One of destination that I was excited the most for our Christmas trip last winter.
The choice was either Ghent or Brussel. We’ve seen Brussel from the Colin Farrell’s movie, but never Ghent. Tried to browse through pinterest, but both seems similar. Browse from the forum, concluded that both cities are pretty similar, old town with pretty canal. However, my heart fell on Ghent instead. We found perfect hotel, Novotel Gent Centrum, just right in front of the Christmas market. It was not that expensive either considering near Christmas time, include breakfast, and the room was nice also. It is located just beside the famous ribs all you can eat buffet only for EUR20 per person, Amadeus Restaurant. You must book to eat here.
The hotel was a bit walk from the tram station, we took tram from train station. We should get off on Korenmarkt stop, it could be by no 4 or 1. We took 4 instead. However, confusingly, there are 2 routes of no 4 tram, obviously we didn’t aware about that. So we took the wrong route. When we asked the tram driver, he was extremely nice explaining to us. Apparently, Belgium people are super nice! Everyone was nice, at the hotel, shop, restaurant, no one was rude. This confirms to include Ghent as one of our favorite city ever.
Once arrived, we walked about 10 minutes to the hotel. It located near everything from Ghent’s guidebook. The cathedral, the other famous church, the shops, the famous bridge, even Christmas market! Again, although the decoration might not most festive, but it had the best food and atmosphere. People was VERY crowded, and happily eat or drink everything there. Lots of young people here, so excellent for drinking. I had the best burger, seriously, I bought 2 days in a row, cheese burger. It even makes me happy to think back our moment there.
We spent the next morning hanging around the Christmas market. Walked until Sint Michelsbrug bridge, then to the famous Graslei area on the canal side. It was foggy that day, but all our photos turned out well. The fog was actually match with the city ambiance.
We had our lunch there at De Witte Leeuw, recommended by my in law’s friend, it was okay in my opinion, slightly overpriced but great view just beside the canal. However, they were under construction, so the atmosphere was not that nice. We ate at outside table, they provided blanket since it was pretty chill. We ordered another mussel and fries, some shrimp and grill fish. 
We spent the rest of afternoon shopping. Surprisingly, we enjoyed so much walking around the shops. The area was nice, Primark and Hema were there 🙂 Then we had the Amadeus all you can eat ribs for dinner, waited 30 minutes since we didn’t book previously, and got ourselves a table. It is a must if you visit Ghent, taste so good.
We stayed 3 nights there, while my in law only 2 nights so they went to Amsterdam the next day. We started our day for late lunch in Holy Food Market. The place was stunning, feels like refurbished library from old era. Each stalls serves different food from different country, we tried Spanish food, Germany beers and Magnum desert (LOL). The food itself in my opinion was okay, not so great. The decoration was filled with Christmas vibe.
Since we were out pretty late in afternoon, it was dark pretty quick after our late lunch. We were planning to explore the city at nighttime, for its famous city lighting. Got the walking guide that you may download from the official site. It was said on the website that you will need 2 hours to complete the walking tour, but it took us longer than that obviously since we love to eat and drink in between.
The photos didn’t turn out as good and clear as we would’ve expected, it was raining on and off that night. We stopped at one food truck market, for some foods and drinks. The live music was good, crowds was good, it was near the Gravensteen Castle if I’m not mistaken.
We stopped at the castle, there is a bar just inside the castle, super cool. Had several shots there, enjoyed the moment too much until we forgot to take any picture inside (LOL)
And we’re back to our hotel’s area. We’re leaving the next morning to Amsterdam, joined our in law, transited at Antwerp central station. Wish we can visit other cities next time we go to Belgium.
Vie on Vacation 