Falling for Ghent: Travel Stories from Belgium

Exploring Ghent, Belgium: A Hidden Gem of Europe!

In this episode of the We Should Move Here Travels podcast, hosts Brittany and Josh take you through their incredible journey in Ghent, Belgium. From historic castles to mouth-watering Belgian fries, waffles, and beer, they explore everything this charming city has to offer. They share their adventures navigating public transportation, visiting the magnificent Old Town, and indulging in a variety of delicious meals. The hosts also discuss the possibility of making Ghent their new home and reflect on its potential. Tune in for travel tips, food recommendations, and an in-depth look at what makes Ghent a must-visit destination!

00:00 Welcome to Ghent, Belgium!

00:35 Travel Struggles and First Impressions

02:35 Settling into Our Airbnb

03:51 Exploring Ghent's Old Town

05:36 Meeting Locals and Fellow Travelers

06:13 Considering Ghent as a Future Home

07:55 Food Adventures in Ghent

12:21 Beer and Waffles Experience

15:58 Day Trip to Brussels

19:22 Ghent Food Tour Highlights

25:23 Delicious Food and Drinks

25:55 Michelin Star Experience

27:12 Best Desserts in Town

28:44 Exploring Coffee Shops

30:56 Chocolate Shops and Sculptures

31:56 Reflecting on Ghent

35:36 Public Transportation and Safety

39:11 Healthcare and Connectivity

45:30 Final Thoughts on Ghent

48:19 Goodbye Ghent, Hello Augsburg

@WSMHtravels

Transcript

Brit 0:11

Hello and welcome to the We Should Move Here. Travels podcast. My name is Brittany.

Josh 0:16

I'm Josh

Brit 0:17

and we are your hosts Right now we are in Ghent. Yes. Ghent, Belgium.

Josh 0:23

Yes. Land of waffles, fries and chocolate and beer. Lots of other things. Yes.

Brit 0:30

But with all of the things you just said, like how could we not be happy here?

Josh 0:34

Right, exactly. A very drastic difference from Utrecht, which we'll get into here.

Brit 0:42

Yeah, I mean, coming here was definitely a breath of fresh air. It was,

Josh 0:48

well actually traveling here, bit of a struggle.

Brit 0:52

We figured it out though.

Josh 0:53

We figured it out. But getting here, like once we arrived here,

Brit 0:57

yeah,

Josh 0:57

like you said, breath of fresh air. We, we took a deep sigh and. We were just ready for whatever Ghent had to offer us.

Brit 1:05

Yeah,

Josh 1:06

Why don't we, uh, just kind of go over, so I'd mentioned the travel here. So we're taking trains, public transportation around this trip for us. So we started in, Utrecht in the Netherlands if you didn't listen to the previous episode, and we took a train from there to here it only had one or two changes of trains. there is a station, I believe it's in Antwerp, where it's like Antwerp Central and Antwerp Alexander. And we got off at Alexander one train too early and that caused. Us to have to change train rides for the second one, which ended up being okay. It only delayed us an hour. But that was a, a little bit frustrating being stuck in a different train station just for an hour and a half sitting around and figuring out what train to get onto next.

Brit 2:03

Yeah. It was, uh, kind of a challenge but we got here. Mm-hmm. And we loved it here.

Josh 2:10

Yes. Yeah. It has been amazing, like you said, a breath of fresh air, a totally different vibe from Utrecht. And I'm only gonna keep mentioning that because we're doing this in one trip, so it's easy to compare. Where we are currently to where we were previously, and it's also the location. Of where we're staying, that greatly affects us. Our Airbnb in Utrecht was kind of smelly and in an okay location.

Brit 2:44

And you mean the cigarette smell that was in that apartment? Mm-hmm. It stayed in our clothes. Mm-hmm. I mean, starting there really was a bummer.

Josh 2:53

Yeah. Yeah. It uh, it definitely affected that part of the trip.

Brit 2:57

Yeah.

Josh 2:58

And then even when we unpacked our stuff here, we pulled stuff out and we're like, oh God,

Brit 3:02

it wreaked,

Josh 3:03

it still smells so.

Brit 3:05

Yeah.

Josh 3:05

But fortunately, uh, this place, this kind of small apartment complex has a washer and dryer. So we were able to wash clothes and get most of that smell out. And this place is amazing. Mm-hmm. It is in the perfect location. We got a 200 foot walk to the tram, which takes us right to the main station. Don't have to switch anything there. It is on the second floor, but that's no big deal. It's a big, beautiful space. Yeah. It's been great being here.

Brit 3:37

Yeah. So with all that being said, I wonder if this was the perfect stop for our second stop.

Josh 3:45

I think so. I don't know how we could have picked a better location.

Brit 3:50

Yeah.

Josh 3:51

cause we are within a 15 minute walk to. Ghent Central.

Brit 3:57

Mm-hmm.

Josh 3:57

And there's just so much to do. We've spent almost the entirety of the four days, five days. That we've had here, minus one that we took to Brussels, just in and around the downtown area. Mm-hmm. And we've still just barely scratched the surface of it.

Brit 4:17

Yeah. And when you say Ghent central, it's like all old town? Mm-hmm. Like medieval Roman times, like just stunning architecture. Mm-hmm. Everywhere. Yeah. absolutely beautiful. There's a castle right in the middle Of it all, which we got to tour. That was really fun.

Josh 4:34

Yeah. Yeah. That was awesome. We just did that yesterday. I love a castle. So

Brit 4:39

you were so happy, you were always so happy in a castle.

Josh 4:42

Yes. Just something about castles. I don't know, maybe in a previous time, previous life I lived in a castle, so it just feels like home.

Brit 4:50

Yeah. Maybe.

Josh 4:51

I don't know. But yeah, that was super fun. the whole old town area has so much to offer. Mm-hmm. And. It's also a place where, I mean, I know it is kind of the middle later half of September, but there's not a ton of people here, which is really nice as well.

