We left Bruges and drove south east for 50 km to visit Ghent. We were still waiting for news about when we could get the van repaired and decided that we probably had time to see another Belgian town before heading back to France. We arrived in camp and after checking in, headed straight to town on the bus. We had picked up a map in the same series as the one we had for Bruges and had particularly looked at their food suggestions. Since it was lunchtime, we headed straight for the fries stand in one of the squares which had been recommended as one of the only places left in Belgium that still serves hand-cut fries – they've been operating since 1878. We got an order to share with mayo and they were definitely the most delicious fries we had eaten so far. They were piping hot and cooked perfectly. We sat in the square and munched away quite happily while enjoying the surroundings.

Ghent is a bigger town than Bruges and not quite as touristy. There were trams and bicycles everywhere and you had to watch out when walking since most people just walked on the tracks until a tram appeared. There were quite a few smaller squares whereas Bruges and Ypres had one main square. Since it was a weekend, there were tiny markets everywhere selling all sorts of goodies and clothes. Another difference was that not all the houses were made of brick, but of imported gray stone or locally quarried yellow sandstone. Ghent also had a canal running part way around it, but it was much wider so didn’t have quite as many "cute" views as Bruges.

After our fries stop we headed off on our walking tour that was in our guidebook. We enjoyed the views in all directions from St. Michael’s bridge and then set off to view the three towers in Ghent. Two are a part of the churches and one was the bell tower. We visited the first church which had a strange entrance as you walked through a hall where there were antiques for sale. Inside the church you could see the three different types of building materials used as the town prospered or not as the church was built. We also wandered past what the locals refer to as the “sheep barn” which had been recently built between the bell tower and the cathedral. It was an odd modern structure that did look like a barn and served no known purpose. We then headed in to the cathedral where we were unfortunately not allowed to take photos; we did sneak one of the floral displays though since they were incredible! The pulpit was incredible and made to look like the tree of life with a trunk, leaves, snake and apples. The cathedral was extremely cold and we could actually see our breath when we exhaled! We enjoyed our visit but were glad to get outside where it was a bit warmer. We then continued our tour through some cute winding streets and ended up in “graffiti alley”. To solve the graffiti problem, Ghent only allows graffiti in designated places throughout town. This alley was the largest section and as we strolled through it, there was a small group creating some new designs. Some of the work was quite amazing, but we were sad to see that some of the graffiti which was very artistic had then been graffitied over by someone who was just doing it to spoil the work. We then crossed over a different bridge on to the other side of the canal past some cute shops and squares. We stopped in a recommended candy shop to try their “noses”, huge purple candies in the shape of a nose. Apparently they are the local specialty – I tried one later and found them extremely sweet even though I am a candy lover…I have decided to keep them on hand in case my blood sugar gets low and I need an immediate boost!

After we finished our walking tour, we headed to the nearby coffee shop which had been recommended on the map. We ordered both of the suggestions, a cappuccino to share which came with whipped cream on it and a waffle each. These were the Brussels style waffles which were lighter and fluffier and served hot off the waffle iron as opposed to the Liège style which were sweeter and denser and were usually just reheated. We decided that we liked the Brussels style better although the Liège style is good if you are wandering around and just want a snack. Anoop got his waffle with chocolate sauce and I got mine with whipped cream. The holes were nice and deep and could hold lots of filling! Feeling rather stuffed, we then headed back to camp. We had leftover pasta for dinner and our egg salad sandwiches we had made the day before but hadn’t eaten because of all the snacking on fries and waffles… Yum!