Belfry of Ghent

The Belfry of Ghent is the most prominent landmark in the center of the Belgian city of Ghent. It is actually the tallest belfry in the entire country and it is part of the Belfries of Belgium and France UNESCO World Heritage site list. Like a lot of the belfries in Belgium, this one is also non-secular in nature. It has an elegant design with the top of the belfry looking more like a castle. As usual with towers like these, it is possible to climb to the very top of the tower. There is an entrance fee to be paid here where the cloth room is. The adjoining room is where the main tower is. At the basement of the tower there is a sculpture of some sort. They seem to be soldiers or guards. There was no description of what they were but there is an app you can use which serves as your tour guide. Oh yeah, there Wi-Fi in the belfry!

The climb start at a rather narrow and steep staircase which I assume goes up to the top of the tower. There will be floors in between where visitors can get off and observe the interiors of the belfry. I was thinking that this will be a boring ascent since we were just after the view from the top of the belfry. In the floors in between there are exhibits of artifacts which have been unearthed such as a dragon which I guess also serves as a guardian of the tower and symbolically of Ghent. I think the dragon is important enough that it has it is image on one of the local Ghent beers – Draak, probably means dragon.

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