Brit 5:13

Yeah, I would assume that it gets more touristy in the summer months. Mm-hmm. But as of right now, I think it, I think it's perfect. I think it's mainly, you know, locals, some tourists, but mainly it seemed like Dutch tourists or German tourists. Not a whole lot of American tourists. There were some. Mm-hmm. But I didn't see a whole lot of American tourists.

Josh 5:36

No, we actually did run into those people last night at WIN who were also going to Meme Gusta, and they're from Georgia. So we ran into them, said hi, so if they're listening, hi, welcome. And then on our Brussels, so obviously not here, but. On our day trip to Brussels, we ran into a group from Wisconsin there.

Brit 6:02

Yeah. That was really fun to meet'em. Mm-hmm.

Josh 6:05

Yeah. And I think they're going to Oktoberfest, or they're in October. At Oktoberfest right now.

Brit 6:10

Yeah. Yeah. They were leaving I think on Sunday. Um, overall I feel like this is a place that I could see us in. Mm-hmm. I really do it. It definitely has that draw that I was talking about in the last episode

Josh 6:26

mm-hmm.

Brit 6:27

Where like, I could see us here. Mm-hmm.

Josh 6:30

I

Brit 6:30

could really envision a life here with you. Mm-hmm. And I think we would be really happy. I think the cats would be really happy.

Josh 6:38

We've been missing the cats quite a bit.

Brit 6:40

Yeah. I'm missing my babies, but it's really beautiful here. I love it.

Josh 6:45

Yeah, and you and me have had several conversations already just asking each other like, how do you feel here? What do you think about this area? What if we lived here, what would that look like for us? And we even kind of popped on like apartments.com and saw a couple different apartments and everything kinda lines up for this place.

Brit 7:07

Yeah it feels affordable too. Mm-hmm. It seems affordable. I think. A two bedroom was 1200 Euro around there a month. And then a one bedroom or a studio was anywhere between like 500 Euro and a thousand. So it definitely is affordable.

Josh 7:26

Yeah, for sure. And I mean, where we've been looking has been, like I said, a little closer to Old Town'cause that's where we've been mainly focusing ourselves, but even there's one just down the street from where we're staying.'cause, and this location's perfect, the trams right outside can take you to Central and take you to anywhere. Mm-hmm. So, and that one I think was 800, 7 50, something like that. Yeah. So, yeah. Very affordable. Yeah. And we've talked about it, this place just. Check so many boxes. The public transportation can't say enough. Love the public transportation. There is still a bike culture here. That's really nice. Yeah. It's not nearly as heavy or extensive as Utrecht was.

Brit 8:11

No. Mm-hmm. No, but there are a lot of bikes. Mm-hmm. A lot of bikes, and it is like the infrastructure does make it accessible for bikers, so

Josh 8:21

Yeah. Yeah. There's bike lanes or bike crossings in places. We haven't had to use any bikes just because, no. How easy everything's been able for us to get. We've done a lot of walking here.

Brit 8:32

Yeah. We've done a lot of walking. My feet hurt. I'm starting to act, actually get calluses and what are they called? Blisters on my toes. Oh no. I know. Need to figure that shit out. I have comfortable shoes too. I don't understand. I feel like people were also so kind here. Mm-hmm. I mean, that's a big part of, kind of the draw, I think for me is mm-hmm. The people. also, you know, the coffee was good. The food was amazing. And I felt like every single street that we walked down had a sense of beauty. Mm-hmm. Like it was gorgeous, the architecture, the canals. Mm-hmm. Everything was just so beautiful.

Josh 9:17

For sure. Hopefully we can post some, uh, little videos and pictures in the video podcasts on YouTube so people can see. But yeah, just about every single street had something to offer as far as beauty. And that's just another big draw too. cause every new street we turn down, we were like, oh, look at this, typical American tourist, like, just look around taking pictures. But no, it, it was really special. And then like you said, everyone was really nice.

Brit 9:45

Yeah.

Josh 9:46

It makes me feel as an American doesn't know a second language. Really dumb that these people know. No, I felt that three, four languages.

Brit 9:55

Yeah. So many people know so many different languages here. Mm-hmm. And it's like our education system failed us. Because, yeah, I feel really stupid. Everybody knows so many languages and I'm just like, oh, stupid American here. Just know English.

Josh 10:12

But it is really nice that pretty much everyone, I think we've run into one or two people who aren't fluent English, but other than that, everyone knows English. So it's been really nice and easy to navigate and restaurants and grocery stores to be able to get through with just knowing English. So,

Brit 10:30

yeah. Yeah.

Josh 10:31

But it is, it has

Brit 10:32

been really easy.

Josh 10:33

It, it has. And they talk about how. There's just, in this country, there's French, there's German, there's Dutch, and I guess English. Yeah, and English. Yeah. And I guess there's some people that still speak like an old Dutch, like Flemish language. Yeah. That I, one of the locals told us that they hear sometimes and people are like, what is that? But, but yeah it's crazy how the country with so many languages and the United States, we just. Yeah, don't do that. Yeah,

Brit 11:08

no, and it's interesting too, like I try to guess which language they're speaking and I'm probably never right, but in my head I tell myself I'm right and that I know what they're talking about.

Josh 11:18

Mm-hmm.

Brit 11:19

But I don't, yeah, I have no idea. These are just little silly games I play in my head. Mm-hmm. but we also did yoga classes at Yoga Loft in Ghent. Mm-hmm. Um, where they also accommodated us mm-hmm. For English speaking. Yeah. Yoga classes as well. So that was really kind of them. And they had it listed like right on their website, whether the instructor teaches in English or not. So, easy to register for pretty good classes, I would say. Mm-hmm. I like the space. Yeah.

Josh 11:56

Yeah. The only thing is it's not hot or infrared.

Brit 11:59

Yeah. Which I am missing that a little bit. Mm-hmm. But we will get that Graz. Mm-hmm. So waiting for that hot yoga to kinda flush out all these toxins in my body. I mean, we've had a lot of beer here, so, speaking of which, we, we never finished that one. Never opened the one in the fridge anyways.

