Who knew Ghent, Belgium was the prettiest city in the

Who knew Ghent, Belgium was the prettiest city
in the world?
7/28/2014 10:11am by John Aravosis 119 Comments
While admittedly your mileage may vary, I was surprised to find yesterday that the town of
Ghent, in Dutch (Flemish) Belgium, is quite possibly the prettiest place I’ve ever visited.
The first thing you notice on entering Ghent is the guys (and gals). They’re kind of hot. Especially
as compared to Brussels, which, coming from Paris, was a bit of a let-down on the personal
beauty front. Ghentians (I made that word up) however are smoking. And they’re awfully nice
too.
Putting aside for a moment the personal beauty of the locals, the town is simply gorgeous. Very
Amsterdam-y, but even prettier IMHO. I mean, look at this — and the view just goes on and on
and on for blocks and blocks and blocks. This is definitely one of those “I can’t believe people
actually live like this” kind of towns.
I’m in Europe for my annual medical tourism (and for a variety of meetings for work), and
decided to visit some old friends who are working in Brussels. They suggested we head to the
town of Ghent for the annual festival, and boy am I glad they did.
Belgium, as you know, is split in two (ish), with a French half and a Dutch half. Brussels is
French-speaking (though situated in the Dutch half, like Berlin of old), while Ghent is Flemish
speaking.
Every year, Ghent has a rather large, and rather well-known, festival. And the thing is huge. It’s
hard to describe how many people were there. We walked for hours and hours and hours and the
thing just goes on and on and on through much of the town. If this were DC, it would be like
having a street festival that goes from Adams Morgan all the way down the White House. It’s just
insane how big, and beautiful, this is.
Here’s a quick video of one of the many bands playing on the street. I wanted to give you a sense
of what the town looks like.
As I mentioned, the town of Ghent has a lot of Dutch influence, and it has a very Amsterdam-y
feel to it, in part because of the canals, and in large part because of those amazing skinny
buildings with the cool pointed rooftops.
You can sometimes get the best shots from the bathroom.
Ghent has a sizable number of rather cool cathedrals. We went to see the Ghent
Altarpiece yesterday, which I admittedly was previously unaware of. It’s pretty magnificent.
Just a cool top of a building facade.
The view of a canal from a restaurant during a rainstorm.
There were people all over town selling these small, conical-shaped, purple candy thingies. I have
no idea what they were. UPDATE: A friendly Ghentian has written in to say that these are called
“noses.” And they’re apparently insanely sweet and then filled with something insanely sweetre.
Now, one sweet I did try was a Belgian waffle. And let me just say, mother of God why did no
one tell me about these things before? Imagine a big, warm, freshly made, gooey, thick whipped
cream and dark drippy chocolate covered chocolate chip cookie. That’s what a Belgian waffle
is. It was funny, the woman handed me the thing, without any silverware, and I sort of looked
around, confused, trying to figure out how exactly you were supposed to eat the beast. I saw
some mini-forks nearby, grabbed one, and figured I’d dig in. It seems the waffle is made to fall
apart along numerous fault lines, so it’s pretty easy to eat with the mini-fork. And oh my god, the
name “waffle” doesn’t do this thing justice. “Fried chocolate chip cookie dough covered with
something that puts the word ‘whipped cream’ to shame” starts to get you close. Next time you’re
in Belgium, run, don’t walk, for one of these. (Then run a lot aftewards too.)
Some more stunning building facades. From what I’ve heard, this style is apparently very late
1600s (I think). At least the first pic is, the second might be older.
Lots of music, including the ever-popular lederhosen singing people.
Though these guys were my favorite. We were on our way out of town, to head back to Brussels,
and we suddenly hear music approaching us.
Apparently, these marching bands are a big thing in Belgium. And, my host tells me, they’re
apparently quite gay — as in, lots of gay men in the marching bands. (What queen doesn’t love a
performance?) Oh, I found out who these guys are — they have a YouTube page with a ton of
their videos. I picked out some of the funnier ones. And one of the guys in the band saw my post
and messaged me on Facebook! (I’m still amazed by the small-worldness of the Internet
sometimes.)
