View of Ghent from the Belfry
The whole point of going up a tower is to see the view from the top. Most of the time visitors are rewarded with great views of the town or city. The Belfry of Ghent is no different. It isn’t as tall as modern day skyscrapers but the rest of the town is so small that it would still be great to see from above. We were climbing up the stairs to go up to the tower but some people would rather take the lift. I was surprised to know that the belfry actually has a lift. I guess it is to make the tower more accessible to everyone not just the able bodied. I personally didn’t like the idea of taking the lift to go up the tower but my friend has other thoughts.
A Look at the Guildhalls Below the Belfry of Ghent
The top of the tower isn’t really very spacious. There was a path which goes around the top of the belfry so you can get a 360 degree view of the town. From here you can see the nearby churches which have towers almost as tall as the belfry itself. Fortunately, the positioning of the church towers do not obstruct the view of the town. In fact, I think it complements it perfectly. As you can imagine, Ghent is a pretty flat town, so you can see quite far. This spot reminds of tourist photos of Italy where you have great views a very well preserved town. I have yet to see that myself but I think it is a close approximation.
[xmlgm {http://www.worldwanderings.net/kml/BelfryofGhent.kmz} zoom=19]