Josh 12:19

Oh, that's true. Yes. We got one from our beer and waffles experience.

Brit 12:24

Yes. Our beer and waffles experience was really fun.

Josh 12:29

Mm-hmm.

Brit 12:29

That was a blast.

Josh 12:31

Just like the name says, we got to try some different locally brewed beers throughout Belgium and make some waffles.

Brit 12:39

Yeah.

Josh 12:40

Mm-hmm.

Brit 12:41

And the beers were really delicious. Mm-hmm. And we made the waffles from scratch. So we had to make the egg white and separate the white from the yolk and then put the yolk in the batter and the egg whites. We had to fluff up and fold it into the rest of the batter. And it was, it was a really fun process because we were slightly buzzed from trying all the beers before. And then we, we got more beer throughout the experience. Mm-hmm. So it was really fun.

Josh 13:15

Yeah. And then we put some beer in the waffles.

Brit 13:19

Yeah.

Josh 13:20

I think we use. Peach.

Brit 13:23

Yes. We used a peach infused beer. Mm-hmm. That was delicious. Mm-hmm.

Josh 13:29

Yeah. Yes. And we, we still got some waffles that we'll probably have for our, our last dinner here

Brit 13:34

mm-hmm.

Josh 13:34

From that. But that was a great experience. Beer and waffles. If you're coming to Belgium, I think we saw one in Brussels as well. Uh, a location there.

Brit 13:45

Yes.

Josh 13:45

So if you're just staying in Brussels, maybe check it out. Or, uh, in Ghent, there's one here that we did.

Brit 13:51

Yeah. There are several different locations and it was just such a fun experience. Mm-hmm. We also met some on, in the class we met some, Canadian travelers and they were really nice. Mm-hmm. Very nice people. So, uh, they made it a little bit more fun too. Mm-hmm. As far as some of the food and stuff, we tried their Belgian stew, which mm-hmm. Also has beer in it. You'll notice a theme here. Um, but this beer stew is absolutely incredible. It has like some sort of meat in it. It's like a, like a beef of some sort.

Josh 14:31

Yeah. And there's definitely different kinds of stew that they use, but Yeah. I think the one we mainly had was beef. Yeah.

Brit 14:37

Yeah. And you dunk it over your fries or you dip your fries in it. And if you didn't know this, Belgium is actually the inventor of the fry. So we were told not to call them french fries, but call them Belgium fries. So this is our plea to do that.

Josh 14:58

Yeah. The, all of our Dutch counterparts that live here that we're talking about, or people giving us tours, they were like, yes, let the French have the wine so they can have the wine, but fries, they're Belgium. Give the fries to us.

Brit 15:14

Yeah. And their fry game was good. They have some good fries here.

Josh 15:18

And we actually talked about this. If you listen to our last episode and if you plan on going to the Netherlands, skip the fries there. Just have the fries here. I'm willing for this to go on record. The fries are much better here with the mayo. Mayo and fries is huge here. And then, like you said, the stew, it's a game changer.

Brit 15:43

It really is. Yeah. It adds a lot of flavor and it's really comforting and just so delicious. Mm-hmm. I still would eat the fries in the Netherlands because they are good as well. They're just not as good as these fries. Correct.

Josh 15:58

Oh, I've mentioned a couple times we went to Brussels for a day trip and we did a beer and chocolate tour there.

Brit 16:06

Yes. That was so fun. Mm-hmm. That was a great tour. Definitely worth the day trip, I think.

Josh 16:12

Mm-hmm.

Brit 16:13

I don't know that I was a huge fan of Brussels just because there were so many freaking people. Mm-hmm. So that was kind of something that I didn't want or align with. But it was really fun that tour. Totally made it worth it.

Josh 16:30

Yeah. Yeah. Some great chocolate, learned a lot about chocolate and tried some amazing chocolate there. And then all the beer was fantastic and we got to go to a rooftop beer bar while we were there, which was really fun. And we took some pictures and videos of that. And we also learned. A lot about beer and we learned about one of the most like, respected and highly rated beers in the world.

Brit 17:01

Yes.

Josh 17:01

And the tour guide gave us the name of the beer. That is the best beer in the world and a location where we could go and try it. And so we took a walk, we found it, and for 18 euros we got this standard bottle of beer and we shared a glass of it and it was fantastic. I loved it.

Brit 17:19

It was really good. What I say it is the best beer in the world. I dunno, I don't know about that. But also, I mean, I just like a good sip and beer, like I'm no critic, so

Josh 17:31

I thought it, I might

Brit 17:31

have judge.

Josh 17:32

I thought it was right up there. I thought it was definitely probably top two or top three I've ever tasted Yeah, overall Brussels wasn't my cup of tea either. Like you said, lots of people, it just didn't have the same feeling of offering a lot. That Ghent, has the feel of

Brit 17:51

Yeah.

Josh 17:51

And he said just a lot of people and lots of tourists.

Brit 17:56

Mm-hmm.

Josh 17:58

Very kind of ro when we walked in the first square off of the train, it just felt like Rome, just like lots of restaurants lined up big signs and even their kind of like historic square, The beer and chocolate tour guide let us know that it's very upkept, very manufactured. And they have a lot of cool events there. Like they have the Christmas market there, they have free concerts there. But it's, it's just to kind of bring in tourist, which I don't like that kind of manufactured history feel that it has.

Brit 18:34

Yeah. I mean, I think. It ma it makes them a lot of money. Mm-hmm. So good for them. For doing that. Oh

Josh 18:42

yeah.

Brit 18:42

I think when we consider a place to live in mm-hmm. We don't see ourselves living in a tourist city.

Josh 18:50

Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Brit 18:51

We might honestly have to come back again to, if it comes into our top three mm-hmm. And come during tour season so that we can see what it's like.

Josh 19:01

Right. Yeah. See how it's, because that

Brit 19:02

might be something that is a deal breaker

Josh 19:05

for us. Yeah. If it gets crazy busy. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Otherwise, I did hear several people say, and I know you from looking at Ghent Ghent is huge. So again, we're pretty close to Old Town, so maybe spreading out could be an opportunity for us to see in the future as well.

