Doing script research ...

... in Ghent, one of the most beautiful cities in Belgium!

For a while now, I've been fostering the idea of setting a story in Ghent, a medieval city in the Northern part of Belgium. While I have most of the concept of the script, I wanted to spend two whole days in the city, to get a feel for it, find places my character could go to, etc...

Back in the middle-ages, Ghent was the second largest city in Europe, just behind Paris and surpassing London! While Bruges is better known in the rest of the world as one of the most well preserved medieval cities in the world it is also one of the most visited cities in Europe. Nicknamed the Venice of the North it is crowded with tourists from all over the globe, while Ghent isn't, although it has as much history as its sister city. The story behind this fact is pretty interesting. Back in the days, both cities were considered as two super powerful and extremely rich trade cities. But then came the industrial revolution. Bruges had for years been the center of the western market because of being centrally located and being linked to the ocean through a river. When that river was closed, the city lost all its business and quickly became very poor. Unable to build anything new and modernize, the city remained a medieval looking place. While that wasn't a good thing back then, right now it is the biggest tourist attraction in Belgium! Ghent on the other hand went along with the industrial revolution, modernized its city and got rid of a lot of old buildings. Result: while it still has a lot of interesting medieval architecture, it doesn't have the same reputation as Bruges does.

So with that in mind, my story will be set in Ghent, a beautiful city almost unknown to the rest of the world. A dark story set in a romantic city.