Brugge to Ghent (47 kms cycled)

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With the weather looking gloomy again this morning, we set off for Ghent. Nina assured us that we should not be deterred by the weather as, more often than not, it does not end up being as bad as it might look. Nina proved to be right and we enjoyed an overcast, but otherwise fine ride to Ghent along towpaths and through green pastures and picturesque villages. Until we reach Compiegne (next Monday), our route follows the Santiago de Compostela pilgrim's route. The only difficulty that we had today was a section of road construction that we had to walk our bikes along!!

We arrived in Ghent by mid-afternoon and went for a short walk around the town before the Elodie arrived. After she docked we changed our shoes and walked back into the town centre with a map for a self-guided walking tour of Ghent that we collected earlier from the Tourist Information Centre. As we headed off, I thought that I should pop back to the barge for my raincoat, but I was talked out of it!!! Of course, just as we arrived in the centre of town ... the rain started. We took refuge in the McDonalds and took the opportunity to check our emails from Bernie's iPhone using their wi-fi. Only junk mail.

With the rain easing (?) we dodged across the street to St Nicolas' Church. From the door of the church we could see the Metselaarshuis (house of the masons' guild) and it's impressive 16th century facade that has been rediscovered after being hidden behind workman's houses built at a later date. It was still wet, so we headed back to the other side of the street where we found a card and souvenir shop that also sold umbrellas!! With our €7.00 umbrella over our heads - and our map - we started our walking tour of Ghent.

Having already seen the Civic Theatre, the Belfry and St Bavo's Cathedral earlier this afternoon, we headed down Biezekapelstraat to the Sikkel that houses the academy of music. As was virtually promised by the commentary on our map, we could hear students practising.

Venturing along Hoogpoort we passed Sint-Jorishof, the oldest hotel in Western Europe and the Town Hall which features a mixture of early 16th century and Italian Renaissance architecture.

Next we walked along Belfortsraat and Kammerstraat to the Vrijdagmarkt (Friday Market). The oldest building on the market square is the Toreken, that once housed the tanner's guild and is now Ghent's Poetry Centre. The square also features the socialist 'house of the people' and a statue of Jacob Van Artevelde who supported the English during the Hundred Years War which allowed Ghent's economy to continue to thrive.

Our next stop was Dulle Griet (Mad Meg) an impressive cast iron canon that has been in situ for 425 years, without firing a shot. Its mouth is now covered to prevent the canon being used as a rubbish bin or bedroom for vagrants!!

Across the canal we saw a couple of houses built in the 17th century when very little was built as the city was experiencing a very poor period in its history. Walking along the canal we could see the Great Butcher's Hall on the other side before turning onto Geldmunt to see the Castle of the Counts - built in 1180 to protect the counts from the peasants!

Across Sint-Veerle Plein we saw the very impressive entrance to the Old Fishmarket featuring a statue of Neptune flanked by statues representing the Rivers Scheldt (male) and Leie (female). A multi-purpose visitor's centre is currently being constructed behind the facade.

Crossing the bridge over the River Lieve we looked out over the only remaining wooden house in Ghent and on the other side of the river was the highly decorated facade of 'De Gekroonde Hoofden' (The Crowned Heads) featuring Charles V's visage third from the left in the bottom row.

After a short detour (OK, a wrong turn!) we turned around and went down Jan Breydelstraat to the confluence of Graslei and Korenlei which, from the 11th century formed Ghent's first trading harbour. Today the view is considered to be one of the prettiest in Europe.

After continuing along Koronlei we reached Sint-Michielsbrug. From here it is possible to see the whole skyline of old Ghent in a single glance. Up on the bridge itself we could see St Michael's Church - yet another building currently under renovation!! Walking back towards Ghent's commercial centre we found ourselves back at our starting point from where we walked back to the Elodie.

After another delicious meal prepared by Sander we walked back into Ghent with Nina for an evening walking tour. Since Bernie and I had taken the self-guided tour during the afternoon we didn't really see anything that we hadn't already seen.

However, with her local knowledge, Nina was able to take us to the bar in Ghent that serves 'quack' beer. All Belgian beers are served in their own distinctive glass - with quack beer's glass being a bit like a yard (maybe a half yard?) glass suspended in a wooden stand. To stop customers taking these glasses as souvenirs, a shoe has to be handed over before the beer is served. To satisfy everyone's curiosity, Bernie handed over one of his sandals and ordered a quack beer - I guess someone had to do it??! I tried a 'Kriek' which is a cherry beer brewed by Liefmans Breweries (that we will be visiting tomorrow). I still don't like beer ... fruit infused or otherwise!!

After finishing up at the bar, the rest of the group returned to the barge while Bernie and I remained in town waiting for it to get dark enough for some night shots of the city. I'm sure Bernie was drunk in charge of his camera - hopefully with the benefit of auto focus this won't have mattered???

Because we thought that we might be out until after 11.00pm (the time that Elodie is locked up for the night) we took our key with us. Arriving back at the barge at 11.05pm we were a bit embarrassed to find that we had people waiting up for us because they weren't sure if we had our key with us. Oops, we will have to make sure we let everyone know that we have our key with us if we are out late again.

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Comments

[Wendy]

Bikie Chick rules over Quack challenged paparazi
Hi, Bernie with a Quack beer and a bikie chick on a elodie cruise ! Magnificent... Luckily Tracey had those night time camera lessons earlier, so could help out. Gorgeous photos guys. Well done. Nice to hear your news.