Brit 19:20

Yeah, for sure. Mm-hmm. For sure. We also did this Ghent food tour. That was so fun. Mm-hmm. It was like$3 when we booked it, but it's based off of like tips. Mm-hmm. So the tour guide did an incredible job. Mm-hmm. We learned a lot of the history. Mm-hmm. We got to taste a lot of really good food. We tasted the stew with the fries. We tasted some chocolate, some waffles.

Josh 19:48

Mm-hmm.

Brit 19:48

Really good tour.

Josh 19:50

Yeah. Yeah. It, some local nonprofit organization put it on and the$3 is only so it can get listed on like TripAdvisor and Viator so they can cover those fees.

Brit 20:00

Yeah.

Josh 20:00

And, but again, like you said, the tour guide, gave us a lot of history. Really fun. And that's. We got this one at the beginning of the trip here, like we hope to usually, so it kind of set up, set us up on the right path for our rest of the time here to know what to eat and how to eat it, so.

Brit 20:18

Mm-hmm.

Josh 20:18

But it's, it is funny our very first night here, we had the half day of traveling to get here that first night we went and ate at this restaurant, the Brassie, P-A-R-A-D-I-J-S. Not exactly sure how to pronounce that, I ordered the beef stew with fries, and I thought the way to eat it was just separate. So using a spoon to eat the stew and then eating the fries with the mayonnaise separate. And then the next day we had this tour and he said, oh, you're supposed to dunk it in or just pour the fries in and mix it up. I was like,

Brit 20:56

dang it,

Josh 20:57

Half a day too late on that tour. Otherwise, that's how I would've had it. But we, we had it quite a few times afterwards. The stew and fries.

Brit 21:05

Yeah. But that place probably had my favorite, that was my favorite of all of the stews that we had. Mm-hmm. It was so delicious. It was so like creamy. Mm-hmm. And comforting. Mm-hmm. It was like it reminded me of my mom's beef stew when I was a kid. And she would put like a bunch of like cream and just really comforting stuff in there. So that's kind of what it reminded me of, but it was better. Sorry, mom.

Josh 21:34

What, um, we had a lot of good food here. What's a couple that you would suggest or put out there for people to know about?

Brit 21:42

A couple restaurants?

Josh 21:43

Yeah.

Brit 21:44

Well last night we ate at Meme Gusta. Mm-hmm. Ooh, that was so delicious. Mm-hmm. I can't even describe it. It was like what we ordered. We had these like little. Deep fried duck balls. Mm-hmm. And it tasted like Thanksgiving, but elevated. Mm-hmm. And then we got chicken meatballs with like similar kinds of things on the plate mm-hmm. For our entree.

Josh 22:12

Mm-hmm.

Brit 22:12

And that was incredible. Mm-hmm. It really tasted like an elevated Thanksgiving dinner.

Josh 22:17

Yeah.

Brit 22:18

So comforting.

Josh 22:19

Yeah. And then what was the other plate we had?

Brit 22:22

we had crayfish and

Josh 22:24

it was mashed potatoes. Yeah. And

Brit 22:25

butter. It was a shit ton of butter

Josh 22:27

and, uh, a poach egg.

Brit 22:29

Yes.

Josh 22:29

Mm-hmm. That was delicious. The whole meal was fantastic. That was one that. Our Airbnb host has a little packet of local places we gotta go. And we tried to get in there the first day. And it got there about six, and they're like, oh, we can get you a table about nine 30. I'm like, well, and we tried to book online and there wasn't one until just yesterday, Monday that we could get into at a time that we wanted. So

Brit 22:55

yeah,

Josh 22:55

that was a great one.

Brit 22:57

Yeah. Yeah, that was a really fun one. I would also say as far as like drinks mm-hmm. Win. Mm. It's a wine bar and it was so fun, such a cool vibe. The bartender there, she was so kind.

Josh 23:10

Mm-hmm.

Brit 23:11

Um,

Josh 23:11

and that's only five buildings down across the street from Meme Gusta. So

Brit 23:16

yes,

Josh 23:16

that was the very first place we had drinks at. When we got here and then we went back there and had drinks right before we went to Meme Gusta. And she was the bar. The girl that was there was the bartender both times. So it was cool, to kind of have more than one interaction. Make us feel a little bit like locals, I guess.

Brit 23:34

Yeah. And she remembered us, so. Mm-hmm.

Josh 23:37

Yep.

Brit 23:37

Super fun. We also ate at Mission Mala. Incredible Indian cuisine. So delicious. We had things that we've never really tried before. Mm-hmm. But we had this like buttered broccoli. It was so delicious. Mm-hmm. And then we had a, almost like a spicy chili, Asian tie cauliflower. And then we had a butter chicken. So really delicious. Definitely recommend going there. We also made reservations there and it was really busy by the time we were leaving, so maybe make reservations at that place too. If you wanna go.

Josh 24:18

The dessert there, I have to mention, oh my gosh. It was fried pineapple ice cream.

Brit 24:25

Yes. Fried pineapple and coconut ice cream.

Josh 24:28

Amazing. I

Brit 24:29

wanna go back.

Josh 24:30

We went on a two day stretch of just hitting restaurants. Yes. Where it was. Just fantastic restaurant, fantastic Dish one after another.

Brit 24:40

How could you not that we really haven't missed here.

Josh 24:43

I, I was just gonna say, I was thinking about, I'm like, I don't think we've had a bad meal here, so No, this is a foodie paradise. If you're listening to this just as kind of like, oh, should I go here? If you're a foodie, if you're food motivated Ghent, is a great place to come.

Brit 24:57

I don't know. Another way to be motivated, like food motivated is my only motivation. Maybe that's a problem.

Josh 25:04

No, because we had that one, which that was one that you had just looked up and found.

