Following our day in Bruges, we had two full days in Ghent.  As in Bruges, we spent quite a bit of time just walking the streets.  However, there were churches, museums and galleries we wanted to see and, to facilitate that, we bought a pair of Ghent ‘CityCards’.  Despite the significant up-front cost, these proved good value and reduced the hassle around ticket buying and queuing.  Also, they encouraged us to venture into a couple of places that we might not have bothered with if an entrance fee had been required.

First though, we had to fortify ourselves with breakfast.  On our way to Bruges the previous day we had passed a café, STEK, that had looked promising and we made the first of what turned out to be two visits there.  The breakfast was excellent – rivalling the brunch we had had the previous day in Bruges – and again I was sold on the inclusion of peanut butter in my banana crumble.  I have been adding nut butter to my breakfasts at home ever since.

^{Lovely Belgian Breakfasts: Blackbird (Bruges) vs STEK (Ghent)}

Our first gallery visit in Ghent was to the Municipal Museum of Contemporary Art Ghent (S.M.A.K.) to the south of the city.  This was only established in 1999 and, frankly, the collection betrayed that.  The gallery has some big rooms – all white as is usual for galleries of this type – but there wasn’t a huge amount on show.  I enjoyed the peace and quite of the place but we didn’t stay long.

We strolled over the road to the Museum of Fine Arts Ghent (MSK).  This holds a vastly more comprehensive collection than S.M.A.K.  It’s collection represented art across several centuries, a solid coverage of Belgian art and a diverse set of artists from Hieronymus Bosch (who I always find interesting) to Rubens, Rodin and Magritte. 

I was initially impressed by the incredibly well-preserved colours in the medieval religious works, then flagged a bit through the portrait rooms, before reviving as I moved into the galleries of more modern art.  The gallery has been renovated recently and it was very comfortable, quiet and well laid out according to chronology but also thematically.

Having had our culture infusion for the day, Jane and I strolled back in increasing sunshine towards the centre.  We popped into Saint Peter’s Abbey but were confused by the lack of things to see and took what turned out to be a wrong turn into the attractive, but unremarkable, adjacent gardens and vineyards.  It turned out that these were open to the general public and we were now locked out of the Abbey.  It was not the only time during our stay in Belgium that a combination of our lack of language skills and dubious signage confused our sight-seeing.

We found our way back to the Abbey entrance but since there was no exhibition on, we moved swiftly next door to Our Lady of St Peter’s Church.  This was part of the original abbey complex which was one of the earliest settlements that ultimately became Ghent.  It dates back to the 12th century and was rebuilt in a Baroque style in the 17th century.  It was impressive inside and out.

The sun was well out by now and we continued a relaxed walk along the Ghent waterways, past the new and radically modern-looking library to St Bavo’s Cathedral. 

As expected, the Cathedral was crowded with tourists most of whom were seeking a view of the famous Ghent Altarpiece which was completed in 1432 by the Van Eyck brothers. 

The altarpiece has survived clandestine sales of some of its parts, thievery, war and religious uprisings.  It has been restored in recent years – indeed, we saw part of this process during our visit to the Fine Arts Museum.  It is now largely back in St Bavos and is a huge tourist attraction, including a virtual reality tour (which I opted out of).

^{Inside St Bavos (With The Ghent Altarpiece To The Right)}

While Jane sought out places to buy Belgian linen, I visited St Michael’s Church and St Nicholas’ Church.  In the latter, there was an ongoing service so I didn’t loiter. 

St Michael’s Church was rather lovely – probably my favourite of the churches in Ghent that I saw.  It is another very old church; it was started in 1440 but its tower was only completed in 1825.  Its internal brickwork was beautiful in the dappled sunshine coming into the nave past nearby trees and, although ornate in parts, it felt slightly less polished and more homely than some of the other churches we had seen.

Whoa!  It had been a very full, long morning.  By now we were ready for something other than churches and galleries.  Food and Belgian beer beckoned.

I spotted that the brewery for the beer I had drunk on our first night in Ghent, DOK, was open for food as well as drinks.  It was at the northern end of the waterways surrounding the centre of the city and we set off in what was by now warm, continuous sun.  As we approached the brewery, we passed Bar Broei, a rough and ready looking bar that nonetheless sold good, homemade snacks and excellent beer.  We chilled out there very comfortably and with a very personable barman for a couple of hours.

We resumed our walk to Dok Brewery and discovered that it was in an industrial area surrounded by a variety of street food outlets busy with, it seemed, mainly local residents.  This was perfect for us and we tucked into more beer and, of course, a beef burger. 

Such meat eating was becoming the norm.  So were the early nights back at the hotel, first in the bar and then our room.  We still had another day in Ghent to go.