Once in a while we are doing weekend citytrips to break daily life and to see more beautiful cities nearby.
This time we had booked traintickets to Gent, Belgium which is a 3 hour and 20 minutes trip from Amsterdam passing Antwerp on the way.
Gent is after Antwerp the second biggest city of Belgium with 240.000 inhabitants and it is located where the two rivers Leie and Schelde merge.
In the Middle Ages Gent was one of the biggest cities of Europe due to its advanced wool industry. Also flax and linen made Gent of great importance at that time. After the industrial revolution took place in the 18th. century in England, Gent was one of the first cities on mainland Europe which became industrialized with its cotton industry.
We actually did not really prepare this trip very well in advance, but we just strolled the cobbled streets and took a boat trip through the canals of the city and were amazed by the beauty of downtown Gent. Especially the three towers of Sint Niklaas kerk, the Belfort and the Sint Baafs cathedral showed their beauty, not to forget the Gravensteen Fort right in the middle of town.
Gent is just a stone’s throw away from Amsterdam and small enough to explore over the weekend. Perfect for a citybreak!
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