Brit 25:09

Yes. I, I saw pictures and I was like, I need to try this. So we're gonna do this. And then I also found tush. Yes. Which is a butt joke because they have like burgers and chicken sandwiches and things like that, but. They are incredible and they are huge. Mm-hmm. We had a smashed burger. Mm-hmm. And then we had a, I think it was like a spicy Asian chicken sandwich. So delicious.

Josh 25:36

Yeah. And you had a, what was the drink you had?

Brit 25:40

Oh, it was, uh, they're special and it was a, it's not always on the menu. Mm-hmm. But it was a leechy margarita.

Josh 25:47

Yeah.

Brit 25:48

That was really delicious. Too

Josh 25:49

delicious. Yeah. So we had that and then we had. And then we went to this restaurant, another recommendation out of our Airbnb host book, it's een twee bijf. I'm just gonna spell out. It's e, EN space, TWEE, space, BIJF. And we decide to go, or I decide for us to go to this after we went to yoga, we got back, we showered, got dressed, and I was like, oh, let's go to this place. It's open, walked in. And fortunately they let us sit down with our a reservation and it was a nice place,

Brit 26:29

a very nice place like Michelin Star level plating. Mm-hmm. Like very nice place. The, we always end up stumbling upon these really nice places. Mm-hmm. And we're not expecting it. No. I don't know what, what that says about us, but says something.

Josh 26:47

The exterior wouldn't have given you that idea because it was, the seating area was about the size of what we have here in this Airbnb. Not all that large, but mm-hmm. Extremely nice. Mm-hmm. And the food was fantastic. So if you're looking for kind of a elevated upscale meal. This place was amazing. And I

Brit 27:11

agree. The dessert there Oh yes. Was the best dessert we had. That's right. It was a, we

Josh 27:16

discussed this. Yeah. If we were talking about it.

Brit 27:18

Yes. And we had a dessert every single meal. So trust us when we say it's the best that we had here. It was a pistachio ice cream. Mm-hmm. With white chocolate flakes and pistachio uh, scrapes. Mm-hmm. Oh, I don't know if that's a good way to describe it, but. It was phenomenal. Just trust us. You need to go here and order it. Even if it's just that one thing. I don't know if they let you. I'm sure they do. He seemed nice.

Josh 27:45

Yeah,

Brit 27:45

the guys seemed nice, but honestly it's so good. Yeah.

Josh 27:49

Yeah, it was fantastic. And we didn't even mention the dessert at Meme Gusta, which was, oh, the apple thinly sliced apples, like apple sliced sticks, basically on top of ice cream on top of a flattened

Brit 28:07

cinnamon pancake. Basically cinnamon

Josh 28:09

pancake.

Brit 28:11

It tasted like fall.

Josh 28:12

Yeah,

Brit 28:13

it was fall in. Dessert.

Josh 28:15

Mm-hmm. That whole so good. You say that now and you kept on saying like, it tasted like Thanksgiving. So then basically the whole meal was kind of like a Thanksgiving meal it seemed like.

Brit 28:25

But this is the first time we're gonna be home for Thanksgiving this year, so we're gonna get Thanksgiving in like a month.

Josh 28:31

Oh, that's true.

Brit 28:32

I'm actually really excited for Thanksgiving. cause you're. Doesn't your mom cook a good Thanksgiving dinner? She always does.

Josh 28:39

She always puts something unique out there. Yeah.

Brit 28:42

So good. Oh,

Josh 28:43

love you mom. Man, and you had mentioned there's a lot of good coffee places here. One that we ran into when we were actually, uh, waiting to go to Mission Masala for our reservation was used Book Cafe.

Brit 28:59

Yeah. It's right around the corner. Mm-hmm. From Mission Masala and Oh, it has such a cool vibe. It, the vibe in there was like Rory Gilmore Girls reading a book and drinking a coffee. Mm-hmm. That was the vibe in there. There were so many books. Mm-hmm. Again it felt like fall in there. Mm-hmm. It really did. I don't know how to describe it.

Josh 29:20

Yeah. Yeah that's all I have. It was kind of like a, A mystical bookshop. Yeah.'cause there's a tree with a bunch of lights on it and the walls are all books and there were people playing games and just hanging out. We were talking, it was like, oh, if we moved here or if we came back, whatever. This could be a place we come and probably just make friends.

Brit 29:41

Yeah.

Josh 29:42

It seemed like a really fun place. And we just had a, a lemonade there, but that was delicious. So they got some good drinks.

Brit 29:49

Yeah. And they had coffee and stuff on the menu as well. Mm-hmm. We just didn't get one at that time.'cause it was past maybe three o'clock. Mm-hmm. And I couldn't sleep if I had coffee at that time. So. Oh, the life of a 32-year-old timing out my coffee anyways. Um, yeah, we went to some really good restaurants here. Like you said, this is a foodie paradise. Mm-hmm. It is so good here. Like you can stumble upon a restaurant and you'll be happy.

Josh 30:23

Yeah.

Brit 30:23

Maybe not the like super tourist attractions ones. And even with, um, chocolate shops here, we had to look up which ones to. Really go to. Mm-hmm. Because some of them are tourist traps. Yeah. Some of them are just filled with sugar and they're not, traditional Belgian chocolate. So maybe look it up before coming. Mm-hmm. Which ones you wanna go to. Our tour guide did say that if it's buy three get one free or something like that, that it's a tourist trap. So

Josh 30:55

Yeah. Yeah. We had some good, experience with chocolate shops after both our tours. We went back and we got some for some family at home, so we, we knew some places going back around, but then we also looked up some one that had. Like chocolate sculptures.

Brit 31:15

Oh, it was so cool. There was a guitar, there was, I think there was Willy Wonka.

Josh 31:21

Mm-hmm. There was Yoda.

Brit 31:23

There was Yoda.

Josh 31:24

Mm-hmm. Little Yoda. Mm-hmm.

Brit 31:26

It was beautiful too. Like they were sculpted so meticulously and it was so beautiful.

