After years of lying in the shadow of Antwerp and Bruges, Ghent, with its quaint cobbled streets and winding canals, is finally starting to get the recognition that it deserves. Its 900-plus listed buildings are testament to the fact that not only did it survive the World Wars pretty much intact, but also that it was a very wealthy city in medieval times, having been Europe's largest cloth producer and the Continent's largest city outside Paris.

The locals, while intensely proud of their city, are very modest and would never brag about its merits. One reason, perhaps, why it has taken so long for the rest of the world to discover this little gem.