So this was fun. Apparently the kids, when they graduate (high school?) throw their shoes across
the phone or power lines that hang over the street in one particular section of town. Which
explains what happened to Luna’s shoes.
So this disturbed me, as I’d hoped they were just a bad memory from my youth studying in Paris.
The dreaded, but efficient, public urinals. You just stand up there in front of everyone and do it.
This is just me being artistic with a self-portrait of sorts in a window of an art gallery:
Ghent had a number of funny signs and posters. Some unintentionally funny, like the
“Nacht Winkel” signs, which meant “Night Shop” (or, shop open at night), and then there was this
meatball restaurant:
Or this sign letting you know not to pee on the street. I particularly like how, in a nod to equal
opportunity, they included a drawing of a woman peeing.
Then there’s this. I have no idea.
I just can’t say enough about Ghent. I’m told Bruges is pretty amazing too. It’s funny, but if
you’ve traveled a lot, things start to become less exciting, less impressive, the older you get.
Probably, and sadly, because you’ve done “it” before, even if the city or country you’re visiting is
a new “it.” You sometimes lose a bit of that “oh my god, I’m going to Europe!”-ness that you had
as a kid traveling abroad for the first time. Ghent, for me, brought some of that childish
wonderment, and sadness (because you don’t live there), back to me.
If you’re ever in the area, visit Brussels for a day, maybe. Then head to Ghent.
Amerikaanse blogger: ‘Gent is de mooiste
stad ter wereld’
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
woensdag 30 juli 2014, 14u19
Auteur:vwh
Aanbevelen
Tweeten
Mail
Print
JOHN ARAVOSIS
Links
•
americablog.com
Alles over
•
Vakantie
De Amerikaanse John Aravosis was onlangs op medische zakenreis in België. Hij vroeg
aan zijn Brusselse vrienden welke stad hij zéker moest bezoeken en ze raadden hem een
dagje Gentse Feesten aan. ‘Ik ben blij dat ze dat deden’, schrijft hij op zijn eigen
site‘americablog.com ’.
Aravosis is vol lof over de stad. ‘Tot mijn grote verbazing stelde ik gisteren vast dat het Belgische
Gent misschien wel de mooiste plaats is die ik ooit heb bezocht’, schreef Aravosis afgelopen
zondag op zijn site. Hij heeft het onder meer over de vriendelijke mooie mannen en vrouwen die
er rondlopen. ‘In vergelijking met Brussel kunnen de looks van de Gentenaren me meer bekoren,
zeker als je net van Parijs komt’, schrijft hij.
In zijn tweede alinea laat hij de mooie mensen voor wat ze zijn en heeft hij het over de
schoonheid van de stad zelf. Hij waagt zich aan een nieuwe vergelijking en schrijft dat Gent een
beetje op Amsterdam lijkt, maar dan mooier. ‘Ik kan het bijna niet geloven dat mensen die hier
wonen dit elke dag zien’, schrijft hij. De man plaatst ook enkele zelfgemaakte foto’s bij het artikel
om zijn lezers ervan te overtuigen dat Gent de moeite meer dan waard is.
Afgelopen zaterdag genoot de blogger met volle teugen van de Gentse Feesten. Hij maakte en
deelde enkele kiekjes en video’s van de bijzonderheden die hij zag. Zo was hij geïntrigeerd door
het standje met Gentse neuzen op de Groentenmarkt, het gehaktballenrestaurant ‘Balls and
Glory’ van Wim Ballieu en de schoenen die aan de elektriciteitskabel bengelen op de Pensmarkt.
Maar ook het gezelschap dat zichzelf Die Verdammte Spielerei noemt, een komische fanfare die
klassieke nummers een eigenzinnige twist geeft, kon hem bekoren toen hij door de SintJacobsnieuwstraat wandelde.
‘Als je veel reist, kom je op een punt dat je beseft dat je alles als eens hebt gezien. Maar in Gent
kwam mijn kinderlijke verwondering en droefheid naar boven. Dat laatste omdat ik moest
vertrekken’, schrijft hij. Hij raadt zijn lezers die ooit naar België komen aan om Brussel een dag te
bezoeken en de rest van de tijd te spenderen in de Arteveldestad.
Lees hier het volledige artikel van John Aravosis.