Hotel d'Hane Steenhuyse

In the 17th and 18th centuries, ‘hotel’ was simply a synonym for an impressive town house. The most famous person who spent the night here is undoubtedly Louis XVIII. This king was installed on the French throne after Napoleon was exiled to Elba in 1815. But Napoleon managed to escape. During the 100 days that Bonaparte was at large, Louis had to flee France if he wanted to survive. He found shelter with his good friend the count in his little house on Veldstraat. Louis was actually quite a colorless figure who had only one hobby, namely excessive dining. The king was obese and suffered from gout, but nothing could stop him from eating, eating, and eating some more. He ate absolutely everything that was served to him and, what’s more, he ate it all without taking a single pause for breath. One dish seamlessly flowed into the next. When Louis was done with his dinner, he was literally dripping with sweat. The people of Ghent could buy tickets to come and see the gluttonous guest, and it didn’t take long before he earned the nickname ‘Lowie-the-greedy’ (a tip: pronounce this name phonetically with a stretched out ‘ie’ and you’re pretty close. Do you get it?).

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