{"id":3014,"date":"2018-01-23T11:56:55","date_gmt":"2018-01-23T16:56:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.levraphael.com\/blog\/?p=3014"},"modified":"2020-01-18T16:08:13","modified_gmt":"2020-01-18T21:08:13","slug":"is-ghent-a-better-destination-than-bruges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.levraphael.com\/blog\/is-ghent-a-better-destination-than-bruges\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Ghent a Better Travel Destination than Bruges?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bruges and Ghent were never on my radar until my first trip to Paris when I came across a travel magazine with a big section on Bruges and the amazing canals had me spellbound. I didn\u2019t get there as soon as I hoped (author book tours in Germany sidetracked me), but when I did, it outshone my fantasies. My timing made it possible to see the famous Holy Blood Procession<\/a> that had been going on there since medieval times.<\/p>\n

In Bruges, my wonderful B&B host and I discussed other cities in Flanders and she dismissed Ghent as not up to the standard of Bruges. She thought that it was worth\u2014at the very most\u2014a day trip. That was also apparently what her other guests told her after visiting Ghent.<\/p>\n

Having\u00a0 spent a week there myself, I don\u2019t agree. Bruges is magnificent, thanks to its death in the 14th century as a port city and to being relatively untouched by war through the centuries. The core of the city is beautifully preserved, and the further you get from the crowds, the more tranquil you find it. But it’s definitely \u201cpreserved\u201d and in many ways feels like a giant museum.<\/p>\n

Ghent on the other hand is a very dynamic city. It has its fair share of canals and gorgeous buildings, as well as ancient churches and beautiful art. Bruges has the Michelangelo Madonna and Child, Ghent has the Van Eyck altarpiece. I think it\u2019s a draw there, and the same goes for the food. I ate just as well in each city, savoring Flemish\/Belgian specialties like waterzooi, carbonnade, vol-au-vent, moules-frites, stoemp<\/em>, and of course made only a tiny dent in the amazing variety of amazing beers (there are apparently over 1,000).<\/p>\n

Where Ghent outweighs Bruges for me is the fact that it\u2019s a university town that’s friendly, entertaining, and alive. Ghentians call their home \u201cThe City of Trust and Love\u201d and I found that attitude in people of all ages.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a reason Belgian novelist Georges Rodenbach wrote a book called Bruges-la-Morte<\/em> (Dead Bruges). Bruges might be more picturesque, but Ghent is livelier and, perhaps best of all, attracts fewer tourists. Not surprisingly, it\u2019s widely called one of Europe\u2019s hidden gems.<\/p>\n

Lev Raphael is the author of two dozen books<\/a> in genres from memoir to mystery, and is currently working on a novel set in Ghent.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bruges and Ghent were never on my radar until my first trip to Paris when I came across a travel magazine with a big section on Bruges and the amazing canals had me spellbound. I didn\u2019t get there as soon as I hoped (author book tours in Germany sidetracked me), but when I did, it … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[347],"tags":[1023,823,828,1020,1018,821,1021,822,1010,824,1024,1019,341,1006,1008,1007,1022,1009,1026,1025],"class_list":["post-3014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-travel","tag-tt","tag-belgium","tag-bruges","tag-bruges-la-morte","tag-canals","tag-europe","tag-europes-hidden-gem","tag-flanders","tag-georges-rodenbach","tag-ghent","tag-social-media-and-travel","tag-the-city-of-trust-and-love","tag-travel","tag-travel-blog","tag-travel-blogs","tag-travel-blooger","tag-travel-tuesday","tag-vacations","tag-western-europe","tag-world-travel-and-tourism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.levraphael.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.levraphael.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.levraphael.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.levraphael.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.levraphael.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3014"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.levraphael.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3014\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5540,"href":"https:\/\/www.levraphael.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3014\/revisions\/5540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.levraphael.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.levraphael.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.levraphael.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}