For me, Ghent was just a day trip from Brussels, but if you want to stay in Ghent, here is a complete list of hotels in Ghent with user reviews and multi site price comparisons.
Rafael was kind enough to pick up some maps from a very cool tourist office so the next day I took a shorter train trip to Ghent, a very hip, very cool little town.
Ghent has the coolest wallpaper store in the world. Wow.
Sadly, it rained all day, I woke up with a sore throat, and it seemed there was immense construction going on,
as a result of some or all of the above, it seemed that just about everything was closed…maybe because it was Monday.
Anyway, I brought my dirty laundry and found a laundrymat, then I explored the Gravensteen castle
which had an excellent torture museum. Waterboarding, old school style
plus a guillateen which was used for numerous executions.
Took a lot of pictures,
walked around in the rain with my laundry,
felt my flu getting worse, had some Belgian Fries and then headed back to Brussels, hoping that I didn’t have swine flu. I didn’t really care if I had it, but I didn’t want to pass it on to Raphael and his daughters.
Ghent also has the coolest ashtray I’ve ever stuck a butt in.
for some interesting Ghent History:
http://www.trabel.com/gent-history.htm
(Originally published 08 October 2009)
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About Vago Damitio
Vago Damitio (@vagodamitio) is the Editor-in-Chief for Vagobond. He jumped ship from a sinking dotcom in 2000 and decided to reclaim his most valuable commodity, time. He bought a VW bus for $100, moved into it and set out on a journey to show the world that it was possible to live life on your own terms. That journey took him from waking up under icy blankets in the Pacific Northwest to waking up under palm tress in Southeast Asia. Three years later, his first book, Rough Living: Tips and Tales of a Vagabond was published. After diving into the Anthropology of Tourism and Electronic Anthropology at the University of Hawaii (with undeclared minors in film and surf) he hit the road again in 2008. Since that time,he's lived primarily in Morocco and Turkey, married a Moroccan girl he couchsurfed with, and become a proud father. He's been to more than 40 countries, founded a successful online travel magazine (this one!), and still doesn't have a boss. Life is good. You can also find him on Google+ and at Facebook