The medieval city the tourists forgot — canal houses, three medieval towers, and Europe's most adventurous food scene
Ghent (population 265,000, capital of East Flanders) is the city Bruges tourists drive past on the way from Brussels — and because of that, it remains more genuinely alive than either. The city center has three medieval towers visible simultaneously (St Bavo's Cathedral, St Nicholas' Church, and the Belfry) within 300 meters of each other — one of the great medieval cityscapes in northern Europe. Ghent is now quietly regarded as having the most adventurous restaurant scene in Belgium, with a wave of young chefs applying Flemish technique to hyper-seasonal and often plant-forward menus. The Th…
Ghent was the largest city north of the Alps in the 13th century, wealthy from the textile trade — Flemish broadcloth was the luxury fabric of medieval Europe. The city is the birthplace of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500), born in Prinsenhof palace and went on to rule a Habsburg Empire spanning Europe and the Americas. The medieval merchants built the three towers that still define the skyline — St Bavo's Cathedral (begun 1350), St Nicholas' Church (13th century), and the Belfry (1380), which housed the civic charters and the bell that called citizens to assembly.