Discover Ghent In Belgium For Europe Travel Tours
Ghent, Belgium is a friendly university town that is full of ancient buildings and history. If Bruges is a city filled with tourists looking for a time warp, Ghent is a city full of students and locals just living life… Like Bruges it started as a port, but unlike Bruges, it still is an important port. It\’s a city of flowers with a flourishing flower export trade.
It has museums and ancient architecture, but it\’s a modern city. True, the city center is a pedestrian area that is like a museum to early Flemish architecture… and a testament to the city\’s medieval might, but it\’s surrounded by a real life city. The tourist brochures say it has more historic sites than Antwerp and is more down-to-earth \”real\” than Bruges. While I love Bruges, I think I agree with them.
It\’s not high on a lot of tourists lists, but it deserves to be. Though I admit, the only reason we went to Ghent in the first place was because we had hosted a student from the university one summer in the U.S.
As a tourist, it\’s the old city center you want to visit. You\’ll find a wealth of history to explore within the outline of the old city walls. You\’ll see impressive Gothic sites, such as dramatic St. Bavos\’s Cathedral and the Castle of the Counts. The city\’s medieval core is cradled within a loop of the River Leie, which surrounds the old town like a moat.
It\’s a big city… Belgium\’s fourth largest, but you\’ll only be dealing with the center. The historical center is divided into \”areas\”. To find your way around on the tourists maps you need to become familiar with these areas…. don\’t worry, there\’s no quiz and it\’s not hard. The historical city center is in the area called Toren-site. To the north is Patershol, which contains a lot of the best restaurants. To the south is the Kunstenkwartier, where most of the universities\’ 50,000 students congregate.
There are numerous waterways passing through the city center. The city started as a settlement on the Scheldt and Lys (Leie) Rivers. But you don\’t need to know all the rivers and canals…. just know that all this water makes the city pretty.
Castle of the Counts is an imposing fortress type castle in the heart of the city — The Gravensteen area or \”Gravensteen-site\”. This imposing castle was RE-built in 1180 (and then restored in the 19th century). It overlooks the city from it\’s battlements high up on the keep and you get a great panoramic view of the city from the tower. There is an authentic medieval district in the shadow of the Castle … It is still partially surrounded by a medieval moat.
The area called Toren-site is the historical heart of the city. This is where you\’ll find Saint Bavo Cathedral with the Ghent Altarpiece – The Mystic Lamb by Hubert and Jan Van Eyck. This famous multi-section altarpiece was completed in 1432, and is worth a look whether you\’re an art lover or not.
Walk over St. Michael\’s Bridge, also in the heart of town… in the Graslei-site. The Graslei is one of the most scenic places in Ghent\’s old city center. From the bridge, you\’ll have a wonderful view of the skyline of Ghent with the three impressive towers of St Nicholas\’ Church, the Belfry with its bell tower, and Saint Bavo Cathedral.
If all of these areas make the city sound spread out… it\’s not; at least not the historical center. You won\’t get lost in Ghent… pedestrian signposts are everywhere. So stop and explore this historic Dutch city; you\’ll be glad you did.
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Top 35 Free Sites for Europe Travel Tips Everybody Ought to Know About
When planning a trip to Europe, there are a ton of available resources for travelers. With this is mind, it is often time-consuming to wade through all of the websites to find really valuable information.
Here is a list of some of the top travel resources for planning a trip to Europe.
1) Wikitravel
This is one of the best sites for travel available. It is open source, so it is constantly updated; further, it is usually locals or people who have direct, experience with an area who contribute information. Thus you get localized information you might not have gotten elsewhere.
2) World Travel Tips
This is a huge, comprehensive resource for world travel. It includes forums, articles, links, free membership and much more for every continent. Their European section covers every European Country and offer in-depth information about each one.
3) About.com: Europe for Visitors
This is a great site dedicated to travel in Europe from About.com. Geared towards everyone from first time to experienced travelers, it is a goldmine of European travel and planning information.
4) Virtual Tourist
This is a great travel guide. Their motto is ‘real travelers – real info.” This seems consistent with the site, which has everything from transportation reviews to the best travel deal and trip planners. The site also includes forums where you can read about other people’s adventures in Europe.
5) Travel Europe
This is an swicki (cross between a search engine and wikipedia) where community users can add, remove and improve the results. This particular swicki is geared towards travel in Europe and is a great resource fro planning a trip to or in Europe.
6) Visiteurope.com
This is the European travel commission’s guide to Europe and is packed with tons of useful information, articles, advice and much much more.
7) Europe for Visitors
This is a site that offer European news, general advice, specific country advice, hotels, links to city guides, tourist offices and much, much more.
8.) Europecities.com
This is a comprehensive portal site that offers European city reviews and guides to hundreds of European cities and over 40 European countries.
9) Travel Library
Travel Library is an impartial resource for travelers and offers a plethora of resources that offer in-depth travel information, from hotel and hostel ideas to travelogues and most popular locations.
10) Europa: Traveling in Europe
A huge site that offers tools and information for over 30 European Countries. Each country has their own site dedicated to travel resources, information news and more from that country. Categories for visitors include: documents you will need, choosing a time to travel, getting there, staying healthy, money, shopping, communicating, pets, and if things go wrong.
11) Europa: Your Europe
While this site is geared towards European citizens, it still offers tons of great information for visitors outside of Europe. Information categories include: working in Europe, education and study, living in Europe, traveling in Europe, consumer protection, European citizenship and diplomatic protection.
