Hometown tourist: climbing the Belfry of Ghent
It’s been almost four years since I’m living in Ghent and there are still so many new things to do. Every few weeks a new restaurant pops up or I finally visit a restaurant that has been on my to do list for ages. A few weeks ago I finally went to a wine bar I was passing every day on my way to work, and ever since I visited it three other times. The same with the Belfry; after having it passed a gazilion times we finallyyy climbed the Belfry a few weeks ago. No idea why we postponed it that long, because it was certainly worth it!
We had been wanting to climb the Belfry of Ghent several weekends before finally climbing it, but every time the weather had been cloudy. So our first free Sunday of the year with good weather we went up. I was so glad I was wearing my alpaca wool head band because up high it was definitely colder.


The Belfry is almost 100 meter high, so climbing the 250 small steps was quite heavy. I really have to start working on one of my goals of 2020, starting to run again. The stairs were also quite steep, so I was just looking down with every step I took and kind of got dizzy. Not my favorite part of the belfry, to be honest. 🙂
If you go all the way to the top, you get to see the mechanical clockwork. But before that, you pass several small museums where you can learn more about the history of the tower, the bells, …


And of the history of the dragon! On top of the Beflry stands a giant dragon. It used to spit fire for special occasions, and the original one is in one of the museums. Nowadays the dragon doesn’t spit fire that often anymore, but they did make it work for 10 days in a row during the 2018 Gentse Feesten. So glad I could watch it back then, even though I wasn’t fully grasping how unique it was back then. 🙂
So yes, all that makes getting to the top even more worthwhile. You can relax a bit after all the heavy steps while watching the city from all four corners. It’s so cool when you live in the city and get to see some familiar buildings from above.
And of course you have the best view on the Saint Nicholas Church and the Saint Bavo’s Cathedral!


We had so much fun climbing the many steps of the Belfry, learning more about the (history of the) building and watching the city from above. 😀
Let’s see what we’ll visit next! 😀
xo Noor
This view is amazing!
Jennifer
Effortlessly Sophisticated
It definitely was! 😀
xo Noor
Dat uitzicht toch hé!! Ik heb de Sint-Baafskathedraal al 2x beklommen, maar het Belfort nog nooit! Ga er toch eens verandering in moeten brengen!
Echt he! Echr zalig om daarboven te staan! De Sint-Baafskathedraal beklimmen moet ook echt zalig zijn! *-*
Xo Noor
I love that they used to have a dragon they spat out fire. Shame it was removed and replaced. Can you imagine seeing something like that these days. That would be so cool.
Sxx
http://www.daringcoco.com
Right?! It was so cool seeing it during the Ghent city festival, and it would be so cool to see it more often! 😀
xo Noor
I would love to visit, what beautiful architecture and what a view too! xo
Makeup Muddle
Right?! It’s really amazing!
Xo Noor
Amazing photos and seems like you had a great time 🙂
https://www.mariannyc.com/best-health-wellness-products-you-need-right-now/
We definitely had 😀
Xo Noor
Seems like sucha cool experience
XX Angelica
https://eraenvogue.com
It definitely was!
Xo Noor
This is so cool, and what a gorgeous view too.
Jessica | notjessfashion.com
It really was amazing!
xo Noor