In the medieval city of Ghent stands Gravensteen, known as the Castle of the Counts. The castle is a late twelfth century building, largely intact, and lovely to look at, having all the great features you associate with fortresses of the Middle Ages such as towers and turrets and buttresses and crenellations.
After our initial drop off in the centre of Ghent and our visit to St Bavo’s Cathedral we wandered through Graffiti Street, crossed over one of the bridges spanning the canals in the city, and found ourselves face-to-face with the structure. With Ghent’s architecture being the way it is the presence of a castle in the network of streets didn’t look too out of place.
We paid the entrance fee and wandered inside. In terms of rooms and things of interest in the castle there were plenty to explore and many explanations and examples of the types of torture equipment typically used in Ghent. Lovely.
The route through the interior of Gravensteen inevitably leads to its rooftop which affords great views over the surrounding city of Ghent and plenty of wide, sweeping photographs. The climb up was fairly steep but not the worst or longest one we’ve done when we’ve visited castles back home.
After descending there is another walk around the inside the walls that can be taken. This allows for some views from the archery points in the walls outwards as well as unobstructed views and photo opportunities of the main keep of Gravensteen too.