12) European Union Website
This is the official website of the European Union. It offers news, educational resources and tons of links to information about what’s going on in Europe and well as youth travel portals, travel guides, transportation information and much, much more.
13) Yahoo Answers
This is a great place to ask questions and get answers about anything Europe related. You ask the question and get a number of answers, then choose the answer that fits your question best. This site is great because it gives you several points of view to read and learn from and is focused on sharing knowledge.
14) Travels Wise
This site offers tons of information about travel in Europe and countries including Belarus, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Greece, Iceland, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, and the Ukraine.
15) Rick Steves’ Travel Tips
This site is a large portal site that offers tips and advice for exploring Europe safely, effectively and confidently. From packing tips and safety to accommodations and communications, you will find what you’re looking for.
16) Travel Punk
This site offers travel tips and advice targeted at backpackers, budget travelers and tourists. Offers tons of great information as well as travel tools and resources for finding cheap flights and accommodations.
17) TERC Europe Travel Tips
Offers tips on traveling in Europe and categories run the gamut from packing tips and staying healthy and safe to money matters, budget planning, food and accommodations and much more. It is a huge site that is well worth visiting for any Europe travel-related needs.
18) Accessible Journeys
This is an awesome travel site that offers a wealth of information, tips and travel advice about accessibility and traveling in a wheelchair. With information on everything from traveling with your wheelchair or scooter to equipment rentals, handicapped parking permits in Europe and accessible ways to travel, it is a great resource.
19) Europe Travel Tips
A large portal with tons of travel tools, articles and information about travel in 40 European countries, from Austria to the United Kingdom.
20) Independent Traveler
Great site offering lots of travel tips and advice to independent travelers.
21) Travel-and-transport.com
This is a highly useful portal that offers basic and necessary transportation information for Denmark, Finland, Germany, Norway and Sweden. New to the site is a route planner that is especially handy.
22) Travel Notes: Europe
Comprehensive travel notes and advice for traveling throughout Europe. Lots of links, resources and tools for travelers.
23) Open Travel Info
Great travel site with a large amount of travel and Europe related information. The forums and articles are especially useful.
24) Discover Europe
Another excellent portal site that offers a wealth of tools, resources and links for travelers to learn about different European countries and plan their trips effectively and efficiently.
25) World 66: Europe
This is a great wiki site that allows members (free) to change and information. It has a great travel guide, maps, and resources for getting to Europe and getting around it. Members can also post photos and there is a cool photo gallery of different places in Europe. Well worth checking out.
26) Backpacker.net
Geared towards backpackers, this is one of the better sites for information, advice and travel planning for backpackers. Users can submit and read recommendations for hostels, tours, bars, beers and much more.
27) WorldWideBackpackers.com
This site is another excellent resource for backpackers and other travelers. While it is geared towards backpackers, there is a wealth of rich information for all travelers, so you should definitely pay them a visit.
28) Gate 1 Travel
This is a travel site for Central Europe. there is a wealth of information that is super handy; they offer info from climate and clothing advice to packing, required travel documents, travel insurance, transportation, communication and much more.
29) Backpackeurope.com
This is another site that is geared towards backpackers in Europe but is highly useful for all travelers. Has Europe travel tips, advice on packing, hostels and hotels, transportation and links to other travel resources.
30) Gemut.com
This is a great travel site that offers visitors advice on everything from car rental and rail travel to hotel reservations, money matters and much more.
31) Travels With Friends: Travel Tips for Europe
Travel tips and advice from planning your trip to executing it. The site’s creators travel Europe and research sites, accommodations, destinations and much more, so there is great, first-hand information available on all aspects of travel in Europe.
32) Suite 101: Eastern Europe & Russia Travel
Travel, culture and trip planning and advice. This is an excellent resource for finding out more about Eastern Europe and its cultures.
33) Traveler’s Point
Europe advice, tips and travel help for all European countries.
34) Budget Travel Online
Great site offering ideas, how-tos, advice and tips for travelers.
35) Yahoo Travel
Yahoo’s comprehensive travel site offers a wealth of information on all European Countries and many of its countries. Another great resource to check out.
Europe Travel Guide: Explore a New Experience
A book and map are reliable sources that one should carry while travelling or exploring places. The Europe Travel Guide book reflects lot of information about regions and localities. Relying on this source is rewarding and beneficial. It reveals the best time and season to visit a place in Europe. With picture galleries and simple verse it helps travellers to acquire knowledge about the holiday destinations and its specialities. The routes and communication mediums of reaching places, birds and animals sight seeing, shopping centres, hotels and resorts, are all mentioned in a well informed book. Informative books also provide information about the lifestyles, food habits, culture and dialects of the region.
Having a map is like watching a place from bird’s view. It is a gist of well-known cities and tourist destinations, main streets, terminals etc. and with it you can easily locate places. Furthermore, maps are more convenient to carry with in comparison to any other source of information. It is also worthy to carry a compass so that you do not get lost and navigate location easily.
As you are new and unfamiliar to a region, the routes and passageways might be confusing. To avoid this awkwardness, you can hire an experienced guide and enjoy the places. The guide steers the tourist with information of places, its heritage, culture, monuments, economical hotels and places where you can get tasty European food. You should be selective in hiring the services of a well trained guide as many might charge you more than any normal cost.
Do carry a guide book, phone numbers or map with you, so that if unfortunately you get lost, you can call someone for help. Online is also a strong tool that will enrich you with information in less time. In comparison to any guide books, online helps to collect more information within less time. Many reputed hotels and resorts launch their own websites revealing information and charges.
So, guide books are like trustworthy friends assist you in enjoying places.