Antwerp; Sunday, 05 March, 2006

After breakfast, I headed for the central station and out to Ghent. The city is sandwiched (on the railway at least) between Antwerp and and between Brussels and Bruges, and it does appear to loose out a little bit to it's prettier and more famous rival, which is a bit of a shame as the city is very attractive.

Arriving at Sint Pieters station it is a 2KM walk (or 10-minute tram ride!) to the centre of the old town. Here it matches Bruges measure for measure. Medieval markets and squares, matched; couple of large impressive churches, matched; bell tower with commanding views over the city, assumed matched but as the belfry doesn’t open till April I can’t completely confirm that; Canal system with tourist boats plying their trade, match (though Ghent’s waterways are fewer in number). In fact, Ghent trumps Bruges because it has a proper castle (proper as in defensive walls, turrets, spiral staircases, battlements, crenulations - the whole A-typical medieval castle get up)

It was here that I stopped first. The castle was originally built partly to protect the city from the outside, but also to protect the rulers from the citizens of Ghent! Over the centuries, its use changed into a prison and courthouse (and general torture chamber!) then into cotton factories before finally falling into ruin, then being rebuilt into its modern reincarnation as a tourist attraction. A guided route takes you around the castle with its many winding staircases and odd hidden rooms telling you some of the history of the castle. In a couple of rooms, a small exhibition is on display showing the development and use of torture that went on in the castle.

From there I walked back to the Korenmarkt and visited St Nicholas church, which is currently being repaired, so you can only see half of it. What you can see is a very light and bright church with lots of gold and paintings. From there I walked the short distance onwards to the Cathedral. This is a slightly darker church inside with less natural light, and again partway through being repaired.

After a pause for some lunch and a wander along some of the waterways, I just had time to do the tourist thing and go for a 40-minute boat tour of the rivers and canals of Ghent. There are several different companies that run services, with many offering departures every 10 minutes, (Though this would be at the height of summer, on what had started as a snowy day in March it was closer to one departure an hour). After boarding the open boat I did think I might have made a bad choice as pulling up on the opposite bank was a ‘bateaux mouch’ type boat, totally enclosed and heated. In the end with the sun out, and virtually no wind it was so warm and pleasant that I failed to spot that even in early March in Northern Europe, you can still catch the sun! The other advantage with the smaller boat was that it could navigate through the much smaller bridges away from the centre of town, and consequently you get to see far more than you would do on a larger enclosed boat.

After another short wander through the city streets, and over several of the bridges, I decided to head back to the train station and back to Antwerp.

By the time I arrived back in Antwerp it was just starting to get dark, but enough light to see that the snow showers had never really stopped during the day. Feeling needlessly smug, I wandered into the centre of the old town for dinner before heading back to the hotel to pack.