Ghent: city of medieval wealth

Ghent is a town that attracts a lot of tourists but we started before any out of towners had arrived and before the locals were awake! We were a few hours ahead of the rush.

The architecture is interesting with guild halls, chapels and cathedrals. The power of the trade guilds was still very evident. We visited several. The meat workers had lots of hams hanging from the rafters and every street name told a tale about the original purpose of the area.

                                    Two of the special buildings. Both were owned by unions.

Ghent is also a city crossed by canals. We were shoreside in the Industrial area and large ships cannot get into the old city centre but the small canals are very picturesque.

                                                     Just to prove that we were there!

The wealth of the cities of this region was such that there are wonderful buildings all over the city. Churches, convents, town hall and even a castle.

We climbed the bell tower and it gave a birds-eye view over the city.

                                                The Cathedral taken from the bell tower.

                                                 St Jacobs church from the Bell tower.

                           We were standing on the small walkway directly below the clock.

We also visited the Cathedral and it is very impressive. It contains one of the worlds most famous paintings, the alterpiece by van Eyck.

                               It has great detail and some was painted by a brush with one hair.