Ghent Medieval Centre Guided Boat Trip

Graslei and Korenlei: the medieval harbour of Ghent

The boat trip's finest stretch is the old harbour on the Leie, where the Graslei and Korenlei face each other across the water. In the Middle Ages this was the grain port that made Ghent one of the largest and richest cities in northern Europe, and the quays are still lined with guild houses whose gables date from the twelfth to the seventeenth century: the Romanesque grain store, the house of the free boatmen, the toll house and the masons' guild among them. Seen from a low boat, the facades rise straight from the water exactly as merchants once saw them.

The route passes slowly beneath St Michael's Bridge, the viewpoint from which the three towers of the city line up, and your guide explains which house belonged to whom. A Ghent boat ride along the Graslei is the easiest way to photograph the quays without the crowds on the cobbles, especially in the softer light of the morning departures.

Gravensteen, the Castle of the Counts, from the water

Further along the Leie the boat reaches Gravensteen, the stone fortress raised in 1180 by the Count of Flanders over an earlier wooden stronghold. Its moat, curtain wall with turrets and central keep were built to impress the rebellious citizens as much as to defend the city, and the castle later served as a court, a prison and, in the nineteenth century, a cotton mill before its restoration. It is the most complete medieval castle in Flanders and one of the most visited sights in the country.

From the water you see the walls from the angle that no street offers, with the turrets reflected in the moat. This Gravensteen boat tour view is a favourite photo, and many guests go on to visit the castle itself afterwards: it sits a two-minute walk from the Kraanlei boarding quay and takes about an hour to tour, with tickets bought on site.

The Old Fish Market, Kraanlei and the Leie waterfront

Beside the castle stands the Old Fish Market, whose Baroque gateway of 1689 shows the sea god Neptune above figures of the Scheldt and the Leie, the two rivers that meet in Ghent. The boat passes directly in front of it, then follows the Kraanlei, the quay named after the medieval crane that once unloaded goods here, with its ornate seventeenth-century houses decorated with carved panels and figures.

Behind the Kraanlei lies the Patershol, the quarter of narrow lanes where craftsmen and clergy lived in the Middle Ages, now the most atmospheric part of the old centre. Your guide points out the details you would miss on foot, from the bricked-up water gates to the carved facades, which is why a Ghent sightseeing cruise works so well as the first thing you do in the city.

The Prinsenhof district and the Lieve canal

The boat continues towards the Prinsenhof, the quieter district on the northern edge of the medieval centre where the counts of Flanders kept a palace from the fourteenth century. A sixteenth-century emperor who went on to rule much of Europe was born in that palace in 1500, and although the buildings have mostly gone, the district keeps its old street pattern, canal-side gardens and the Donkere Poort gate. It is a part of Ghent few visitors reach on foot.

Along this stretch you also see the Lieve, the canal dug in the thirteenth century to connect the city to the sea, and the small bridges and water gates that once controlled the trade. The guide uses this calmer section of the Ghent canal cruise to explain how the city's waterways were engineered, before the boat turns back towards the Graslei.

Churches, towers and bridges of the medieval centre

Throughout the trip the skyline of the three towers follows you: St Nicholas' Church in blue-grey Tournai stone, the ninety-one-metre Belfry with its dragon weathervane, and the tower of St Bavo's Cathedral, which houses the celebrated fifteenth-century Ghent Altarpiece. The boat does not stop at them, but the guide ties each to the story of the city's wealth, its uprisings against the counts and its cloth and grain trades.

You also pass St Michael's Church beside its bridge and a succession of smaller spans, each with its own view. After about 50 minutes the boat returns to the Kraanlei quay, and the whole historic centre, including the things to do in Ghent that the guide has pointed out, lies within a ten-minute walk of where you step off.