September 26 - Ghent

While in Bruges, we've been staying at the HotelBiskajer.  The room is very clean and comfortable.  The owner has been extremely helpful in pointing out the local attractions.  It has included a nice breakfast, with an assortment of dishes.

We feel sorry for the owner.  He and his partner work from 7am to 8pm , seven days a week with no outside help. They only take a small vacation in January. They do everything from cooking breakfast to cleaning rooms to keeping the books and greeting guest.

We could easily recommend this hotel to anyone visiting Brugge, but you may need to book early as even this late in the tourist season it is still fully booked.

We've finally got our smart phone working on the Orange network.  We've tried to send some texts but it appears that they are not getting through to the Canadian networks.  If anyone has experience with sending texts to Canada from Europe on an Android phone, please leave a comment and let us know how.

The Flemish people are the most polite people we've ever met. They thank you for everything from paying for your bus ticket to entering their restaurant.  I now know how Americans view Canadians.

This morning we took a thirty minute train ride east to the city of Ghent.  Ghent is a jewel of a city and just might be the highlight of our trip.

Leie River in Ghent

Saint Nicholas Church

Ghent has been around since the middle-ages when it was one of the richest cities in Europe.  Ghent is situated at the confluence of Scheldt and Leie rivers and has a series of canals.  From the year 1000 to around 1550, Ghent was one of the most important cities in Europe. It was bigger than London and second only to Paris in size. It became a major harbour for the importation of grain.  The grain was used in production of bread and beer.  Beer was very important as the water was not suitable for drinking.  Indeed at one time in their history there were over one hundred breweries in Ghent. The textile industry also flourished in Ghnet.

Gravensteen Castle

Much of the city's medieval architecture remains intact and is remarkably well preserved and restored. Its centre is the largest carfree area in Belgium. Many of the buildings are eight to nine hundred years old, including a massive castle and several churchs. The trade guilds, the equivalent of today’s unions, used their money to build massive buildings that are still standing today.  Taxes collected from the grain importers allowed the city to fund civic and religious structures that are absolutely stunning.

There are about two hundred and fifty thousand people in Ghent. There is a major university in Ghent with over forty thousand students. Much like Rouen last weekend, it appears that it is frosh week.  A lot of the students are dressed up in the most bizarre looking costumes.  They ranged from Celtic warriors to furry animals.

During the Reformation, Ghent was caught in the middle of the war between Catholics and Calvinist.  During one battle over ten thousand hand written books were thrown in the canal, next to the university.  They were piled so deep that it formed an artificial bridge across the canal.  Our guide made a comparison of the destruction of European culture because of religion to ISS in today’s Middle East.  I think this a valid comparison.

Leie River

We took a boat tour of the city.  It was a hop-on hop-off type of tour and we both agree it was one of the most educational tours of any city tour we have ever taken.  The guide was extremely knowledgeable and personable. We would recommend it to anyone who visits Ghent.

After the tour, we went for a walk along the major shopping streets.  I believe that everyone from Belgium came to Ghent this afternoon.  There were so many people that it reminded me of Ottawa on Canada Day.

Langemunt Street

In a city square there was a major flea market.  It was filled with many vendors selling surplus clothing.  We did end up buying socks because we know that we will run out of clean socks before our vacation is over.

We had a major scare today.  I had to buy a memory card for the camera, because I had left the original card in our computer.  My credit card was rejected.  Luckily it turns out that the problem lay with the stores credit card reader and not with my card.  The card worked fine in the restaurant where we had lunch. If my card had been compromised, then we would have been stuck with a second card which has a much lower spending limit.

For dinner we went to a fish restaurant in Brugge called De Gouden Kroes.  It specialises in lobster and other shell fish.  It turns out that it considers itself to be a Canadian styled restaurant.  Even the background music was mostly Diana Kroll and Michael Buble.  We both had a pot of mussels with a white wine.  It was OK but not a memorable dining experience.  For the first time I had pickled herring.  It tasted much better than I thought it would,

We then went to restaurant on the market square for a Belgium waffle. The waiter, Ishmal, was from Nepal.  We had an interesting conversation as he discussed how difficult it was for him and his family to cope during the catastrophic earthquake that struck his homeland.  It was many days before he was able to talk to his parents.  He told us that they had been saved because they had gone to the temple instead of staying a home that night.  Their home had collapsed during the quake and they most certainly would have perished had they stayed home as was their normal pattern.