Day 53: Ghent

"Don't touch the door," our Airbnb host told us firmly as Julie and I squeezed inside the minuscule elevator with our suitcases. It was definitely not the oldest or scariest elevator we'd been in during our trip, but it was certainly up there. There was no grate, no door to the elevator itself, but only the doors to each individual floor that we would pass on the way up. There was no barrier between the inside of the elevator and the outside.

I touched the doors. Very lightly. The elevator stopped immediately and our very justifiably annoyed host had to manually pull all of our weight, baggages and all, the rest of the way up. So began our time in Belgium.

Our apartment in Ghent was spacious, and one of the nicest places we had stayed in on our trip, elevator aside. It was only a 20 minute walk to downtown, and a lovely one at that. The city was lined with rivers and canals.

We started off our day with sandwiches for brunch at a nice but expensive café. The food was amazing. I had a great salad and a grilled chicken, cheese, and guacamole sandwich, and Julie had smoked salmon, goat cheese, and sundried tomatoes on toast.

After brunch, we headed to a free walking tour, which started at the square between the Ghent cathedral, and the clock tower.

The clock tower was topped with a golden dragon, the protector of the city. Centuries ago, guards would light the dragon's belly at night, creating the illusion of a real fire-breathing monster from a distance, thus warding off intruders who believed the city was protected by magic.

We also got to see one of the five graffiti alleys in Ghent -- streets that were specially intended for street art. Our guide explained how this policy practically eliminated illegal graffiti in other parts of the city, and created a forum where artists could freely decorate.

Some other interesting sights included an outdoor concert hall where buskers would often take advantage of the great acoustics.

There was also a cannon where, as a university tradition, students would sleep in. Despite being covered up by glass, the tradition continues, and has led to several cases of hypothermia.

The Ghent castle, located right in the middle of the city, was a very stereotypically medieval looking castle.

My favourite part, however, was the square beside the castle, which was ordinary save for a few streetlights. These lights would only light up when a child in the city was born. 

In the square, whenever the lights would flash to announce a new citizen of Ghent, everyone present would clap.

Our tour ended by the beautiful riverside.

The last stop was the Marriott Hotel, which had the symbol of two swans facing away from each other on the front. Our guide explained that this was once the symbol for a brothel.

I was very much in love with the city by this point. In addition to its charm and beauty, there were so many other cool parts to living in Ghent. For example, every Thursday, every citizen was encouraged to be a vegetarian, and restaurants were obligated to serve a large vegetarian menu. Also, cars were not allowed in the city centre to reduce traffic there; only public transit was allowed, which made walking a lot more pleasant.

The best part about Belgium was, expectedly, the chocolate, which entirely lived up to its expectation. We stopped by one of the abundant chocolateries after the tour where I had the best hot chocolate of my life.

In almost every shop, fresh chocolate was being made right in front of our eyes.

We walked around the city for a bit after that, went inside the church, and climbed up some seriously narrow and winding stairs to go up the clock tower.

There were several exhibitions on the history of the city inside, as well as a model of the Ghent dragon, and the cherished clock tower bell, named Roland's bell, that historically signalled every important event in the city, from emergencies to celebrations.

The view from the top of the tower was splendid, although we had to endure brutal wind.

We continued walking around the city after that, popping by chocolate shops and venturing down the older quarter with small, narrow streets before grabbing a quick dinner and heading back along the river home.

Photos by Julie Zhang.