If you tell people you are going to Ghent the response you are most likely to get is, "where?" Assuming you've pronounced it properly and you've explained that it's a city in Belgium you are still likely to get a quizzical look. But as I came to find out, Ghent is a real cool city. It's got some of the charm and personality of Bruges but is also big enough to have a nightlife and culture of its own apart from the tourist scene much like Brussels.
But I wasn't in Ghent because I'd heard it was a Bruges/Brussels hybrid, I was there to visit a friend I had met way back in Granada, Spain: Kris. Kris accompanied me on the Granada tapas tour one night and, as so often happens, we got to talking about beers. Turned out Kris is in a beer society in Ghent and after waxing Trappist and Spanish beers and all other sorts, he invited me to visit him in Ghent when I made my way through Belgium. Fast forward about 6 months and it was finally time to taste some beers with a master.
But before I met up with Kris, I did a cursory walk around town- especially through some of the more obscure areas. As with seemingly every city in Belgium, Ghent was a trading town with a port and acquired the majority of its wealth during the late middle ages. I'll spare you the historical drivel on this one and just dive in. From the train station I wanted to proceed to the eastern part of the old town and make my way north to the historic center. To do this I passed through Citadel Park where I noticed something curious.
Each of these headstones displayed the name of a famous museum. I later talked about this with Kris and while he wasn't sure of the meaning either, we both agreed it reminded us of the parks turned graveyards in Sarajevo. Near the park is five-way roundabout intersection. In the middle of the intersection is what my map described as the favorite tree of Ghent. I couldn't figure out what was so special about it but take a long deep look. Maybe it will kindle something deep within your subconscious.
Moving beyond inexplicably loved trees I made my way to the first of many canals that runs behind the St. Peter's church. Since you're still reading Wanderlust after the past 7 entries of canals I'm convinced you love them. So here is another one to whet your insatiable appetite dear reader.
Remember the Beguinage in Bruges? Well if you liked that, this one in Ghent is even more massive. The last Ghent beguine died in 2005 and since the complex has been converted. Regular people now live in these little houses. There are dozens of these little things.
There is also an art cinema that operates on certain days of the week. The church in the center of the garden is still active or semi-active I believe, but the entire site is protected as a UNESCO heritage site so it's unlikely any of this will change in the near future. Look closely and you'll see the little houses going all the way around the perimeter of the churchyard.
But what does the town itself look like? Well, a bit prettier than Brussels but not quite as nice as Bruges. Here is a shot from the canal just east of the very city center. You can see the towers of the Cathedral and the Belfry.
Also, a long time ago the Ghentians decided to fill in some of their canals and replace them with roads. In recent years they have decided to restore a few of them. The Nederschelde canal is among those under restoration. Not sure what the process entails but this is what canal restoration looks like. Just in case you ever need to draw it in Pictionary.
Feeling a bit peckish and wanting something to fortify my stomach for the beer tasting that was to come, I consulted my trusty map which indicated a plethora of Turkish pizza (pide) options just north of the city center. Supposedly they were good and some of the cheapest food available in Ghent. With little time to spare before meeting Kris I stopped in one and ordered myself some sort of combo pide. What came out for 5 euro was a feast. I only finished about half of it. It was very tasty but was still a far cry from the delicious pides I remember from Istanbul.
Kris asked me to meet him in the Veerle Plein which was convenient as it's right next to the Ghent Castle, Gravensteen. The castle was built in 1180 on the site of a previous wooden castle. It served as the seat of the Counts of Flanders until the 14th century. Subsequently it was used as a court, a prison, and even a wool factory. Eventually it was purchased by the city and restored to its current state. I would have likely gone in even despite the number of castles I've been in over the past 7 months, but I was right on time to meet Kris so a cursory inspection would have to suffice.
Right on time Kris met me at the center of the Veerle Plein and we made our way to the first bar. Along the way I got a nice picture of the canal by the castle at dusk.
One of my favorite Trappist ales is the Orval. A brief primer on Trappist beers. Trappist is a designation given to a monastic order originating from of the Cisctercian monestary La Trappe. These monks brew beers and to be designated "Trappist," the monastery must comply with the Trappist principles/regulations (most importantly that the monastery is self-supporting and all money made from the sale of beer is either used to support the monastery or distributed/used for helping people).
The beers are generally Belgian top-fermented ales which are bottle conditioned (meaning live yeast is left in the bottle to continue the fermenting process) and they are thereby quite strong. Some breweries (such as Orval) only produce one type of beer, while others produce several usually using a scaling system to identify the strength of the beer. Since the ability to measure alcohol did not exist during the early brewing days, the beers were designated as single (enkel), double (dubbel), or triple (tripel) which indicated the amount of ingredients used. Thus, a tripel had 3x the amount of ingredients as an enkel and would thereby be stronger, heavier, and more flavorful.
