Hi there - noob here.

[indysteel]

Thanks for the link, Kate, I'll definitely have to check it out!

PS: You came to Belgium on your honeymoon? I'm so sorry to hear that....

Just kidding. Glad to hear you liked it. I absolutely love Ghent!! Everybody always rants and raves about Bruges, and I do think it's a lovely city, but I think Ghent is a lot nicer. I live near Brussels now, but I spent some of my childhood about ten miles north of Damme, at the coast.

(I'll take this opportunity to add that I'm not all that fond of my home country. Wait, let me rephrase that. I would absolutely love Belgium if it weren't full of Belgians.. )

Several people both here and on another cycling forum strongly suggested that we stay in Ghent over Bruges. I'm so glad we took their advice. Bruges just felt way too touristy and crowded, while Ghent--which is equally lovely--felt like a real, living city. Minus the fact that my husband had a sinus infection while there, we had a wonderful time and are dying to go back. We spent part of the trip in Paris, too. I will admit that we spent one cold and rainy day in Brussels. My husband was so sick and the weather was so miserable, I can't say that we enjoyed the city. Plus, I found the people in Ghent to be much nicer. Admittedy, the prevalence of very well spoken English there really helped.

We highly recommend a B&B in Ghent called Simon Says. We just loved it. The owners are Brits if that helps! They helped get my husband to a medical clinic and pharmacy, on a national holiday at that. We were very grateful.

I'm not overly fond of a lot of Americans either. Perhaps we're just too close to our countrymen to appreciate them.

ETA: We loved Damme, too, btw. What a lovely area to spend part of your childhood--at least to us.