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Ghent boasts beautiful canals
As the capital of the Flemish-speaking Oost-Vlaanderen (East Flanders) province, Ghent is an important university city, inland port and industrial center. The River Leie winds through the city center on its way to join the River Schelde, and a network of canals were built to lead to the port. The interconnecting canals of Ghent are often compared to Venice’s — but without the crowds.
Now the favourite meeting point for the burghers of the city for their cafés and bars, the spectacular medieval quays of Graslei and Korenlei face each other across the canalized River Leie. Once forming the city’s bustling inland harbor of Tusschen Brugghen, they are still backed with gabled guild houses constructed in contrasting architectural styles and ever-increasing ornateness; several of them are now luxury hotels but started life back in the 12th century as brothels. It is here where canal adventures begin in Ghent; 50-minute cruises leave from both quays every 20 minutes or so throughout the year.
Chugging along the waterways of Ghent is like stepping back into a beautiful medieval time warp filled with ancient breweries, granaries and monasteries; routes take in the austere, rotund Gravensteen Castle, from where the counts of Flanders ruled their subjects with iron discipline. Floating on the horizon are the lovely spires of St Bavo Cathedral (home of Ghent’s fabled “Adoration of the Mystic Lamb” by the van Eyck brothers) and the lacy Belfort. Just out of the city center is the heavily gabled former fish market, which is now Ghent’s state-of-the-art tourist office, and the tiny, graffiti-splattered artisan dwellings of Patershol, now the city’s hottest clubbing quarter.
If you don’t fancy taking a guided boat tour, there’s a hop-on hop-off water tram that makes six stops around the city, including at Graslei and Korenlei as well as near St Bavo Cathedral. Visitors can also book four weeks in advance for torchlight canoe trips around Graslei and Korenlei to see their glorious medieval mansions floodlit up until midnight.
– Contribute by Sasha Heseltine
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