A surprise called Ghent

We arrived in Ghent on Tuesday 28^th August. After coming up the Bovenschelde and turning left into the Ringvaart we entered the canalised Leie River and left the commercial waterways. We were now in an area of canals that were built for vessels of Matilda’s size.

We wandered along finding ourselves deeper and deeper into the old town.. A sharp right turn off the Leie and we were in the Ketelvaart where we were told we would be able to stop. A vacant quay side loomed and we pulled up. We were in the middle of the old town. Behind us was the old Courthouse – still in use and beside us was the rear of the City Opera House as well as the Concert Hall.

In this picture, the bridge at the back is a main entry with trams, the building on the corner is the “Justitiepaleis”. The bridge in the middle is stage door entry to the Opera House while the bridge above us is to the Concert Hall. It turned out that the Concert Hall had free WIFI during normal hours – the fastest internet we have ever used!

Ghent is a university town with many students traveling in from surrounding areas to attend the various colleges. The scene below is outside the Ghent main railway station. The students come in by train, unlock their bike and have cheap and fast access to everywhere.

The railway station was a work of art internally. Beautiful artistry everywhere

This architectural style abounded in town, brickwork with the stepped facades is very typical of a lot of Flemish towns we have seen.

This one can only be described as being interesting.

The town was protected by this fortification. Known as The Castle of the Counts it is now a museum. It was built in 1180 and is remarkably well preserved, complete with dungeons equipped for torture and a guillotine which was last used in 1861.

We found these figures to be quite dramatic.

We were not too sure about the Kangaroo icecream, haven’t tasted it yet. This is the second outlet we have seen in Belgium so must try some soon.

Ghent was a surprising town. We took a tram trip out into the more modern surrounding suburbs and were quite impressed with the friendliness of the people and their pride in their town. It was clean and tidy and attracted a good flow of tourists. We were pleased we came.

Now we are off to Boom as we are taking Matilda out of the water for a few mechanical repairs. We have a date with a dry dock.

All very exciting, so - keep in touch.