Josh 31:33

Yeah. And the, the woman that was working the register was the wife and mom of the husband son duo that were the like chocolate makers basically, that did all of this. So that was really cool to talk to her for a second. And we got a lot of good chocolate there. Yeah, we did. So

Brit 31:53

We will have a video or something. Mm-hmm. Because I remember getting the name. Yeah. I think those are like the big highlights of the trip here in Ghent. I think overall, like throughout our criteria, I think it really fits a lot of them. Like coffee? Yes. Food, yes. Fitness, absolutely. Mm-hmm. I mean, we did yoga. I'm curious if there's anything that you found that you didn't like here.

Josh 32:23

Not that I can think of right off the bat. It was another place where, similar to the Netherlands, when we took a train from our location to the next, when we looked out, it was just kind of flat. And so as far as like undulation or mountains, stuff like that, immediate access to that around us, it doesn't seem like we would get a mountain, which is something I a spoiled me would want. So there's that. However, we didn't get the opportunity, just like in the Netherlands to go out and try to do that.

Brit 33:03

Yeah.

Josh 33:04

There were plenty of people who said the. West coast along the ocean is stunning and beautiful. Mm-hmm. And the breweries are good out there where they make the beer. So they said, that's a great place to go visit if you're looking for some nature. But I, I think that would be the only thing that I can think of

Brit 33:22

Yeah.

Josh 33:23

That I really wasn't a fan of. What about you? Is there something that really pops into your mind?

Brit 33:28

I think there's a, I don't know how to say this but there's a really large, like, homeless population here. Hmm. Maybe not so much in Ghent. There is definitely a homeless population in Ghent, but in Brussels it was huge and it was really noticeable. Yeah. Out of the European cities that we have traveled to. I just, I don't think that we've seen that before, have we?

Josh 33:55

I think there might have been some in Rome.

Brit 33:58

Yeah.

Josh 33:58

I, I feel like we've run into it in places, but

Brit 34:03

yeah, I just, I didn't expect that, only because I see European countries, as, countries that try to really take care of their citizens, so, and. And I don't know if everybody, you know, that we saw was homeless or if it was just a snap judgment. I guess that's just something that I assumed out of European countries was that they maybe don't have a large homeless population because they take care of their people. So that makes me question a little bit more of policies and politics and, you know, things like that, that we didn't really look into a whole lot. Mm-hmm. Um, but maybe we'll have to look into more. Because if we're gonna consider moving here, I wanna, you know, know those things.

Josh 34:54

No, absolutely. Yeah. Know what their like social safety nets are. Their social welfare system is like, so, because that can take anyone at any moment, you know? Yeah. If we could come here with, you know, if, if we decide to move here and we have jobs and all of a sudden lose'em, and we have to rely on a social, welfare or social safety net, what does that look like? So,

Brit 35:16

yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. I think those are just, it just made raised more questions for me Mm-hmm. Than anything. So

Josh 35:25

I guess also something to look into would be the access to, uh, mental healthcare.

Brit 35:31

Yeah. Oh, absolutely.

Josh 35:33

Yeah. Man, yeah, I don't. I don't think I can really think of anything else.'cause going down the list of our criteria, you know, we've talked about public transportation, there's tons of that. Especially where we are in Old Town and around and just looking at Google Maps, you can see the trams go, it seems like a really long distance in Ghent. We didn't see many cars out in the road. Like we see'em along the streets and stuff, but it's not like traffic jams and stuff like that.

Brit 36:05

Yeah, no. Mm-hmm. No, I mean, I think a lot of people use public transportation. Mm-hmm. Or bikes.

Josh 36:12

Yeah. I think there's a lot of commuting from here to a surrounding city. There is quite a few people that use that public transportation, like you said. And when we go to the main central station, there are a ton of bikes locked up around there. Yeah. So it's, it seems like a lot of people may ride their bike from their home, locked up for the day, get on a train too, wherever they need to go. But we also did find out that they have really good schools here, like college.

Brit 36:42

Yes. Mm-hmm. They do, they have really good stem mm-hmm. Programs here.

Josh 36:48

Mm-hmm. Yeah. There, there was more than one person who told us that they get a lot of students from all over the world here.

Brit 36:57

Mm-hmm.

Josh 36:57

Especially the United States. One person said, they said, we've been getting a lot more US students for our STEM programs here.

Brit 37:04

Mm-hmm.

Josh 37:05

So that was nice to hear and nice to hear that they have, you know, a good education system.

Brit 37:10

Yeah. As far as being an lgbtqiaa plus affirming country, from what I saw, there were tons of pride flags that I have seen on like government buildings. Mm-hmm. So that was pretty cool to see, knowing that not all of our government buildings have pride flags on them, so. Mm-hmm. I would assume with that, that the country is affirming and accepting, but we haven't looked further into it.

Josh 37:40

it overall, it seemed like a very open and friendly place all around.

Brit 37:45

Yeah. Very including of us too, as mm-hmm. Tourists. Mm-hmm.

Josh 37:50

Yeah. And I wanna say most people start off by talking to us in Dutch or a foreign language. I guess we can't assume it was Dutch because we don't know what it was, but we, I

Brit 38:02

mean, I would assume it was Dutch because we're in Belgium.

Josh 38:05

That's true. But, so we had that experience where they thought, oh, like they could be, you know, locals maybe. So we didn't pop off as uh, Americans right away, which was nice. Yeah. Or people who just knew English

Brit 38:19

Yeah. We only know English. English, I apologize.

Josh 38:23

As far as, uh, the climate, we've been very fortunate in this location. The weather has been very nice. Something that we love. It's been. Kind of hovering right around 60 degrees. It's been very nice. It's been sweater weather, which is sweater

Brit 38:42

weather,

Josh 38:42

which is awesome. We love that. Some sprinkles here and there. Overcast.

Brit 38:47

Yeah,

Josh 38:47

it was like that when we went to the castle, which was nice.

Brit 38:50

Mm-hmm.

Josh 38:51

We had one day where, got up to 80

Brit 38:54

that was wild.

