I
N the Middle Ages
the rich drank wine
the poor drank beer.
Way back in the 14th
century Ghent was one
of the most important
cities in the area a wealthy
textiles city. Because it had its
own harbour it charged taxes for
bringing in grain and grain was
important in medieval times â for
making bread (since potatoes were
not known yet) and of course for
brewing said beer. In fact because
the water was so dirty that it was
like drinking out of an open sewer
most regular peeps each drank about
300 litres of beer a year keeping more
fortunate Ghentians very happy indeed.
More sanitary today Ghent is
the capital of East Flanders a young
university city and a collector of ancient
baggage. Check into the Ghent Marriott
Hotel four buildings melded into one modern
hotel within. One of them is more interesting
than the others but more on that later.
Step out then behind the hotel into
the 14th century. The main canal marks
the historic centre of the city. It was the
neighbourhood of them wealthy brewers.
Because building a church was how you
showed off in the old days the guild wanted
to build St Michaelâs Church to be the highest
in the Low Countries and it was all set to be
- till the money ran out and the church was
left without a tower.
The buildings opposite are history frozen
in wood and stone on a single street. They
run from a 13th-century grain-storage facility
(which now houses the famous Belga Queen
restaurant) to 14th- 15th- and 16th-century
buildings right up to the 20th century â
represented by a post office from 1913.
Walk on to your left along the Lieve Canal.
In the 13th century there was rivalry between
Bruges â already in decline â and Ghent â
a city on the up-and-coming â to be the capital
of Flanders. Bruges had access to a sea
harbour and Ghent had to pay taxes to use it.
So Ghent began building a 55km canal amid
stiff opposition in the mid-14th century.
It was dug out in 17 years not helped at all
in its progress by the people of Bruges filling
it up every night. As you stand on the bridge
on Lievestraat look for a wooden house
along the water that is distinctively yellow.
Ghent
Isabella yellow.
The story goes that
in the 15th century Isabella
I Castille a Spanish queen
wore an inner chemise for over eight
months in a pact with God to bring her
husband Frederic II of Aragon back safe from
the war with the Saracens. White worn very
close to the body of course turned to yellow...
Leave that particularly grubby story
behind and walk perpendicular to the canal.
The Castle of the Counts of Flanders rises like
a fat toad to your left. The count in the 12th
century built it not as a defensive bastion
against enemies but to protect himself from
his own people. He was not a popular ruler
that one. Still it was not a comfortable castle
too cold and windy so 200 years later
the counts abandoned it to be used as
a supreme high court with a big torture room
where unfortunates were trifled with beforeMore vegetarian meals are served in Ghent than
anywhere else in Belgium. Additionally in 2009
the city officially announced that Thursdays would
be Veggie Day. If however you are a meat-lover
donât skip Ghent: you are certainly not obliged
to go vegetarian.Ghent for vegetarians