Ghent's oldest stone house
This is the Borluutsteen, a house built around 1175 from blue-grey limestone shipped in from Tournai. It's one of the oldest bits of domestic Ghent still standing — older than most of the fancy buildings people queue for. In the 12th century a stone house was a statement: fireproof, expensive and unbothered by the neighbours' wooden huts. Walk past slowly. You're passing eight centuries of someone's front door.