Cyndi and I decided to spend the day in Ghent. It was cold and rainy so we bundled up and grabbed some umbrellas and took off. We took the Metro to the train station and arrived early enough to get a hot waffle and a cappuccino before our train arrived. We watched him make our waffles and the sugar was carmalized and formed a crunchy shell.

Tastes like heaven

It was a quick 30 minute train ride from Brussels to Ghent and when we arrived we decided to walk to the old city from the train station. We walked along the canal and admired the houses.

Fancy houseboat on the canal in Ghent

First up on our agenda was a visit to Gravensteen Castle. It was originally built in 1180 and it decayed over time, but the city of Ghent restored it in the late 1800s.

Gravensteen Castle

I paid for out tickets and we went inside. The top of the castle has some amazing views of the city.

Admiring Ghent

but the climb up there involves a lot of narrow, twisty steps.

Creepy!

As we passed through the castle, we also got to see the various torture instruments.

This was the guillotine they actually used in Ghent

And one room had weapons and armor.

No idea how they even carried this around!

My favorite room was the throne room.

TBH I would have preferred a more impressive throne. 

By the time we left the castle it had started to drizzle again. We decided to look for somewhere to eat lunch and I wanted to find some Waterloo Stew, a dish Ghent is supposed to be known for. Cyndi tried to Yelp it, but we weren’t having any luck so we decided to walk towards the cathedral and see if we could read a few menus along the way. That’s when we stumbled across Street Art Alley.

The entrance to the alley really caught our eye!

We walked through and saw some amazing art.

Cyndi loved this one.

I took a TON of pictures.

This one made us laugh.

When we got to the other side we realized we were walking away from the city center so we turned around and walked back through the alley.

Loved getting a new perspective on the way back!

The rain started coming down harder so we passed the cathedral and walked to a square that was surrounded by restaurants. We searched all the menus but there was no mention of Waterloo Stew. We were getting colder and wetter so we settled on a spot that had Ghent Stew.

Our server claimed this was the best stew in the city. Made with beef cheek and lavender, it was simmered over sixteen hours and he was right, it was amazing!

When we finished eating, I went inside to pay our tab since Cyndi had conveniently forgotten her wallet. They ran my card twice and it didn’t work either time. They didn’t take Amex so my backup card wasn’t any good either. I was starting to panic when I realized I had 50 Euro in my pocket. Lunch was 45 Euro so I had just enough left to buy bus tickets to get back to the train station. It was raining even harder so we decided to head home and pick up Cyndi’s wallet!

By the time we got home it didn’t seem worth going out in the rain again so Cyndi cooked a delicious dinner and when Gil got home we turned on In Bruges to do some research for our trip on Wednesday.