Josh 38:56

Randomly we went from 60 to 80 and

Brit 38:59

yeah,

Josh 39:00

I mean, we experienced that back in Wisconsin, so

Brit 39:03

we do, I don't know that we, I don't know that I packed well enough for that, but here we are. Um, we survived it. Yeah, as far as healthcare and access to it as a tourist, I had a bug bite me. Mm-hmm. And I was considering going to a doctor. Mainly because I had a lymph node that was really swollen that wasn't going down.

Josh 39:28

I was like,

Brit 39:29

I'm just gonna mon monitor it and if it doesn't go down, then I'm gonna go to the doctor. So I looked it up and a visit can range anywhere between 20 euro to 45 it said. So, seem very reasonable. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. compared to healthcare costs in America. who knows If it would've been more or less. But that's just from my quick search mm-hmm. That I did. So.

Josh 39:57

But we were able to go to multiple pharmacies and yeah, ask whoever was working the desk there and they were giving medical advice, they were saying, oh, you know, take some ibuprofen, help the swelling go down, help the redness go away, and you know, if your lymph no swells up more or, if it starts hurting, gets more inflamed, maybe go to a doctor then. So it was nice that we have, you know, those options available. And as we were walking around, traveling around, there were, you know, multiple ambulances going around. So it seems like,

Brit 40:29

yeah,

Josh 40:29

fairly accessible healthcare if you have an emergency.

Brit 40:32

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Those ambulances were so loud. Oh my gosh. They were incredibly loud.

Josh 40:38

I think it's the fact of like the old cobblestone and the buildings, it just bounces off.'cause those things were,

Brit 40:45

who knows? But if you were next to one of those, you needed to cover your ears.

Josh 40:49

Mm-hmm.

Brit 40:50

Burst in eardrum. Right. Water is really safe to drink here.

Josh 40:53

Yeah. Yeah. We've been drinking outta the tap, just filling up our water bottle. Taking that around. That's been great.

Brit 40:59

Yeah. Connectivity and technology. That's been pretty easy to set all of this up and didn't have any issues with wifi or anything like that?

Josh 41:09

No. I think we had a spot on the train between here and Brussels. Oh. We had a spot where we went out, but I mean, that happens everywhere, so, yeah. On the train. Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, I have Verizon and I've been connected pretty much everywhere Um, general safety. I've felt very safe. I haven't had any issues anywhere.

Brit 41:30

Yeah. I mean, there were a couple moments where there were men being weird. You are gonna get that everywhere, unfortunately. Yeah, I had a couple moments where I felt like I was, I, I wasn't even wearing like a low cut top or anything, but I felt like I was, and I had like, pulled up my shirt a a little bit because men were giving me creepy eyes, so.

Josh 41:54

that's just so stupid and unfortunate. It's, uh,

Brit 41:58

yeah. You know, I, I always think that it's gonna be different when we leave the country, but unfortunately, I mean, it might be safer, right? Mm-hmm. I'm not gonna get murdered, but it is still like creepy. Yeah. And there's a lot of weird men out there, so no matter where you are,

Josh 42:17

maybe that's why when we were on the. The beer and chocolate tour. He mentioned that there was the land of lesbian witches that brew the best beer in Belgium. Maybe that's why they created their thing. They're like, screw these guys. Let's go here.

Brit 42:35

We should check that place out.

Josh 42:37

That's true. It's on, apparently it's on that, uh, west, on the coast Coast, so on. Yeah. Maybe that's someplace. If, if and when we come back, which we were walking back last night from dinner, and I was like, Brittany, this might be the last time we walked down the street and right away you're, No,

Brit 42:54

it is not.

Josh 42:55

I'm already already planning a second trip back here. In my mind.

Brit 42:58

In my mind, we are gonna be back because what we have to be, especially if it's gonna be in our top three. Which brings me to that question. Mm-hmm. Do you think it's going to take the spot of any of your top threes?

Josh 43:11

I definitely think so. Mm-hmm.

Brit 43:14

I,

Josh 43:14

I for sure think so. It's something that is a strong enough contender that it will get rid of a placeholder like I have as far as Japan in there. It's just such a wonderful place, and it'll bump the other two up and this will slide in the third spot, I think. Hmm. But it's hard to know, I, I feel like I gotta see this trip through get our next two places, Augsburg and Graz, and see how those two, because like, what if those two are like, ah, like they're, it's a chess game and they just, I'm just swapping out places. Who knows? But

Brit 43:52

yeah,

Josh 43:53

I think this one might it might slide in and yeah it's definitely a top like. Travel destination that I would suggest for people to just travel to and come here and have a great time.'cause it's such an amazing spot. But, um, agree. What, what about you? Is it, do you think this is gonna slide in?

Brit 44:12

I think it will, yes. I think that I really need to give it some time to digest. Mm-hmm. Um, like you said, because we have two more places and I'm absolutely in love with it. Mm-hmm. And we are here right now. So I think when I made the top three list, I had a lot of time to digest those places. Mm-hmm. And I picked those places for specific reasons.

Josh 44:39

Yeah.

Brit 44:39

I think I just need to give it maybe a month after the trip and then we'll redo the website and we'll figure it out. Yeah. And we'll also add all of these places to our website. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Josh 44:51

Kinda like the other places and how we started this podcast, you know, going back through the pictures and the videos recording this and then going back through and editing, I think really drives home a place for us. Yeah. You know, when we were doing that and we initially recorded and when we listened to them back, I was like, oh yeah. Gosh, I, I really like that place, you know, so I think that's what it'll take for me too, along with seeing these next two places. So I agree on that, those points.

Brit 45:22

Yeah. Yeah. I'm not gonna give it a spot right now, but I do think that it could take the spot of some of the ones on my top three, so. Mm-hmm. We'll see.

Josh 45:30

A, as far as any tips or anything else you want to mention about Ghent or about Belgium that you want want us to remind people about or tell people about?

Brit 45:44

I think overall all get lost in the city. Hmm. That would be one of my top recommendations. Yeah. We spent a lot of time just exploring. Mm-hmm. And that is some of my favorite things that we've ever done was just spent exploring.

