This is definitely a must go activity in Ghent! We lined up a little before it opened at 10am and…read morebought our tickets there because it was easier than doing it online. I had read that the audio comedy tour is actually pretty funny so we got those and walked around with our little devices. The tour was informative and insightful and added to the walking around. There was a clear noticeable difference in those who had the tour and knew what was going on versus those who did not do the audio tour and were just wandering. The castle itself was pretty cool to walk through and I liked how things are numbered so you can progress through them at your own pace. There's some steps so definitely recommend bringing sneakers.

I enjoyed my visit here. I recommend buying tickets online in advance so you don't need to wait in…read moreline or wait longer to enter if the place fills up (which that happened to me). Entrance gives you a guided tour in a variety of languages that was entertaining for all. I enjoyed being able to walk around the grounds and see most of the place. The views up top were also nice. Great way to spend about two hours of your time and soak in some castle time.

Meh. I'm pretty much their target audience (middle age woman who's into sewing and historical…read morefashion) but I was underwhelmed. The museum portion isn't very large, although they do a good job showing how lace is made without overwhelming you with detail. I was mainly looking forward to the demonstration, which turned out to be not much. Picture a community ed class, Lacemaking 101. The lacemakers seemed to be learners and they didn't really attempt to demonstrate anything. I just sat there for a few minutes while they were all chatting with each other but it was about as interesting/informative as observing my mom's book club.

Be forewarned. Last visit the museum was closed, we had trouble finding it and it was a cold day…read more This trip it was rainy and still not easy to find. Maybe the fates were trying to tell us something. Basically it turned into money for nothing. A total waste of time on something we thought would be interesting. It was so bad, we were done in like no time and weren't about to hang out for a demonstration (we had seen one several years ago in Brussels). Not much knowledge imparted by this tiny and expensive "museum". Be forewarned!

I really enjoy local maker gift shops and LOQUAL was no different…read more Vibe wise they leaned heavily towards smaller knick knacks and decor, although I did love their small white homes that had lights in them. They also carried baby bows, hair scrunchies, and jewelry that seemed to be for children, such as beaded friendship bracelets. I could see this LOQUAL being a great resource for stocking stuffers and a hit with the age 7-14 crowd so all in all I would say it was probably one of the better tourist shops in Bruges.

Amazing open air art museum! A private collection spread over a huge field. And a nice coffee/bar…read moreinside. Take Time an afternoon to come visit (kids friendly) the impressive structures and installations spread all over the foundation.

Just north of the main market at t Zand Markt Square on Saturday mornings, this, in my view, is the…read morebetter place to check out. No clothes, just food, produce, and flowers. Lots of locally grown items, some unique. Definitely worth the effort to see.

This gets three stars for being the only museum of Gent's history. I did learn quite a bit, but I…read morefound the setup to be very frustrating. I got the audio tour since I don't speak Flemish. Unfortunately, it turned out that for the most part, the audio tour just replicates the main placards in each room that are already in English. For the other pieces with audio excerpts, the tour is organized very poorly, where sometimes it just describes an object, and other times, the number is near a specific object, but the description is for the entire room. This really could have been done better. The woman at the front desk was very adamant that I lock up my bag, even though this didn't seem to be mandatory policy for the museum, and they charge for the lockers. Overall, this was not a great experience.

Regardless of the content of the collection, this is an all star museum. The galleries are…read morewelcoming, visually stimulating, creative, and interactive. I learned a lot about Gent (mostly from the interactive maps), and felt immersed in the story of the place throughout the visit. The biggest drawback was that all of the labels are in Dutch so it wasn't always easy to know much about the objects I was looking at. On the flipside, I wasn't expecting there to be much English and the fact that all of the large wall panels are in English made the trip very informative and allowed for me to follow along through the course of history. As an added bonus they have free wifi and a really great little cafe with outdoor seating.

Concept store the whole year in a totally renovated local house renovated by a friendly woman…read moredesigner. This concept store turns to a coffee/ restaurant during spring and summer time. It is well worth having a look and leave with a beautiful piece of designer clothing or accessories. I highly recommend it.

On a very wet November Saturday,I walked through Ghent's Citadel Park and I spent a memorable day…read moreat Ghent's MSK Art Museum.Although it is appreciably smaller than the Old Masters Art Museum in Brussels,there were plenty of paintings and works of Art that captivated me from the time it opened to the time it closed.I have confined this review to its paintings from the 14th Century to the end of the 18th Century.Its collection of Renaissance and Baroque Period Paintings with devotional subject matter is outstanding.Some of my favorite devotional theme paintings were Puccio di Simone's"Coronation of the Virgin"14th Century Italian Trecento,Colin de Coter's"Adoration of Magi",Master of the Family of Saint Anne's"Saint Anne and Family",Jacob Oostansen's""Calvary",Jaime Huguet's"Crucifixion of Saint Peter"(Spanish Renaissance),Marius Van Reymerswaele's"Calling of Saint Matthew"Jacob Jordaens'"Flight From Egypt",Peter Paul Rubens'"Saint Francis receiving Stigmata"(a quintessential Counter Reformation Painting),Gasper de Crayer's"Judgement of King Solomon",and Hendrick Van Vliet's Church Interiors with marvelous lighting effects,among many others.Other favorites were Theodore Rombouts'"Allegory of Senses",Anton Van Dyck's"Jupiter and Antiope",Adriean Van Utrecht's"Fisherman's Stall",Aelbert Vander Schoor's"Smoker",Melchior d'Hondecoeter's"Waterbirds",Jacques Fouquier's"Panorama of Avignon",and Jan Van Goyen's"Landscape With Castle",among numerous others. The next day,I returned to this fine art museum to concentrate on their 19th and 20th Century works of Art. Furthermore,I appeciated the helpfulness of their staff and fine curatorial work.

A part of me wanted to say that this is just another art gallery, but honestly there isn't such a…read morething as 'just another art gallery', especially when the gallery that we are referring to happens to be in Europe. This particular gallery, while I didn't necessarily stumble across, I didn't realise that it existed until the night of my arrival in Ghent. The reason is that I got it mixed up with the modern art gallery. However, this gallery also contains modern art, but along with that it also have quite a lot of traditional works of art, whether they be impressionist or whether they be of the old masters. Another interesting part of this gallery was that there was a room that was set aside to show us the technique of restoring the older paintings, and included one particular work of art (namely the altarpiece) that was being restored at the moment.