Ghent

Saturday I eschewed all work and decided to do something fun. I ate a late and leisurely breakfast at the hotel, and set upon the road to Ghent. Mostly countryside rests between the two, and the drive takes about 25 minutes (going the speed limit)- rather like the San Diego-Escondido drive.

All bets are off with the drivers of East Flanders and Ghent, they became much crazier in the city. Like many metro places, the downtown area became a convoluted mess of bike lanes, one-way streets, intersections, canals, and bridges. I decided that the safest thing to do was follow some other cars for awhile, and followed one down a street that had rail tracks in it- in the middle of the road. I figured it was part of some antiquated and now defunct rail line that was kept around as a piece of history. Nope. I was rather shocked to see a trolley speeding up behind me on those very tracks. The trolleys are in the streets in Ghent, not on their own separate routes, and are apparently treated like any other traffic. It was the first time I have ever been tailgated by a trolley.

I ended up parking in a garage, and mapped its locations with Gothic steeples so I could find it again. From there I zigzagged all across Ghent, peeling ten miles of rubber off of my shoes. I walked past St. Bavo’s Cathedral, and into “Veldmarkt” lane. The city is very cosmopolitan, and shopping, food, clothes, and curios from all over the world are available. I poked my head into two large, modern malls, some clothes stores, a world market, and saw cheese shops, chocoladehuizen, waffle stands, Persian rug stores, and all sorts of neat stuff. The streets in the Veldtmarkt were stuffed with people.

Along with the high density of Gothic architecture, the canals do create a very charming and distinct atmosphere. Many of the canals are lined with cobbled lanes for cycling and walking, and some are allowed to retain trees and wild growth along their banks as animal habitat. Some canals have tiny floating islands, replete with foliage, where nesting birds have taken up residence. The canals do make the air more humid, but that is easily mitigated by cooler temperatures. While not as common as in Venice, the canals are used for transportation and tours, and I saw at least one restaurant boat. Indeed, as odd as it may seem Ghent is a major sea port connected to the ocean via channels. Shipping docks occupy the Northernmost reaches of the city.

I passed Ghent University and University town, went through some very green parks (the fowl have their own cordoned off areas here as well), saw the city hall and city library (quite large, with free daycare), and wound back around downtown. There is a large opera house here, a major local dance troupe, several theaters and at least one concert hall, on top of many museums, towers; and cathedrals. I am sure we will enjoy living here.

Lastly, since it was a short drive further, I crossed the border into the Netherlands and stopped in the first small town I came across, just for fun and to see the drive.