We just finished four full weeks (30 days to be precise) in Ghent, Belgium. This is what I’ve learned, what I’ve loved and what I’ll want to see again. Ghent is a city you can walk and discovery. What you’re probably most interested in the cost, financial or otherwise.
Things I’ll miss :
Monthly Pass for Trams and Buses by De Lijn in Flanders
Transport Systems Buses, Trams, and Trains:
The Public transport is superb. We bought a one month De Lijn (https://www.delijn.be/en/). The trams and bus connections are incredible and timely. Frequency of both left us with no need to have a car. Of course, we had the time to travel by buses. We even went to Antwerp by bus from Ghent to see the smaller villages and towns along the way. Brugge, Oostende, Knokke Heist, are all linked by the De Lijn transport system. If you have the time, this is the best transport your money can buy. For Euros 38 we had unlimited travel on all their buses and trams. The Train system is equally great. Weekend tickets cost half the price. The special tickets are return
tickets only. The weekend starts on Friday and ends on Sunday midnight. So if you leave on Friday you need to come back on Sat or Sun. But if you want to do a day trip. You can leave on Sat or Sun and come back the same day.
Ghent is beautiful during the day!
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At night, the Historic Ghent lights up!
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Restaurant Inside Aula.
AULA
: The most amazing soup served every day. A different daily soup offered by Aula at Euro 1.80. So satisfying to have a bowl of soup and a piece of freshly baked bread.
This shop has everything you need to satisfy your palate. The different varieties of cold cuts, cheese, and desserts. They also have a lot of great pre- prepared ready to cook meals.
You can also eat at its very unique dining area, located in the center of the shop.
Proxy Kouter Staff were always smiling. Great customer service.
PROXY :
The local grocery store just minutes away from the city center. They have very helpful staff and great service. We got to know the staff during our month and they got to know us because we asked them many questions, since we could not understand some of the food labels. How do you find Buttermilk? Aha, that was a good one right? A great selection of Belgian beers. If you want to bring beer and cheese home, this is the place.
The Cuberdon – soft raspberry centered sweets unique to Ghent!
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Things I’m happy to be without, for the time being:
Its hard to find something that I will not miss, but in parts of the city the streets smell of sewage. I will not miss that. I am not sure why this is. Maybe the city will do something to clean this up. Living in a compact city has its problems. You see garbage bags in streets till they are picked up by the garbage trucks. But how the heck does one put a garbage bin in an apartment. And most of the residences are apartments. They certainly have a good recycling system and schedule. They separate plastic, paper, glass etc. This would not deter me from coming back here again.
On living the Belgian lifestyle:
Belgians seems to be happy with their lives and content with what they have. Most people own their own homes. They love to sit outdoors in cafes drinking coffee with cake, or beer with snacks. Friendly, smiling and happy!
Best Chocolate Shop
: We went to Brugge to one of the best Chocolate Factory..or so we think anyway. Where would you get to eat marshmallows in liquid chocolate? and that to complimentary to tease your taste buds. I would recommend a visit to this place even though it’s not in the old town of Brugge. You get all the handmade Belgian delicacy a chocoholic wants. http://www.chocolate-world.be/
Best night out:
We were privileged to enjoy the Ghentse Feesten. Anyone who loves music and the performing arts needs to schedule their trip to Ghent during these festivities. You will be treated to the best music, beer and food and fun!
Place I’d like to:
Would love to spend more time in Aalst. It’s a smaller town than Ghent. We got only a day in this City. Alast has a carnival in Feb, which would be interesting to experience.
Favorite Church
: Saint Bavo Cathedral
. Saw the restored Altarpiece which resides in this magnificent Gothic Cathedral. The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb painted by Hubert and Jan Van Eyck in 1432. One of the world’s best masterpiece.
Favorite drink:
Beers of course. 1500 varieties of Beer a taste for every palate.
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On vacation Apartments
: We found the apartment as we saw it in the pictures on the internet. Jan-Pieter and Wendy Temmerman’s apartment in Ghent on Koestraat 46. The apartment is centrally located on the first floor. With four large windows. No elevator. But not many steps to climb. It is a spacious studio. But more like a one bedroom apartment as the bed is a bit recessed. There is a pull out sofa bed, extremely comfortable for extra people if you ever have a guest or so. The toilet is separate which is a great advantage. All linens, towels and necessities are provided. The bathroom is extremely spacious and clean. In Fact, the entire apartment is exceptionally clean. There is a washing machine to wash clothes and a drying rack. The owners are a young couple, very friendly and approachable. We have recommended a few improvements which they are considering. Adding a freezer for food as the refrigerator does not have a freezer. This is necessary if one is staying for a longer time. There are only 2 or 3 local channels on TV as they do not have cable. But we suggested they change the old TV as it does not allow to stream from a laptop. Also to provide the option for those who want English channels during long periods of stay. We loved Ghent and we hope to come back again soon and would highly recommend this apartment to anyone considering visiting Ghent. You can book it directly from their website http://www.koestraat46.be/en/index.html?lang=en
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Places to visit next time:
There’s no question in my mind that I want to return to Belgium. Aalst is a small place than Ghent and like I mentioned before, I would love to come back and spend more time in Aalst.
We used “Spendingtracker”:
The total cost of four weeks in Belgium:
This is the number that everyone wants to know.
Well, Hemant has crunched the numbers and in 30 days, we spent a total Euro 3200. This includes accommodation and all transport. While most of our meals were at home, w
e also splurged on a few nice meals and pretty much drank beer as we were trying out some of the 1500 beers Belgium has to offer. If you examine the cost on a per-day basis a little over Euro 100
/day,
really isn’t that bad. It’s about what my monthly budget for living in California would be. Who can complain about that?
BONUS:
we saw the open air free Piano Play in Ghent. The city has placed 8 Piano’s in Ghent for everyone to enjoy and play music. So at night we went to see who was playing. We got there at 11 pm just a few minutes late, because the city official had come to lock up the Piano. We got into talking to her. We asked her about the Town Hall, as we had not been able to go in. I told her I am writing a blog on my travels and she was gracious to tell us to come the following day and she would give us a private tour of the Town Hall. She gave us her business card and told us to give it to the reception and ask them to call her. What Luck! So we went just after 10 am and told them at the reception that we had an appointment with her. She came down from her office and shook hands with us and gave us a guided tour of the Chapel where couples get married. Also, we got to see the Coronation Hall which is preserved in its period. She took us down to what used to be the Kitchen, where the old stove is still preserved. But the room is used as a meeting room for the city. It is very charming. We are grateful to Kaat Heirbrant who was so gracious to show us around and gave us information on this part of Ghents history. The same day, there was a scene that was going to be shot in the coronation room, as we saw lights placed strategically for the movie shoot. We Thank you Kaat, for giving us an opportunity to experience your rich culture.
I guess we were there at the time when the “Emperor” shooting was scheduled. Large sets with people dressed in Medieval costumes in large numbers is what we saw. An original setting for a historical movie, the birthplace of King Charles V.
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