The treat of Ghent

After a month of Berlin – lovely, green, but very much a big city marked by modernity and postwar architecture (Soviet and otherwise) – Ghent was a breath of fresh air. Cobblestone streets, that distinctive and perfect Flemish flat-front peak of architecture, and a great sense of local life… this was grand. After the jump: Belgian maaaaaagic.

GET OVER TO GHENT, THE POWER OF STATUARY COMPELS YOU

Ghent, and also Bruges and Brussels, SPOILERS for future posts if you can call video of things you probably already have seen a "spoiler" anyway hi how's everybody doing out there in Internet World today

Ghent strikes a nice balance between Bruges (spoiler alert: kind of Disneylandish in the summer) and an urban environment like Brussels or Berlin. Its downtown core is packed with less straight-up souvenir and tourist shops than local design and clothing stores, the kind of thing you see at the center of most affluent small cities. Walking the streets, you’ll hear Flemish/Dutch as often as you hear German (the most predominant tourist language on my visit), and there’s an amiable openness that prevails moreso than in a “let’s get you sorted and on with our lives” tourist hub.
I’ll limit the rest of this post to a few photos to get a sense of the space, but to run down the rest of my miscellaneous thoughts: it’s a tremendously walkable city, with a great variation of neighborhood energy through the 15-minute-or-so walk it takes to cross its core. As you’ll see in the video above, they’ve got a great graffiti-packed alley where most of the street art settles, and the rest of the town is impressively clean in a country that sees a ton of tourists guzzling sweet high-alcohol beers. The people are friendly and chatty, even when the local population dwindles in the late July/August holiday period.

AND CANALS? DID I MENTION THE CANALS? THE CANALS ARE ALSO VERY NICE, IN RE GHENT I RECOMMEND "THE CANALS"

On beer, something that seems to be true across Belgium: you tend not to save a ton of money buying bottles in the shops! Depending on how upscale the shop and how rare the bottle, you’re typically looking at a savings of €1-2 per bottle, with a €2.50 bottle in a shop costing €4 or so in a bar. (A good test, I’m told: if you’re in a bar and their pilsner costs more than €2.30, you’re in a ripoff joint.) What this means is that your choice of where to drink is driven by selection and atmosphere. Just looking for a simple beer in idyllic surroundings? Grab a Trappist ale in a convenience store and settle along the banks of a canal; your night couldn’t get more perfect. Looking to dive into beers you can’t find at home, limited runs, or varietals you’ve never encountered before? There are tons of shops with great bottle selection, none of them overly packed (in Ghent, at least). Pick your spot based on who has servers that know their styles and let them guide you on your way.

This is a nice place to drink a beer. Other nice places to drink a beer: just about anywhere alongside the canals of Ghent, which are a feature I believe I have described previously with some enthusiasm in this space.

In any event: fluffy clouds and blue skies, relaxing aimless wandering, space to mentally unwind and soak in colors, textures, sights, sounds, and aromas: Ghent was a fantastic unplug, and a great spot to catch my breath before pressing on to Bruges. Which: stay tuned for that nonsense!

Brilliant morning clouds over some of the loveliest architecture on offer. If these quick-travel interludes are about researching spots I'd like to linger in the future, Ghent made a real strong case for itself.

PLUS A CASTLE HI THERE WAS A CASTLE IT WAS NEAR A CANAL, WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT FROM LIFE