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While tour buses descend upon Bruges, in-the-know travelers in Belgium are discovering the Flemish city of Ghent. This lively university town has picturesque canals, stunning architecture, quirky shops, delicious dining options, and even its own castle. Here are the best things to do while on a trip to Ghent, Belgium.

Sivan Askayo visited Flanders as a guest of Visit Flanders. For a small city, Bruges has quite a lot of museums (16). I ended up visiting the Memling Museum, also known as Sint Jan Hospital Museum. The museum has six paintings by Hans Memling, a German-born painter who moved to Flanders and worked in the tradition of early ‘Netherlandish’ painting. The building, which used to be a home for nuns and monks who took care of pilgrims and the sick, was in service for 800 years. Walking through the old part of the hospital, it is worth visiting the nuns’ dormitory and the guards’ rooms. In another part of the hospital, which now serves as a museum, you can enjoy some original paintings by Flemish Primitives alongside well-known Flemish painters. (The changing exhibits present other painters, such as Picasso and Miro.)

These people claim to have a vial of Christ’s blood that was given to them during or after the crusades.

Brugge is a fairy tale come true, with all those walkable streets and beautiful canal waterways. You’re guaranteed to love this town. Yes, boat excursions aimed to tourists can be unbearably cheesy, but the five small companies that operate these 30-45 minute visits by water, appear to all be exceptions to this rule. Grand descriptions of homes and buildings, while soaking up the unique perspectives from under the bridges and on the water, leaves you wanting more when the boat returns to where you embarked. Each boat can accommodate close to 30 people and most of the operators get started at about 10 am each day during the months of March through November. You’ll clearly see the signs for where you can hop on and the price for adults tends to be around 8 to 10 Euros per person. Grab a scarf or jacket in case you get cold on the water and have your camera packed. The views of this charming town, only get better by boat.

Crupet is a member of the organization Les Plus Beaux Villages de Wallonie (The Most Beautiful Villages in Wallonia). It is a very small village with gorgeous stone houses decorated with many different types of flowers. Most of the houses date from the 17th, 18th and 19th century. The highlights of the village are the Crupet Chateau—a medieval farm-chateau situated below the village center, dating from the 13th century, and the Grotto of St Anthony of Padua. The grotto was designed by the local curate and inaugurated on the 12th July 1903. It features 22 religious-themed statues. Many of them depict scenes from the life of St. Anthony of Padua. The Ardennes region is an undiscovered Belgian treasure. There are many more charming little villages like this one. They look like time did not pass over them. When you enter a bakery people treat you like one of their own. Go and discover this wonderful part of Belgium. For full size photos see www.facebook.com/adisphotopage and www.lifeinasuitcase.com

Centrally built in the middle of the Ciutat Vella, Mercado Central, or Mercat Central if you want to stick to the local version of Catalan is Valencia’s go to market for Paella produce. Set in a magnificent Art Deco Building, it is home to about three hundred local salesman, all who vouch for the quality of their local produce. They take pride in their surf and turf heritage and are very keen on letting you know, that their way is the best way to make paella, so be sure to ask for a few opinions and see which one work best for you. As you walk in, the mixed odour of seafood, saffron, pimento paste, fresh vegetables and the background sound of spoken Valencien make this place a perfect experience of what it is like to live in Valencia. But what is more interesting is the mixture of the spanish and catalan cultures of food, when you see the hanging jamons and cured cheeses on one side and the fresh out of the mediterranean seafood on the opposite. On the east side you can find the a few small eateries, that have fresh paella and tapas prepared around eleven o’clock in the morning, so if you are a dedicated foodie (like me), this is an official lunch stop! Do not forget to buy some cigalas (crayfish) and the boqueron to make at home, as I am sure you will not find similar taste when you buy them back home. .

One of the church’s most celebrated treasures has also been the most poorly guarded: Not once but twice, a diminutive marble sculpture of the Virgin and Child by Michelangelo has disappeared—first carried off by French revolutionaries and then by the Nazis—and both times been recovered. The Italian Renaissance sculptor-painter probably created the piece for Siena Cathedral, but prosperous Bruges merchants are said to have brought it north, installing it in what is still to this day one of the city’s most beautiful sanctuaries.

Beer is more than a thirst quencher in Belgium, it’s part of the national culture. This family-run brewery has produced local ales for centuries, by six generations of the current owners, the Maes family. They invite you to indulge in nostalgia, with exhibits of old beer-making techniques and cooper tools, and to sample their latest offering—Brugse Zots (the name means “Bruges Jester”), a pale ale introduced in 2005—in one of five dining rooms.

Who knows why the French get the credit—because Belgium’s fried potatoes are the best in the world. Served in a paper cone, liberally dusted with salt and almost too hot to hold, fritjes are, in a word, addictive. Try with mayonnaise for a bit of adventure, or stick with ketchup, if you must.

It feels like you’re dining at the house of a wealthy burgher at this just-so bastion of new cuisine charmingly known as the Silver Peacock. Red deer, hare, pheasant and seafood fill the menu, and there’s a full tasting menu for vegetarians. The mood is elegant and celebratory.

As the name suggests, you may end up waiting outside this modern chocolate emporium before getting a taste of the novelties inside. Choose from the experimental chocolate lipstick and chocolate pills, or head straight for the ganache-filled bonbons of wondrously creative chocolatier Dominique Persoone, such as an Atlanta infused with cola, or a wasabi-laced Green Tokyo.

Located on the outskirts of Bruges, this neo-Gothic castle owes its storybook design to British architect Edward Welby Pugin, whose father built London’s Houses of Parliament. Inside, the art collection and pristine furnishings of the wealthy Van Caloen family remain just as they were in the 1800s. Outside is a large and handsome park, with ponds, caves and a bewildering maze of tall hedges.

For centuries Sint-Janshospitaal was a refuge for the poor and sick, although today it shelters precious inmates of another sort. Housed in the canalside jumble of medieval buildings is a stellar modern art collection, plus six works by the Early Netherlandish master Hans Memling, a German artist who moved to Bruges in the 15th century. His small-scale paintings, with their minute attention to detail, are considered by many experts to be among the finest in the Northern European tradition.

If romantic Bruges hasn’t already won your heart, catch a taxi to this quiet park in the south of the city. Legend has it that this is the final resting place of a virtuous maiden from Roman times who defied her father’s wishes by marrying a warrior. Whatever happened here long ago, it’s a lovely place for a stroll under shady trees. Make sure to cross the bridge over the lake with the one you love: Your bond will last into eternity, or so goes the legend.

In this week’s episode of Unpacked by AFAR, the three members of AFAR’s mighty destination team tackle all things winter travel.