The Belfry of Ghent
In the song Marieke by Jacques Brel (1929-1978), the two Flemish cities of Brugge and Gent are linked together over and over by their French names, because the song is Read More …
Category: Belgium
The opera house in Ghent
The two Flemish cities of Antwerp and Ghent have a joint opera company, the Flemish Opera (Vlaamse Opera), which presents the same opera productions in both cities. Since Antwerp is Read More …
Hotel Monasterium PoortAckere
Like most things in Ghent, the Monasterium PoortAckere has a long history. It was founded in the year 1278 (or earlier) as a beguine house and was used for various Read More …
Gent / Ghent / Gand / Gante
This invigorating Flemish city is called Gent in Dutch, Ghent in English, Gand in French and Gante in Spanish. The Spanish ruled Flanders for many years, which is why they Read More …
Jacob van Artevelde at the Friday Market
In the nineteenth century, Flemish nationalists scoured the history books in search of a national hero. For some reason they settled on Jacob van Artevelde (1290-1345), a wealthy textile merchant Read More …
Through the centuries by canal boat
Since I had arrived too late in the evening to take a canal boat tour in Brugge a couple days before, I was determined to take one in Ghent. So I Read More …
European survey
These young people in red T-shirts, from various European countries, were doing some sort of project in Ghent for a summer school that they were on. They wanted to ask Read More …
Cycling in Ghent
When I was in Ghent (= Gent, Gante or Gand), a lot of the bicycles had little signs on them reading “Weer een Auto Minder”, which means: Again one less Read More …
Wildplassen
You don’t need a dictionary to know what “Wildplassen” means. If they catch you doing it in Ghent, you’ll be fined sixty Euros. As you can see from the sign, Read More …
In the footsteps (or wagon ruts) of Victor Hugo
Victor Hugo’s first visit to Liège was in 1840, when he was thirty-eight years old. He was travelling by stagecoach, known in French as a diligence, and was on his Read More …