Ghent
Ghent
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In The Know
Did You Know?
- When the decision was taken in 1904 to close the Ghent zoo, the animals - including an elephant - were sold at auction. Because no one knew what to do with an elephant the unwieldy animal was sold for a song to a butcher who put it in his sausages.
- The biggest complaint of visitors to Ghent concerns the midges. It is claimed that the midges are the most vicious in Europe and they keep people awake at night. This is probably because there is so much still and shaded water about.
- According to road maps Ghent lies in the exact centre of Europe, at the intersection of the two most important arteries of communication: the E17 (Stockholm-Lisbon) and the E40 (London-Istanbul).
- The great Ghent industrialist Lieven Bauwens increased his profits by having prisoners work for him. The wood in his factory was delivered by a firm called Sax. The name would have meant nothing to us if the son of the timber merchant had not invented the saxophone.
- Don't be shocked if you see a gilded heap of dog mess with a cocktail flag sticking out of it. This is how an action committee campaigns against the thoughtlessness of dog owners.
- The famous Austrian court and ball culture is really a product of Ghent and was exported by Maximilian of Austria. He married Maria of Burgundy in the Prinsenhof, Ghent on 19 August 1477, at 6 o'clock in the morning.
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