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Ghent

Country
Belgium
State
Flemish
City
Ghent
Type of Location
Multiple
About Location

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Places to Visit
How to Reach

By train

Ghent is only a 30-minute train ride away from Brussels and is on the line from Brussels to Bruges and the coast. If you're planning to visit Bruges and Brussels, definitely stop over in Ghent as well. There are also direct trains to Brussels Airport, Antwerp, Lille and Paris.
There are two train stations in Ghent, Gent-Dampoort and Gent-Sint-Pieters. Gent-Sint-Pieters is the main station, to go to the centre, take tram 1 . Journey time is ten minutes. Gent-Dampoort is located closer to the center (about 15 minutes walk), but only trains coming from/in the direction of Antwerp stop there.

By car

The dense highway network in Belgium allows you to access Ghent easily by car. Two main highways E40 (Liege-Brussels-Ghent-Bruges-Ostend) and E17 (Antwerp-Ghent-Kortrijk-Lille) cross at Ghent. Brussels and Antwerp are 40 min away, Bruges 30 min. During rush hour you can easily double these times.
 

Key places to visit
Gravensteen, Saint Nicholas' Church, Saint Michael's church, Museum of Fine Arts


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Places to Visit

Gravensteen

The Gravensteen is a castle in Ghent originating from the Middle Ages. The name means "castle of the count" in Dutch.The present castle was built in 1180 by count Philip of Alsace and was modelled after the crusaders castles the count encountered while he participated in the second crusade. Before its construction, there stood a wooden castle on the same location, presumably built in the ninth century. The castle served as the seat of the Counts of Flanders until they abandoned it in the 14th century. The castle was then used as a courthouse, a prison and eventually decayed. Houses were built against the walls and even on the courtyard and the stones of the walls were used to erect other buildings.

Saint Nicholas' Church

St. Nicholas' Church  is one of the oldest and most prominent landmarks in Ghent, Belgium. Begun in the early 13th century as a replacement for an earlier Romanesque church, construction continued through the rest of the century in the local Scheldt Gothic style (named after the nearby river). Typical of this style is the use of blue-gray stone from the Tournai area, the single large tower above the crossing, and the slender turrets at the building's corners.

Saint Michael's church

The Saint Michael's church in Ghent, Belgium, is a Roman Catholic church devoted to Archangel Michael.The construction of the current church, which was preceded, on the same site, first by a small chapel, destroyed by fire early in the twelfth century, followed by a larger church, probably began in 1440, and took place in two phases, separated by a long interruption. During the first phase, in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries,the western part of the building was built, including the tower, the three-aisled nave and transept. This was completed in 1530. The continued construction of steeple started in 1566. Then, due to religious conflicts, not only did construction stop, but looting and destruction took place, and part of the church was demolished in 1579, by the Calvinist. From 1623 to 1659, the architect Lieven Cruyl worked on the building.

Museum of Fine Arts

The Museum of Fine Arts in Ghent, Belgium, is situated at the East side of the Citadelpark near the Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst.
The museum holds a large permanent collection of art from the Middle Ages until mid 20th Century. The collection focuses on Flemish Art but also has several European- especially French- paintings. It also has a large amount of sculptures.

Right Time to Visit

April - August

Temperature

Information not available


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