The fish market gateway
An ornate portal topped by Neptune and the rivers Scheldt and Leie.
Mith โ CC BY-SA 3.0 ยท Paul Hermans โ CC BY-SA 4.0 ยท Fred Romero from Paris, France โ CC BY 2.0 ยท Fred Romero from Paris, France โ CC BY 2.0
The Gravensteen is directly in front, the Graslei and Korenlei are minutes on foot, and the Huis van Alijn is close too. This area is the heart of historic Ghent and is all walkable in one morning.
Yes as a short pause. You will inevitably pass through it between the Gravensteen and the Graslei, and two minutes reading its history changes how you see it. But it is not a destination in itself.
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A small square directly in front of the Gravensteen castle, among Ghent's oldest and most heavily loaded with history. For centuries it was the city's place of execution: the condemned were put to death publicly here, and drownings were carried out in the canal alongside. Nothing about it suggests that today. The square is ringed by elegant seventeenth and eighteenth-century stepped gables, the best known being the old fish market building with its ornate gateway topped by figures of Neptune and the rivers Scheldt and Leie. That contrast between the square's former function and its present appearance is what makes it worth stopping and reading rather than simply passing through. It sits at the heart of the old city, between the Gravensteen, the Leie canal and the streets leading to the Graslei. The visit is a few free minutes, and it is a stop on Ghent's main walking line.
An ornate portal topped by Neptune and the rivers Scheldt and Leie.
The elegant appearance today gives no hint of the square's former penal function.
The best point to see the castle's full facade from outside.
In front of Gravensteen castle, central Ghent