There are currently 8 operating Trappist breweries, 6 in Belgium, 1 (the original) in the Netherlands, and 1 relatively new one in Austria. Of these I've tried every beer from 5 of the Belgian breweries and every beer from the brewery in the Netherlands. The 1 brewery I haven't tried in Belgium, Westvleteren, I've been trying to get my hands on for years- only they don't allow their beers to be resold so you have to get them in-person at a designated time from the brewery itself. :(
Anyway, what distinguishes Orval from some of the others is that they use a wild yeast strain. Think back to the Brussels entry where I discussed briefly lambics. Thus, the Orvals tend to age much differently than the other Trappists as the flavor profile can and often does change dramatically over the years. As such, you can buy "old Orvals" in bars around Ghent- Orvals which have been aged for at least 6 months. The one picture above was almost three years old. Similar to aging wine, letting these top-fermented bottle conditioned beers sit for several years allows complex flavors to develop. And this was a great beer... and a foreshadowing of things to come. Here is Kris enjoying his old Orval.
In Ghent's city center there are 5 large edifices of note aside from the Castle. The first is St. Jacob's. It so happened that the next bar we visited was right across the street from the church so I was able to get a photo. We sampled a really tasty amber beer in that bar but the bar itself was equally impressive- exceptionally old and historic looking. I felt as if we had walked back into the 1800's.
The other four are in a line from east to west: (1) Cathedral; (2) Belfry; (3) St. Nicholas; and right across the canal (4) St. Michael's. Before we went on to our final bar of the evening, Kris walked me around the very center so I could take in some of these amazing structures adorned in their nighttime glow. This is the Belfort:
In this one is the bridge, behind which is St. Michael's. The bases for two tower spires were completed but the towers were never built. You can see the left base (the boxy structure in the middle) from this shot of the back of the church.
Maybe my favorite photo of Ghent, however, is the old Graslei harbor where most of the old trading houses were located. It looks spectacular lit up at night. In the summers Ghentians flock to this area to lay out in the sun or even swim in the river.
Also nearby are the historic post office and the old meat markets (which had a tunnel under the river so the carts of meat could be brought into the slaughterhouse). Heading back east past the Belfry you come across the Cathedral also wonderfully illuminated in the evenings.
Ghent, while beautiful in daylight, is simply stunning at night. Personally I think it's more beautiful at night than Bruges and Brussels combined. But despite all of the wonder encircling me, the best part of the evening was yet to come. We retreated back to Kris' place where he offered an exceptionally rare treat: the chance to taste a 35+ year old Orval. These were uncovered in the cellar of a bar which had long since been shuttered and were offered to Kris as a gift from a friend.
The one on the left is from the 1970's. The one on the right is from 2004. Kris called the brewery and had the brewmaster investigate what year they thought it was and late 70's is where they settled. As you can see it doesn't have the extended bands off the label which provide the brewing info, alcohol content, upc label and other information which went into effect in 1982. Drinking a beer that's well older than me- wild. The taste was unlike anything I've had before. The yeast had completely fermented away all of the sugar and what was left was a dry, crisp, and exceptionally flavorful beer. As expected it had a bit of a sour twinge on the finish and there was a considerable amount of sediment.
The glass on the right is the next to last 1/6th or so and the glass on the left is the final 1/6th. Look at the difference in sediment and beer clarity. And the taste of each of these was so different as to think you are having two different beers. But this was from the same beer- the same half of a bottle of the same beer.
Kris had 9 of these. Two he offered for sample at a function of his beer society and one he offered to share with me. This is an unparalleled treat and one impossible to recreate in a lifetime. I feel so lucky to have had this opportunity! Who is happier than this guy?
Next we tried an exceptional and very limited beer. The first sip of this beer will blow you away. After that it got a bit sweet for both Kris and I, but that first taste just absolutely lights up your palate. The La Trappe Quadrupel Oak Aged.
Finally Kris let me try a beer unique Belgium, a geuze. I can't pronounce it properly but the best I can do is make a throat clearing sound and then say "uhzza." Here in the states you might see it referred to as a "Belgian sour." Although that's not quite accurate, if you've had a Belgian sour you'll have some idea of a geuze. It's a beer made from combining a young lambic (less than 1 year old) with old lambics (2-3 years old). It's then bottle fermented which results in a crisp sour beer with a strong bite.
Most foreigners find them too sour, but any self-respecting Belgian beer drinker (i.e. all Belgians) have a fond affinity for geuze much like a proper Englishman respects and even reveres good ale. This particular geuze we tried was the more rare geuze which Kris had been aging for a while. I really like the geuze style- it's perhaps not a beer I would want to drink a large number of (similar to how I feel about IPAs), but a refreshing and unique style I would love to see more American brewers experiment with.
After the geuze it was getting quite late and I needed to make my way back to the train station with as much haste as I could muster to catch the last train back to Bruges. In Belgium it's critical to make the last train as there is no other late night means of intercity transportation. I had a phenomenal time in Ghent and I owe my good friend Kris a huge thank you for taking me on an exceptional beer tour and then capping it off with the tasting experience of a lifetime. And when my friend Kris someday visits the US, I'll be calling on all my beer aficionado buddies to put on a spectacular tasting for him in return.
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