way towards the Gravensteen. This castle was built in 1180 and has had several purposes (the seat of the counts of Flanders, a courthouse, a prison,…). At the end of the 19th century the city of Ghent bought the castle and it was completely renovated.  Everything was restored to its original condition. Now you can visit the museum (with torture devices!) and climb on top to enjoy the view. I have visited this museum before when my kids were younger and they were well and truly fascinated!

Ghent really is the city of beautifully renovated buildings.You can really see how much effort has been put in these projects. I will let the photos speak for themselves…

And then we arrived at the most beautiful spot in Ghent, the place which is on a lot of postcards… the Graslei and the Korenlei. You can find these two streets on the opposite sides of the river Leie. This place used to be a medieval port and there is a unique row of historical buildings : the house of the Grain Weighers, the Guildhall of the Free Boatmen, the Spijker…

There is so much history in this place and it is a thriving neighbourhood full of restaurants and pubs. You can even just sit on the borders of the river Leie to enjoy the sun with some friends. It’s also the place where you can board one of the tourist boats to do a boat trip around the city.

At the Graslei, we had diner to celebrate my husband’s birthday in a restaurant conveniently called… ‘De Graslei‘. We enjoyed a three course meal in the company of our kids and it truly was a pleasant evening…

 

 

After our diner we did an evening walk through Ghent, seeing the city all lit up. It is definitely a delightful sight to see and should be on your to-do list when visiting Ghent. Below you see some photos of our short evening stroll.

We did a lot of Ghent on our daytrip… and I really want to visit the city again, perhaps on a hot and sunny day this time 🙂

Love, Kathleen

Here you can read about our trip to Utrecht!