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Glorious Ghent hits the perfect note for a family visit!

Glorious Ghent hits the perfect note for a family visit!

Having spent most of February working our way across the UK’s most interesting cities, we’ve seen our share of impressive spires, imposing cathedrals and historic centres…. But Ghent (or Gent to locals) in Belgium is something else!!! It has a little of Amsterdam & Bordeaux about it.

check out more Belgium articles here
Yet shares that amazing Belgium tradition for blending architecture across the ages… from Romanesque to Gothic or pre and post Reformation…  But perhaps best of all, is the feeling of safety and the ability to allow your kids the freedom to explore this stunning city in the centre of Belgium. From our experience, that’s rare and something that’s worth it’s weight in gold!

As regular readers will know, we love an opportunity to test a ‘City Card’ and Ghent certainly came up trumps with their ‘CityCard Gent‘… it offers free public transport on any number of water trams, trams, buses. But also provides opportunities to see the city by boat cruise or to hire cycles for the day! Perfect for an energetic family keen to explore!

We also had another motive to see such a beautiful old city as Ghent as we’d recently started experimenting with HDR photography. Lottie’s continuing interest in photography has led to a desire to improve her skills… so the above photo’s are all taken from HDR bracketing exposure (-2,0,+2) and combining them using the Aurora HDR software from Macphun. It certainly leads to an impressive increase in colour range and seems to have captivated Lottie. (We’re even continuing that theme, by giving away a brilliant Fujifilm Instax Camera & Photobook Voucher in our latest giveaway – see here for more details)
Any family visitors would help themselves by heading straight for the ‘Old FishMarket’ and the impressive new tourist centre. Full of interactive tables with state of the art screens built into the table… it’ll entertain your kids for at least an hour! Plenty of time to grab the information you need and head for the imposing ‘Gravensteen Castle

This impressive building has had many uses over the years, including prisons and market places… yet just wait until your kids start to investigate the catacombs, cellars and torture chamber… Having recently visited the London Dungeons, this is far less gruesome and certainly gives a real taste for what it must have been like to be a prisoner there… But don’t forget to take the castle walls tour, head up to the battements and take a little time to read the excellent information boards…

Every city will have Something special

As we mentioned above, the city centre is an easy place to access and to move around… especially using the City Card but there really is no better way to see a city built around the confluence of two rivers than to hop into one of Ghent’s boat cruises (free with the City Card)
The views itself are worth every one of the steps… and there are quite a few (narrow but not impassable) but for others the lift might be a better option… but just look at the view beneath…. it’s one of the best we’ve seen from a bell tower (and we’ve now climbed a few!)

So if you love a decent tower climb, don’t forget to check out our posts for Porto, Bordeauxand York.

But what better way to finish your trip to a Belgium city, than to enjoy some of the mouthwatering chocolate creations that will tempt you all day!

It’s been a fantastic first 24hrs in Ghent, we’re keeping our fingers crossed the next 24hrs can match it!

ghent

so where did we park the bus for the night?

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About The Author

Richard

Ever wanted to pack your bags, just jump in a motorhome and go off and explore Europe as a family? Well, that’s exactly what my family has done since September 2015. Visiting 35 European countries, travelling over 54,000 miles and grabbing over 450 family experiences on the way… enjoying Bobsleigh in Norway, Climbing into Mt Etna in Sicily or Kayaking the River Dordogne.

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