| Page Views: 194 Last Visit to Gent: August, 2006 | Gent - St Pieters by edwis - last update: May 22, 2008 |
Gent / St. Pieters / train from Brussels | Gravensteen castle and torture chamber |
One morning we decided to do a day-trip from Brussels to the quaint little town of Gent. We loved how the trains work throughout Europe; the day before we stopped by the station and determined that train for Gent was scheduled to depart for 9:26 AM. We arrived at central station at 0900, bought 2 round trip tickets, walked down many stairs to the loading tracks by 0915, and Voila!, at 0925 the train comes pulling into the station. Like clockwork. All the latest up to date information signs are large and digital. This is such a user-friendly network of travel.
The train to Gent is about a 40-minute ride with only a couple of stops along the way. Two young teens are sitting across from us and pass time by building a ‘house of cards’ on the table between them. The train ride is so smooth and quiet that they constructed this house of playing cards without any disaster. They were quite pleased that I asked to take a picture of their 2-foot tall creation.
When you arrive at the train station in Gent, we found out that we needed to take a tram into the old central downtown district, so we bought tickets at the street kiosk and rode the trolley car into town. |
|  | The main area of Gent is a 6-8 block area along the Leie river with some fantastic buildings – some brightly colored and very ornate. We secured a tourist map and followed the walking tour seeing most of the main attractions and sites. A highlight for us was the ‘Gravensteen’ also known as the “Castle of the Counts”. The torture museum therein is one of the most memorable and gruesome sights of any. Climbing around the narrow stairways and turrets overlooking the river was pretty special.
Several old churches are there with the most famous being the ‘Belfry’, St. Michaels, and the St. Bravo’s which is the cathedral of Gent. Here we wandered around the many altars and back rooms, coming upon a little gallery where there was a live harpist playing some beautiful soft music in one corner. After visiting more churches than anyone should in one day, we stopped for some local beers (Maes and Primus) and soup. |
By the time we did some window shopping and got a little lost, we eventually found a tram that took us back to the train station, where we caught a timely train to Brussels. | | |
> Add to your Custom Travel Guide [What's This?]
edwis' Gent Travel Tips
| Overview | Things to Do
Tips: 2 - Photos: 6 | | | | Restaurants | Hotels & Accommodations | | | | Nightlife | Off The Beaten Path | | | | Tourist Traps | Warnings Or Dangers | | | | Transportation | Local Customs | | | | Packing Lists | Shopping | | | | Sports Travel | General Tips |
 Comments for edwis about Gent | | | | |
|
email me
add as friend
