Gent, Belgium
From what most of you have seen through social media, I have been doing some traveling. In my previous blog post, I wrote about my time in Amsterdam.
Following that, I went to Belgium and more specifically, Gent. It wasn't the first time i visited Belgium nor gent but I last went when I was 9 and didn't remember much at all. As gent is my mothers birthplace it was very important to me to visit it and appreciate it for all the stories she has told me about her childhood.
I have to say that this trip was one of the best trips I have even been on and Belgium is a gorgeous country.
I was staying with my aunties in their house and I personally thought that that played a huge role on how I perceived Belgium. I believe that when staying somewhere "closer" to the country your visiting, you can understand it better and come in contact with the way people live. Their house was just out of the center of Gent in a province called Destelbergen.
We did so many things and visited so many places in Belgium.
To start with we spent a day in the Center of Gent and became "real" tourists after we took a magnificent boat ride through the canals of Gent and listening to an interesting tour guide about the history of Gent. I definitely recommend taking a boat trip in Gent as its the perfect way to see the city from another point.
We walked around the whole city and took in all the breathtaking monuments such as the castle of the counts, Saint Nicholas church, Saint Michaels' and so many more.
Gent is a city that has it all... History, Tourism, great food, cafes, bars, shops, youth, culture and so many more things that I have to uncover during my next visit.
Of course, on my first day, since Belgium is the home of waffles we had to have a waffle and more specifically a Brussels waffle. My aunts took me to a nice waffle house just opposite Saint Michaels, called Max. It was a rather posh waffle house that had existed for a long time, but it was very pricey. The waffle I had was very tasty but, to be honest, after my experiences I think you can get equally nice waffles for a fraction of the price there and still enjoy it
Walking around Gent... ah, I could do that for hours. Its so picturesque and there are breathtaking views that you have to take in.
I went back another day with a friend and we did some shopping and ate another typically Belgian food: Frieten! (fries). There are so many chip shops in the streets of Belgium and I had to try some and they were worth it, you can have a selection of toppings but I just had mayonnaise.
As it was the beginning of July, lots of festivals were starting to bring in the summer and I was lucky enough to have gone to one called "Copacabana". It was so much fun and there were so many different types of music to listen to and what made it even better for myself was that I was with a group of guys and girls my age that made the evening even more pleasant. We don't get festivals on the island like that so even though it wasn't even considered a big festival, I was amazed and it just makes me understand my likings even better.
On my last full day, I got treated to go to the opera house to watch a ballet performance, "Memento Mori" and was consisted of three parts. It was of the royal ballet of Flanders. It was the first time I have ever seen a proper ballet and I was gobsmacked and in complete awe throughout all of the performances. It was unbelievable and felt so privileged to have been there.
So there it is, this is just about my days spent in Gent, I did even more interesting things in the duration of my trip which only means there is another blog to come...
thank you for reading
Tina xo
