Hutch
Strata Poster
With Phantasialand being my top bucket list park for several years now, and Ride to Happiness being the top coaster on my bucket list, a coaster trip in this region was something I’ve been itching to do these past couple years. Originally we looked into a shorter trip that involved the Belgian parks and finishing off with Phantasialand, but adding on Europa Park was too tempting. And in turn that makes Holiday Park and Tripsdrill a no-brainer as well, so this trip extended into a two week journey, which is the longest theme park related trip I’ve ever done. We made sure to set aside some days for sightseeing in between, so thankfully the trip wasn’t all “go-go-go!” (although to be honest every day was still very busy).
Day 1 - Ghent
I flew out of Boston the day before Labor Day, giving myself a morning layover in Zurich before arriving in Brussels around midday. I actually did a family trip to Brussels 10 years ago as my first visit to Europe (throwback to this trip report here). Having done the city then and not leaving myself with a big impression (and hearing the general consensus of the city otherwise), Brussels was not considered for this trip, with priority focused on some of the smaller cities instead. I was very drawn to Ghent, with its medieval city center and Dutch-style canals, so we started out with a few days there.
I failed to get any decent sleep on the overnight plane, so I was pretty out of it when I arrived in Ghent. So naturally I hopped on the tram in the wrong direction. Fortunately it was pretty easy to correct that mistake, and before long I was in the city center.
Turn around the corner of this church and this is what you see:
I met up with my friend at the hostel (which had an amazing location), dropped my bag, and had a wander around.
Most of what there is to see in Ghent (mainly the three church towers) is pretty close together, but we did wander further out (somewhat) along a canal on the east side, before looping back in.
Eventually making it back through the Vrijdagmarkt...
…and the Gravensteen Castle (didn’t go inside).
And by then our room was ready, allowing us to settle in for a bit. The view from our hostel was the reason we stayed here (and still much cheaper than a basic hotel).
So that was all very lovely to walk around. That main corridor in particular with the three churches is just incredible. Again, we didn’t really go inside much. We’ll peek into some churches if they’re open (more to come later), but didn’t really bother with any upcharges or museums and whatnot. Those generally aren’t really my thing, plus the exteriors of the structures are much more interesting.
And while there were definitely some tourists and a couple of tour groups out and about, the city center did not feel overwhelming at all, especially compared to some of the other cities we'll see. It was pretty nice and, outside of the tour boats and some other groups, it really did feel like it was locals doing their thing.
Our walk earlier gave myself a second wind, so I was good to go out for dinner and grabbing some drinks at Dulle Griet, or what we called the “Shoe Bar.” You can get a half-yard of beer, but it requires a deposit of one of your shoes! They dump them in a bucket that’s hoisted up to the ceiling, and you don’t get it back until you finish your drink! Some hostel mates met up with us as well, so it was a great evening to kick off the trip.
Day 1 - Ghent
I flew out of Boston the day before Labor Day, giving myself a morning layover in Zurich before arriving in Brussels around midday. I actually did a family trip to Brussels 10 years ago as my first visit to Europe (throwback to this trip report here). Having done the city then and not leaving myself with a big impression (and hearing the general consensus of the city otherwise), Brussels was not considered for this trip, with priority focused on some of the smaller cities instead. I was very drawn to Ghent, with its medieval city center and Dutch-style canals, so we started out with a few days there.
I failed to get any decent sleep on the overnight plane, so I was pretty out of it when I arrived in Ghent. So naturally I hopped on the tram in the wrong direction. Fortunately it was pretty easy to correct that mistake, and before long I was in the city center.
Turn around the corner of this church and this is what you see:
I met up with my friend at the hostel (which had an amazing location), dropped my bag, and had a wander around.
Most of what there is to see in Ghent (mainly the three church towers) is pretty close together, but we did wander further out (somewhat) along a canal on the east side, before looping back in.
Eventually making it back through the Vrijdagmarkt...
…and the Gravensteen Castle (didn’t go inside).
And by then our room was ready, allowing us to settle in for a bit. The view from our hostel was the reason we stayed here (and still much cheaper than a basic hotel).
So that was all very lovely to walk around. That main corridor in particular with the three churches is just incredible. Again, we didn’t really go inside much. We’ll peek into some churches if they’re open (more to come later), but didn’t really bother with any upcharges or museums and whatnot. Those generally aren’t really my thing, plus the exteriors of the structures are much more interesting.
And while there were definitely some tourists and a couple of tour groups out and about, the city center did not feel overwhelming at all, especially compared to some of the other cities we'll see. It was pretty nice and, outside of the tour boats and some other groups, it really did feel like it was locals doing their thing.
Our walk earlier gave myself a second wind, so I was good to go out for dinner and grabbing some drinks at Dulle Griet, or what we called the “Shoe Bar.” You can get a half-yard of beer, but it requires a deposit of one of your shoes! They dump them in a bucket that’s hoisted up to the ceiling, and you don’t get it back until you finish your drink! Some hostel mates met up with us as well, so it was a great evening to kick off the trip.
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