SHARE TRAVEL NEWS: March 2018

Blue Birds by Pitaya, a light installation acquired by the city after the 2015 Festival of Light | courtesy of Visit Ghent

Share by Nana Van De Poel

Combining the quaint old with the hip new has become Ghent‘s strong suit, making for a historical city that’s rich in art, food and music. Here are 13 of the things Culture Trip adores about this Belgian canal city.

The Ghent Festivities: a 10-day extravaganza with hippie roots

For 10 days in July, Ghent becomes a cultural jungle. Every corner is taken over by concerts, plays, exhibits, circus classes, children’s workshops or markets, and over a million people pay a visit to these lively streets during one of Europe’s biggest urban festivals. And to think it all started with white-bearded Walter de Buck and his crew of hippie friends who sung forgotten folk songs on the little square next to St. Jacob’s Church. The plaza is now named for Walter in honour of the joyous spirit he brought to town, and remains a nerve centre of the festivities every year.

Its festival that literally lights up town

Every three years Ghent plays host to an exceptional festival of lights. International artists have made the city one of the most imaginative places in Europe by way of giant luminescent bunnies, mystical whales and light stories projected on protected monuments three times already, and the next edition is slated for February 2018. Dazzling festival aside, Ghent enjoys a careful lighting plan designed by renowned lighting great Roland Jéol the rest of the year, and it recently gave a permanent canalside spot to a work of radiant blue birds based on a fairytale by Belgian poet and playwright Maurice Maeterlinck. ...... keep reading ...... http://bit.ly/2uxpx8e