Gent

The days are very long here, the sun goes down around 10 pm. So we left a little late for Gent, another city that was a suggested stop in all of our traveling books. The description of the city is that its architecture is very medieval and apparently in the Middle Ages Ghent was Europe’s Second largest city, bowing only to Paris. The campsite we were heading to turned us down because they were too full. Well sort of. They had parking spots outside the camp ground entrance with no hook ups, but still costing the same as if we were in the campground, about 16 euro, or we could go park out on the street for the night for free. She was surprised when we didn’t stay. So it was another night of free camping, but this time we were told that it was ok, so we went with it. Since we didn’t trust our vehicle to be left were it was, we drove it into the city centre (or close to) and planned to walk our way to the sites. This is we’re Julie and I had drove around, and around, and around Gent looking for parking. We found a Kiss and Ride, but we didn’t know what it was and no other cars were parked, and it was a Sunday so we knew most things shut down. So we left. The funny part about that parking lot was Julie contemplating stealing or abducting a chicken. For what is worth, they were in a park like area, with no owners evident. There were a few dozen of them and a few roosters. She is still upset about not taking one. Free eggs she tells me. For the record, I was against it, I just didn’t think it practical to travel with a chicken. We have more energy now, so today was a big day for sight-seeing. Our first stop was Gravensteen Castle. It was pretty impressive. The building has been kept up, the only part that you could see damaged was the kitchen, were it appears a fire took place. Inside some of the rooms, they had torture displays and the history of the castle and the dates when a siege was attempted. After that it was supposed to be off to St. Baaf’s Cathedral were the most famous painting of all Belgium resides, the Adoration of the Lamb. But we went into the Belfry by mistake. This only happened because it was actually labeled St. Baaf’s, but now that appears to have been the street name. We paid the 3 euros and went on exploring the belfry. During the 1st world war, the Germans had made a false concrete floor at the ground level. They used this secret room as a communication room. We had some pretty good views of the city at the top of the belfry too. So St. Baaf’s was around 3 euros as well, and since Julie and I don’t share a passion for religion and for paintings in general we decided that looking at a 8 ½ x 11 print out of the painting right in front of the booth you pay at was sufficient. But we did walk through the church and its crypt. It was pretty cool, high ceilings, lots of fancy things and portraits of priests but still a church. Trying to leave Ghent turned out to be Julie’s and mines longest 16 minutes ever. Through heated discussions and too many “do not enter” signs we managed to get on the road and out of town. For whatever reason, the GPS was not navigating well, and I ended up turning down a street that is only allowed for pedestrians and Trams. We missed the tram by inches.