Day 34 – Sun 13 Jul 14, Ghent

Forecast: 15-21 deg C, overcast, possible thunderstorm; Ghent: 19 deg C; Wind: SW, 18-19 km/h

Whilst it wasn't raining when we woke up this morning, if certainly looked like it wanted to. We decided to not have breakfast at the hotel as we thought it was a tad expensive and ended up having a brunch at Maccas.  We managed to see quite a bit of Ghent in the earlier hours of the day whilst the rain stayed away.  Just after midday, the rain clouds opened up so we decided it would be a good idea to return to the hotel to complete some housekeeping duties.  Greg changed the brake pads on his bike this time, whilst Wendy read and researched hotels.  After about 2 hours the rain dried up and the light was even better than in the morning so we revisited a number of places to take better photos.  Not having been ravaged by war, there's lots and lots of really old stuff in Ghent.  Many buildings date back to the 14th century and some as old as the 1100s. The oldest is now a restaurant on the canal, see photo.  The Cloth Guild building and Belfry (1380) are located opposite our motel in a rather nice square.  The canals, with all the flower boxes and the tour boats coming and going add a nice holiday feel to the city.  It is so compact the whole old city area would be no bigger than a square kilometre or two but you could easily spend a week exploring it all. 
Dinner was a cross between Chinese and Thai and was very yummy. So yummy in fact we ate every last bit and then had to wander a fair way to relax the stomach!  We also discovered some more marvellous architecture in the back streets.

From St Michael's to Belfry
Castle of the Counts
The City Pavillion - ultra modern
Selfie in Ghent
Het Pand - a 13th Century former Dominican Monastery
ST Baaf's Plein (Square)
Early Sunday morning at Ghent
Ghent Old Town
View from Maccas
Ghent Town Centre
St Michael's Churhc
Ghent canal - looks just like Amsterdam


St Nichlosas' Church
The Ghent Belfry and Guild Cloth Hall
Het Pand - a 13th Century former Dominican Monastery

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