Picture postcard Europe

Ghent in the morning

Of all the places we visited on vacation, Belgium would have to lay claim to the 'picture postcard' capital.  The photos you see on the internet and postcards?  Well, they show Belgium actually how it is!  There is a well-established rivalry as to which is the best place to go; Ghent or Bruge?  This we discovered while planning the holiday.  Indeed, the film "In Bruge" is what helped Jason to decide that this part of the world was a must-see.  So when I decided that we would be staying in Ghent due to the economics of the argument, Jason was none too convinced.

 

The best child's bedroom
according to Lily

In the taxi on the way to our accommodation, the very well-English-spoken local driver snickered when we told him the address.  He was so nice.  As well as bracing us for the perils of taking taxis that overcharge foreign travellers, he prepared us for the truth of the area we were staying in for 4 nights.  We braced ourselves.  He definitely wasn't sugar-coating as we drove down a series of dilapidated streets to our destination.

Those steep stairs

As usual Jason's face clouded over and mine remained as positive as can be. That's how we roll, and this situation was no different.  We entered the house and to our relief it was very nice.  Dodgy on the outside, comfortable and nice on the inside.  The greatest surprise were the internal flights of stairs.  Even Jason couldn't believe the pitch on them.  Ben learned a new word, 'steep' and both he and Lily were under strict instructions to never open the child gates that closed these death-traps off.  After walking through the local (not so clean) streets to the supermarket to get supplies, stopping at the run-down children's playground (didn't deter OUR munchkins at all) and heading back home, we were a little let down after the previous awesome places we had stayed at.

Soup and French bread for dinner!

This however, was all offset by a lovely big wooden family table, a lovely little outside courtyard and a gorgeous children's room with the best toy box and doll's house ever to be seen!  The kids were happy, we were...well let's say keeping calm.  And so began our few days in Ghent.

The next morning we went in search of the city centre of Ghent.  When we walked along the canal and finally reached St Michel's Church and the bridge that ushers you into the city centre...well let's say we were absolutely sold on the choice to reside in Ghent for the next few nights.  It was nothing short of glorious.  The sun was still rising and the quiet peace of the little city centre added to the magic.  We had a wonderful day tasting the local foods; with particular focus placed on pastries, chocolate and Belgium waffles!  We walked around the main centre and headed towards the canal for a boat tour.

Picture perfect canal

In all we were to take three canal tours while on vacation.  The tour in Ghent was by far the best.  It was simply outstanding.  This could have something to do with the tour guide and his 'take me' voice (Jason grumbles every time I mention that), the time of day which was very receptive to small people's good behaviour, or the fact that everything the canal guide had to say was fascinating.  Whatever the reason, it was a terrific way to spend an hour. We met a lovely couple to chat with on the ride, and the views were nothing short of gorgeous.

Gravensteen Castle

Feeling a real spring in our step at this stage of the day we decided to head to Gravensteen Castle.  We were wise to the fact that in its history this castle had lay claim to being a mental institution and a castle in which torture was the norm.  It proved a very helpful tool once again in the continued good behaviour of the ankle-biters who enjoyed looking at the torture equipment, but did not enjoy for one second the tour down to the dungeons.  Words such as 'monsters' and 'dragons' played themselves nicely into the conversation, and we found them to be most helpful in our newly-found parental discipline regime.  Again, I'm surprised that the kids have actually come back home and seem still quite normal...

Inside St Bavo's Cathedral

We visited St Bavo's Cathedral ("NO photos they pleaded while countless tourists pulled out their flashing pieces of technology).  It was stunning.  I managed a sneaky photo at one stage much to Jason's condemnation.  Other monuments around the city centre were also great spots for photo opportunities.  On our walk home early that evening we were sad that we were to only spend one full day in this gorgeous wee city.

The next two days were also full.  We had told Lily before our vacation that she would have to be walking for long days.  We were not joking as she found out.  To be honest, we still can't believe how well she did with the amount of walking that was done over this leg of the journey.  We totally relied upon public transport (trains, buses and trams) but mostly we relied upon our legs to get us around.  She was fantastic.  Daddy's shoulders also proved a valuable asset when she decided she just could not walk another step.  In the meantime, I could swear that Benjamin enjoyed watching his poor big sister struggling along while he was firmly ensconced in his pram.

The easy way to travel

Bruge was our next day trip.  We anticipated so much for this town.  Our bus ride from the train station to the centre of Bruge revealed all.  People, buses, bikes and horses and carts everywhere!  How there are not more accidents in this place is beyond me.  Certainly Bruge has its appeal.  The architecture is magnificent.  But for us, when compared to Ghent, it comes in second place.  And if you add Brussels to the mix, we think it actually could be placed down in third.

Bruge is a town we had expected so much of and it didn't deliver.  Maybe it was because we had such high expectations?  Not sure.  But while it has its charm, it also suffers, from our point of view, from being over-touristy (still not sure if that is a word).  We wanted to take photos of the beautiful architecture but it was marred by the modern tents erected in front with stages for bands and big lighting with sound equipment.  Other areas had the architecture hidden behind canopies along a line of eateries offering expensive food and beverages.  Being summer, the place was sorely overcrowded and you were jostled wherever you walked.  There wasn't the quaint and simple feel of Ghent, and the architecture wasn't on show like it had been in that little place we resided.

A busy Bruge

It is probably unfair to Bruge to account of it like this.  When we compare this to many other places in the world, it is indeed beautiful.  One cannot detract from the history of the place and its architectural wonders so simply.  But for us, Ghent was the unspoiled town we had hoped to see.  And the next day when we went on our day trip to Brussels we were able to add another experience to help balance that view.  Brussels was gorgeous.  We spent a lovely morning walking through the centre, stopping to listen to violinists and to take photos of the splendid architecture.  The Manneken-Pis was something of an anti-climax (size DOES matter!) but the McDonald's was an absolute hit with the kids and Jason...they serve beer there of course!

Found it! The Mannekin-Pis

We had walked our way through three amazing Belgium towns in three days.  The next day we would be leaving for Amsterdam.  Throwing caution to the wind we headed back for an early evening in Ghent city centre.  What a great decision!  We decided to treat the kids to the must-do horse and cart ride around the city.  The sun was getting lower and we had an awesome university student allow Lily to take hold of the reins as we travelled around the city (payback for all her walking!).  We had a lovely bar dinner as the sun was setting and toasted to another awesome experience in another amazing country.  The beer was pouring smoothly and the gin...well I've not had one that's tasted so nice in ages!  We sauntered home by the canal as the night closed in on a beautiful Belgium day.

What began as a momentary disappointment as to what we had landed ourselves in, ended in a whirlwind of amazing history, architecture and culture.  We couldn't have asked for a better outcome despite what appeared on the surface to be a hiccup at the start.  We would come back to this country in a breath.  Looking back on it now, this part of our journey has reminded us not to judge things so quickly, nor to judge on the exterior only.

Ghent

A salient reminder to us, and a very good lesson to share with our children someday.