Where better to spend the Easter weekend than the land of ultimate chocolate!?

That's what me and my boyfriend did this weekend and we're already yearning to be back. But not just for the chocolate, nor the beer (although, we became quite the connoisseurs of Trappist ales - Google it - over the four days), we're longing to go back for the sheer beauty of the cities we visited and friendliness of the locals.

We stayed in Gent, in the Flemish region, with a friend we met in Prague last summer (I did say I'd travel more!) and visited Bruges on a day trip. I've been to Bruges a few times. It's utterly picturesque and the boat tours are a great way to see parts of the city and view some of the pretty houses that you can't reach by foot. We missed out on going up the Belfry (you know, the one Brendan Gleeson jumps from in the film 'In Bruges') because of the huge queues - Easter weekend meant the already tourist-magnet of a city was even busier than usual.

Gent, on the other hand, is off the tourist-beaten track, and in my opinion, even more stunning than Bruges. There are not enough superlatives to describe the beauty of it's buildings, from beerhouses to castles, old indoor meat markets to churches, and I wish London would take a leaf out of Gent's book and stop producing glass monsters that tower over our real architectural heritage! Gent also once won the 'International City-People-Light Award' and it is evident that a lot of time, effort and passion went into making the city as attractive in the evening as it is in the day. We loved getting 'lost' along the canalsides and the narrow streets, especially at night.

And, I know London gets a bad rap for being 'unfriendly' when it's not that bad, but Gent really is at the other end of the scale! Everywhere we went, the locals could not be more helpful. Not being a tourist city, meant barely anything was in English (a good excuse for me to practise my language skills!) and the locals would not only help us to work out where we were, but go on to hold full blown conversations with us in the streets. We even got talking to a lady who left her friends for a whole hour one evening to give us a personal tour of the historical centre.

Going to Gent reaffirmed my passion for visiting the lesser known places, my love of immersing myself in other cultures and pretending I'm not British! I urge anyone with a sense of curiosity (or nosiness!) to visit this fantastic city. And for my next trip, Skopje and Belgrade!