Josh 46:01

Mm-hmm.

Brit 46:02

Like yesterday, I didn't know that we were gonna do the castle tour, but we ended up going through a freaking castle. I just really love this city and I've really, a appreciated it. I think it came at the perfect time in this trip and yeah, I just really appreciate it.

Josh 46:20

Yeah I couldn't agree more. It was such a difference coming from the Netherlands to hear now and maybe it's location. I, I know its location, being in this different Airbnb, a nice Airbnb has been amazing. Our location, I would say to the old town, to the main downtown area has been a little bit closer, which has made that a little bit easier.

Brit 46:53

Yeah. Much more accessible.

Josh 46:55

Um. Yeah, like you said, you can get lost here. We've spent five full days just walking around. Yeah. Aside from the single day trip to Brussels. But we spent the other five days mainly just walking around, picking a spot to go to and then getting lost.

Brit 47:13

Mm-hmm.

Josh 47:14

And it's been really fun and enjoyable and it's a place that, you know, if you like beer, there are breweries here. We went to one called Dock Brewery, really fun brewery, and they serve that all around the city. We've talked about some of our favorite food places, such good place for foodie. And public transportation is easy. You know, you just tap the card to get on and go and you just get off when you need to get off and it's a very easy to get around the city with lots to offer.

Brit 47:43

Yeah, I definitely agree. I

Josh 47:45

I would recommend it over Brussels, so

Brit 47:48

I would too. Mm-hmm. We didn't spend a whole lot of time in Brussels, so

Josh 47:51

No.

Brit 47:51

And maybe you're going there for different reasons. Mm-hmm. But yeah, I think the one day that we did and the two along with that, I think that was enough for us. Yeah. I I am gonna miss Ghent.

Josh 48:03

I'm gonna miss it too.

Brit 48:04

I'm really sad that we're leaving tomorrow.

Josh 48:06

Yeah, me too. It's, it's sad. We, we come here, I'm like, oh my gosh. Like we got six full days here and now we're recording this, and after we're gonna go to yoga class, we're gonna get back,

Brit 48:18

we're gonna go get pizza tonight.

Josh 48:19

We're gonna go get pizza tonight and then we're gonna wake up in the morning, pack up and head Augsburg Germany.

Brit 48:27

Yeah. We are gonna say goodbye Ghent. Yeah. So, um, it's sad, but uh, just for now. Yeah, because like you said, we will be back. I already have it planned in my brain, so there's that. Um,

Josh 48:41

I will say, and I hope I remember this for the Augsburg episode, Germany episode. I'm excited. We got a long train ride tomorrow, about seven hours, but I'm excited for it.

Brit 48:54

Yeah. We're gonna go through the mountains and we have first class,

Josh 48:58

we do, we do for the longer parts of the trip. We got first class tickets, so. Let's see how

Brit 49:03

that is exciting. Yeah. I wanna ask you before we end. Mm-hmm. You had talked about having the string that connects you to back home. And feeling like you wanted a place that, cuts that string. Mm-hmm. Curious if Ghent did that for you.

Josh 49:21

So after review in the Netherlands,'cause you asked me this for the Netherlands as well. So for the Netherlands it did not at all. I still found a strong pull home for here. It was definitely loosened, there was still some, but I think it's a little bit of homesickness. You know, we talked about like missing the cats, nothing beats your own bed, your own shower, stuff like that. Missing like family and friends, so. All that's still there, but it definitely loosened'cause we talked about it a lot, the potential to be here in the future, however long that that could possibly be. it, it could be in two years, it could be 20 years. who knows when that could be. But it's something where the thought of being somewhere other than Wisconsin felt okay.

Brit 50:11

Yeah. Yeah. I would agree. I would agree. I feel like this is definitely a place to consider. Mm-hmm. And I think the tie back to home for me is absolutely homesickness. I miss my cats so much. Yeah. I cannot wait to snuggle their little faces.

Josh 50:28

We've been fortunate enough to, we have some cameras at home set up to, to look at their cute faces and then, our, our family and friends look at'em over sending us pictures every once in a while. So, yeah. Love those little guys.

Brit 50:41

Me too. Okay. Anything else?

Josh 50:44

I don't think so. I, I don't think we can say it enough times how awesome Ghent and Belgium has been to us and for a trip. This area has been fantastic. If you're just again traveling. Me personally, I would suggest it here. You can easily enough, take a half hour train ride to Brussels and get to there. I feel like there's so much to do here, so much to see. Highly recommend.

Brit 51:10

Yeah. And if we ever give highlights for good Airbnbs, you can always message us directly and ask where we stayed. Mm-hmm. If you're planning a trip. Mm-hmm. Um, and we loved this place, so I would definitely recommend this Airbnb for sure. But overall, yeah, I agree. I think it's just a, a really cool city. Great community. Just really cool place.

Josh 51:35

Yeah. Yeah. Good place to feel, to make you feel like a local Yeah. To make you feel like you belong. So

Brit 51:41

Yeah, for sure. Okay. Thank you so much for listening. This was the episode about Ghent Belgium, which we will miss you so much when we leave tomorrow. But we will be going to Augsburg, Germany. So that is where the next episode will be. And we will be there while recording, which is always really fun. Mm-hmm. And we're also gonna be going to Oktoberfest

Josh 52:10

Yes. So excited. It's gonna be so much fun. Oh, we're gonna get to see you do taste so many things. I'm excited.

Brit 52:17

I'm so excited too. It's gonna be such a fun experience to and to do it all with you. I'm so excited. Thank you again so much for listening. We appreciate you all.

Josh 52:29

leave us a comment or send us a message. If you have any tips or suggestions on any cities we've gone to or been to, or if you would like us to visit a place. Don't forget to follow us along on our social media accounts on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube for our video recorded episodes at wsm h Travels.

Brit 52:49

You can also find our website, wsm h travels.com, that has some of the highlights of our previous trips as well. Thank you again so much for listening. Until next time.