Arrived in the outskirts of Ghent for 2 nights to recover and saw some interesting boats, the umbrella man, galleon cruise, sinking and a boat made totally from recycled plastic picked up in the Amsterdam canals….
then into the Lindenlei Marina where we had reserved a spot. Luckily for us the 10 day Ghent Festival had finished on the Sunday so we were not surrounded by huge music stages, pop up cafes and persons under the influence. They had huge lighting arcades, floating stages on the river and after 4 days, with huge crews they had dismantled most of it and carted it away on juggernauts.
Lovely city, easily walkable with many sights to see,, churches, little canals, beautiful old gothic style houses, lovely little cobbled streets, mainly for pedestrians…(that’s not saying its safe for people as bikes have right-of-way) The Castle of the Counts in the centre of the town houses a horrific torture display used in the Middle ages. Glad we didn’t live then… !!
Yes, that is a fire under that poor persons bottom…
Armour, amazing double edged swords, daggers, knives, old guns, lances,,,all too much to photograph.
The old Fish Market below.
Ghent missed being bombed in WW2 so the City is full of original gothic style houses, and old buildings and churches, still all intact.
The original Mason’ Guild House with the Moriscos dancers on the gable.
The Heart of Ghent.. The Graslei & Korenlei, with all the cafes along the central canal. from 11c the trading activities increased and the area became the port for the trading of grain. All grain imported into Flanders had to come through this port, and had to leave 1/4 of their shipment in payment.
Along Limburgstraat, St Nicholas’ Church, The Belfry & St Bavo’s Cathedral at sunset.
Of all the beautiful churches, that are mostly in tact, The most famous is St Bravos’ Church that houses the alter piece, The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb’ . This collection of 20 oak panels was commissioned in 1432 and painted by the Van Eyck brothers. In its life it has been cut up, stolen numerous times, saved, re-stolen and now is back in the Cathedral. Anybody who has watched ‘’The Monuments Men’ , will remember this painting and the Statue of The Madonna and Child (Brugge) that these brave men saved from being lost forever. In 1934 two of the alter piece panels were stolen, known as ‘The Bold Theft’ from the Cathedral and to this day they have never been recovered.
Of course statues gallore, but these 3 we like the best…The girl with the head phones on a bridge at Portus Ganda, and watching over the confluence of the River Leie and Shelde, a male and female statue, ready to dive into the water from buildings each side.
and everywhere, just beautiful……..
We didn’t realise why we felt so relaxed walking around the city, and that’s because its illegal in Belgium to hawk, busk, or have ice-cream vans etc ringing bells…..
No comments:
Post a Comment