Ghent

Thursday 15 May

Today is our last full day in Europe so we decided to spend it in Ghent a town midway between Brussels and Brugge a distance of 58 km. The trains run every half hour and the train we caught ran express from Brussels taking thirty minutes to arrive in Ghent, when we compare the trip from Middle Brighton to the City which takes 22 minutes, it make you realise what a pathetic train system we have in Victoria and a country system that is almost non existence.

Ghent is a city that is not on the itinerary of a lot of tours but it is a city well worth the visit being a very old trading city on rivers and canals. In medieval times was the second biggest city in Europe next to Paris and with wool imported from England was Europe’s largest cloth manufacturer, it had a direct connection to the sea via rivers and canals to Brugge which was an active port, since those days the sea has retreated and Brugge is about 40 km from the sea. With the loss of access to the sea in the 1700s Ghent importance waned as it didn’t have a direct access for its imports and exports.

From the station we caught a tram to the city centre and a very helpful tourist information centre provided an excellent map and walking guide to the old town starting from the Belfry which towers over the town. As expected the route took us next to the Cathedral which is best known for its painting of The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb by the Van Eyck brothers, another church we visited in town also had a Van Eyck painting.

Our tour took us past buildings dating back to the 1500s and through many old squares, several of which had old trade guild houses from the prosperous days of the town, Masons, Tanners, Mariners and many others. We arrived at the bank of one of the rivers to find a large cannon “Mad Meg” which is 425 years old and has never fired a shot, there is a twin to this cannon at Edinburgh Castle. A little further on we entered the old Butcher’s Market, a large building with huge rough sawn timber trusses which is now used to promote local produce, an interesting feature were all the hams hanging on strings from the beams.

Further on we arrived at the Castle of the Counts originally built in 1180 and which has been restored, our entrance fee included the use of a little video unit which had actors re-enacting scenes from the days of the original count. The castle also has a display of ancient weapons and armour together with a display of instruments of torture and execution, including the guillotine which was used by the town until 1861.

The walking tour led us to several churches, all with the size and grandeur of a cathedral; we are amazed at the number of large churches, even in small towns, and wonder how the population can support them. The art works in a lot of these churches are worthy of an art gallery and in Belgium there are paintings from many of the old Flemish Masters hanging in churches.

After concluding our walk we returned to one of the rivers to take an hour’s tour along the rivers and canals around the town, this gave us a different view of the town. Just as the river tour concluded it started to rain heavily and we ran to the tram stop and managed to attract the driver’s attention before he drove off, which saved us a fifteen minutes wait in the rain. Arriving at the station we again had to run for the train and just made it on board before the doors closed and like our trip in the morning we arrived in Brussels thirty minutes later and nine and a half hours after we left this morning.

Tomorrow we leave for England on the Eurostar through the “Chunnel” and I’m not sure when we will next access the internet.