Touring Gravensteen Castle & obsessing over Belgian waffles

It’s my second (and last) day in Ghent!

Although I had so much to explore and experience, I also wanted to have a slightly more relaxed day, especially since the past 2 nights accumulated to 8 hours of sleep. I can only survive on that for so long!

I made sure I got at least 8 hours of sleep last night, and I woke up around 9am feeling much better than the same time the day before. Sara unfortunately was only spending one night in Ghent so she got her day started earlier and visited the Cathedral which I had already seen, and did some exploring on her own in the morning. I would 100% recommend getting out and about early at least one morning in Ghent, it’s so beautiful and quiet even up until 11am-ish. Everyone starts their days quite late here, and yesterday when I was walking around at 9:30am it was a complete ghost town. I know Sara really loved getting to explore the city in such peace (especially after putting up with me all of yesterday’s afternoon).

I took my time getting ready and tidied up in our room for a bit, since being hungover and sleep deprived didn’t lend well to me staying organised.

Sara dropped back into the hostel around 11:30 to pick me up and walk over to Gravensteen Castle, which she had booked tickets for us the night before. It was the only other ticketed experience I really wanted to do, and Kenny (night tour guide) said the audio guide was especially unique, so I was intrigued enough to give it a go. Sara was also interested, so we left the hostel at 11:45am and were through the gates 10 minutes later.

The castle itself was beautiful, especially where it was located. Right in the town centre, built into the bank of a canal, it was striking against the detailed facades of the other buildings nearby. It was odd to see a structure such as this right in the middle of the city, especially after seeing the castles of Ireland, which were often in more remote locations. It felt almost too easy to get to, we walked not even 10 minutes, we were right there. I don’t know why this aspect of the experience really tripped me out, but it did!

We found the souvenir shop where the audio guides were and got 2 in English. And Kenny was correct about the audio guide narration. It was hilarious! I love when someone with some actual personality does the tour, it makes the whole experience come alive. He did a really great job of setting the scene of the castle of what it would’ve been like at its peak in the 16th century, and encouraged us to visualise furniture, events, people, drama, everything. He had a great voice for it too, if he wasn’t telling us about torture methods I would’ve thought he was telling me a bedtime story. I heard someone say they thought they were listening to an immersive audiobook, and that’s a perfect description. Like I was standing in the locations of the scenes in a novel, I could see everything happening right in front of me. I believe the man who voiced it is Wouter Deprez, and apparently he’s a very well known Flanders comedian, loved in Belgium. After the tour, he’s got at least 2 new fans! It was clear he had a great love for not only the castle itself and it’s history, but also for the city of Ghent in its entirety. Having locals that love where they live made it that much easier to love it myself (not that I needed much convincing).

The views from the top level were also amazing, and not as high as the Belfry which I actually quite liked. You could more easily make out buildings and details, figure out where you’d been so far (Sara was much better at this than me).

We spent just over an hour at the castle just going through all the stops on the guide, and didn’t really have much else to explore within the grounds once it finished, it was pretty comprehensive!

The only other thing we really wanted to do was try Belgian waffles! Both Sara and I hadn’t tried them so far, but I hadn’t eaten yet and Sara bought our castle tickets, so I shouted us some waffles to eat at our spot by the canal. They were SO GOOD. I don’t even know how waffles could be that good, I wouldn’t say I am the biggest fan of waffles, but these ones just hit the spot. We both got the Lieger waffles, which had strawberries, cream and dark chocolate on top. There were savoury ones too, but we weren’t there for savoury waffles, that would be insane.

We took our time having our food and yapping some more, Sara’s train to Brussels didn’t leave for another couple of hours so we weren’t in a rush. The weather was also so much better today, the sun was out, there was barely a cloud, but it was nice and cool so I knew I wouldn’t get too warm and sweaty. It was my perfect kind of day, especially looking over to the buildings on the canal that seem to glow whenever they’re lit with sunlight, the whole scene was just magical.

The only thing left on Sara’s to-do list was to buy some Ghent Noses, which are a dessert specific to Ghent. They’re little triangles of solidified fruit marmalade that I guess resemble noses? The original flavour being a combination of different red fruits, but you could them in lemon, strawberry, apple etc. We found a stall selling them in one of the main squares, and Sara got a little bag of mixed noses (I giggle every time I say that, what a silly name for a food). This is what I mean, Belge people really do have a great sense of humour, I guess that includes their food.

Once Sara bought her noses (hehe) we walked back to the hostel to collect her backpack, then walked together to the tram station. The Ghent train station isn’t right in the middle of town and it’s too far to walk, so we had to time it right so she could get the tram from the city to the station, I believe it takes 20 minutes or so. After we said goodbye and Sara safely made it onto the tram, I walked my way back through the city centre, accidentally coming across the main shopping area. I really tried to walk quickly through that street, but there were so many cute shops that just screamed LAUREN. Honestly when I saw a couple of these shops I almost scoffed. What else could this city have that would make it even more perfect for me. It was like this place was mocking me for having to leave. I did exercise exceptional self-control and didn’t buy a single thing, instead opting to chill for a bit back by the main canal, my favourite spot of the city.

It just ended up that Lydia was just finishing up at work back home, so we were able to facetime for a good hour or so and have a very necessary debrief (very much needed). I hadn’t spoken to Lyds much since I’d left, so a yap was well overdue. It’s so nice to be so in touch with everyone back home, I’m usually calling someone every second day or so. I’ll do a little homesickness update soon, especially since that was one of my main concerns when I did leave home, but overall I’m doing really well (aside from the breakdown at Heathrow). Meeting new people and making some really good connections has helped, and also knowing that my true friends are making the effort to keep catching up has quelled a lot of my apprehension. We’re just having fun now!

The rest of the late afternoon I didn’t do that much, just read by the canal then headed back to the hostel to do a bit of writing before making myself some dinner in the kitchen. I was invited to go out again that night but I feel like I’ve only just started to recover from the previous expedition and didn’t want to push it so I decided to have a chill night instead.

Tomorrow I unfortunately have to check out and get going to my new destination, Brussels!

It’s going to be hard to say goodbye to Ghent and all the great memories I made here and people I met, but I know I’ve got more fun times ahead.

Currently MIA,

Lauren x