Explore Ghent, Belgium

It's 2013 already! I hope to be surprised this year (only pleasantly), and inspired, and surrounded by people who make me happy. I hope all of this for you, too. 

Coming back to my ongoing idea, the second part of the series is about the university city of Ghent in Belgium. My favourite memory of this place is when we asked for directions to the nearest H&M store, someone said, "Oh, it's two lanes away from the big castle. You can't really miss that." Safe to say, architecture, art, and rich culture that spans centuries blend into each other seamlessly here.

PS: Flying with Jet Airways to the foreign this month? Follow the drill as instructed in the first part of this series.   

Past, present, future perfect

Anne Marie stopped at the bend of a crossroad and pointed at an interesting looking building, “Where else will you find such a schizophrenic town hall?” she asked with no expectation for an answer. I made up my mind about this capital city of Flanders (North Belgium), five minutes into conversation with our guide for the day. Red lips, purple glasses, punk hair, leather jacket and boots—this 60-year-old sure was old wine in a vintage bottle. 

Like everything else about this small, primarily student city, Ghent’s architecture is a paradox. Our group squinted at the building together, immediately noticing two distinctly apparent architectural styles on it. 

Ghent’s groovy Town Hall

The right side of this imposing 16^th century structure is flamboyantly gothic, with its age-old window panes and hard-to-identify dark stone statues in the front. A strong influence of the Italian renaissance, which came much later, resonates from the left in a simpler style of neatly designed lines of windows and golden gild work.

Walking along, our guide said that its architecture narrated the history of the city, and was not built to make a pretty picture. A little ahead from the town hall, right opposite a 13^th century cellar tucked under a 19^th century building, I whipped out my camera for shots of Ghent’s 200-yard, fully dedicated graffiti wall that keeps its large student population creatively busy.

As we discovered, most of Ghent’s old buildings and chapels date back to anywhere from the 13^th to the 18^th century and many are (understandably) under restoration—which is why we saw so many cement-mixing machines on the roads.

Art meets architecture

Our group of five held on tight to our jackets and munched on chocolate to keep warm (we were still in the chocolate capital of the world) as we entered Saint Bavo’s Cathedral, a distinctly gothic edifice, with intricately designed tall towers. The building’s majestic layout and numerous paintings overwhelmed me as soon as we stepped in. The ceiling reached heavenward, the altar was at the end of rows of pews and the nave was flanked by grisailles–paintings I would have conveniently mistaken for sculptures had I been left to my own devices.  

We ambled through the large front hall, past vivid Biblical artwork on the stained glass that brings alive tales from the holy book. Then, we headed towards a tiny enclosure at the rear of the cathedral to see what is considered the most important painting in Flemish history—The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, created by the Van Eyck Brothers sometime in the 15^th century. The fact that one of this 24-frame, visual wonder’s panels was stolen in the early ’30s lends it an added mysterious charm.

We came out into the bright sunshine right in time to catch the pealing of bells that announced the arrival of afternoon. Right opposite the cathedral is Ghent’s symbol of worldly power—the bell tower, Belfry. I stood under this impressive 14^th century tower trying to get a good shot of the dragon that sits atop, keenly watching the city.

Anne Marie convinced us that there is no better vantage point and 360 degree view of the city than from the four sides of this tower. So we climbed the narrow, winding steps of Belfry—ditching the elevator—and reached the top huffing and puffing only to see the winter sun hitting the roofs of rows of tiny constructions beside the rattling tram lines.

Saint Bavo’s Cathedral as seen from Belfry

Retro today, here tomorrow

Ghent’s diverse buildings bear testament to the economic highs and lows the city has seen over centuries. Anne Marie asked us to try and read the history of the city’s economy through its façades. While one house was sprawled across half a street, another was sandwiched between a store and a building. Nonetheless, each one of these was adorned with carvings and small statues that lent them rich appeal in the city’s times of adversity.

As the touring and ambling continued, we passed the city’s 15^th century, fully-functional Great Butchers’ Hall, fascinated by the chunks of meat hanging from the wooden ceiling.
A little off the meat place, as we crossed a regular street pointing out antique stores to
each other, we were startled to see a surreal castle right out of The Lord of the Rings in front of us.

Gravensteen and me

Gravensteen or The Castle of the Counts will first intimidate and then intrigue. This massive, 10^th century fairytale-like fortress is right in the middle of the city. A museum of torture equipment, a guillotine last used in the 19^th century, dungeons and the works, a tour of this castle is definitely not for the faint hearted.

Evening was approaching and the clouds looked ready to burst. We then decided to make our way to Veldstraat, Ghent’s cobbled stone shopping avenue in full excitement.

By this time, I was ready to call it a day and my stomach agreed—so I decided to get a serious taste of Belgium. On local recommendation, I sat at a little table at Max’s waffle place in the heart of the city and ordered their fully-loaded, crisp caramel waffle—with fruits, whipped cream, bitter-sweet chocolate liquor and all. Safe to say, from that moment on, this city made of stones in every colour (as Anne Marie called it) earned my respect and love for ever more.    

Yuumm…

Though the internet says Ghent is 30 minutes from Brussels by train, the 45-minute road trip is recommended thanks to the beautiful countryside. Take an early morning stroll along the canal that flows through the middle of the city or book yourself a canal cruise one evening to experience quaint Ghent from under the sleeping willows.