Oostende; Sunday, 22 April, 2018

After checking out of the hotel I headed over towards the harbour to have a wander around that part of the city, stopping off at the small Aquarium dedicated to the sea life of the North Sea.

From the Aquarium I wandered round to the Oostende city museum and had a look around their exhibitions and a climb up to the Bellevue tower at the top of the building for the, obstructed, views over the city.

I had a wander around town, taking in the spectacular St Peter and Paul church from the outside – sadly it was closed for visits – and then headed over to the Icelandic fishing trawler Amandine. This was the last of the Oostende trawlers that used to head out to the fishing grounds off of Iceland, and when she was retired from service she was put into dry dock in Oostende and turned into a museum. It is an interesting place to visit, if only to get a better understanding of how unpleasant the life of an Icelandic trawlerman would have been.

I stopped off briefly at a café near the trawler for a spot of lunch before heading round to the other side of the harbour for the second boat visit of the day t have a look around the considerably plusher Zielschip Mercator.

From the sailing ship I headed over to the tram stop and took the tram a couple of stops through the town to the Koningspark to have a brief look around the very pleasant Japanese gardens, and then it was time to head back to the hotel, collect my luggage, and start the long journey back towards home.