The good news places

Ghent

Ghent was inscribed on my memory at primary school, with the fast-moving poem “How they brought the good news from Ghent to Aix”, so it is no surprise that once within visiting distance of this famous city I should want to go there.

Ghent is a mixture of the old and the new. Houses dating back to the 14^th century, reached by modern trams. Or a horse-drawn cab if that is your taste. Modern restorations have followed the designs of old, such as the newly-restored Corn Quay, which has once more close access to the water. This was so important to the prosperity of Ghent. Some of the canals of old were filled in long ago, but you can still see signs of the past. Water was the life-blood of the city, ensuring the transport of goods. Luxury woollen cloth (made from imported English wool) brought prosperity in the 13^th to 15^th century. The guild houses along the quays, which seem to be 13^th-18^th century may appear to reflect a power and prosperity in the hands of both merchants and artisans but in fact there was a continual struggle for power between the bourgeoisie, the small craftsmen (middle-class) and the workers in the textile sector. Greatly simplifying the historical facts, the labour movement and Belgian socialism have origins which go back 7 centuries, based in Ghent, but there have been many ups and downs, crises and sidetracks over this time.

There are places from which you can see the towers of three churches at once. (Or maybe two churches and a belltower, the latter used to regulate the lives of the citizens both time-wise and notification of danger or celebration.) There is a dragon right on the top – they are up to the third dragon now. The other two are in the belltower which I climbed, partly to see the view and partly to see the carillon. Bonus: a fascinating film on the making of brass bells (2006). It would appear there is still a good market for such items.

I visited the cathedral of St Bavon to see a famous set of altar paintings from 1426-1432, which contains a first foray into perspective in art. In addition it has most amazing detail in all its many diverse parts, from the people in the pictures to the draping of the clothing.

The Chateau of the Comtes has been massively restored over the last century and more but they have retained quite a lot of the original and I was pleased to see a panel of the fish-bone pattern in stone that I had seen and photographed at Hautpoul (12^th century. I think.) It is now a museum for medieval weapons (interesting) and instruments of torture (frightening).

Wandering through the streets of Ghent is absolutely fascinating. You just never know what you will see around the next corner – a glimpse of the canal or the river, a very old house, perhaps made into a restaurant, a more modern (say 18^th century) building, which combines styles of the past to make its own statement. The view of the restored Corn Quay has a couple of modern additions which bring us nicely into the present. The old Butchers’Hall (15^th century), which brought all the butchers under one roof so that the quality of the meat could be controlled, is now a restaurant where you can try the regional dishes at a reasonable price.

Travelling to and from Ghent from Antwerp was an experience in its own right. There are no tolls on Belgian motorways and trucks from all over Europe use this route, to the extent that the right-hand lanes of the many motorways seem to be a constant stream of trucks, from The Netherlands, Poland, England, Germany, Spain, Romania and France for example. I found it pretty overwhelming. In addition, there is no way at present that the Belgian government can recoup the losses from the destruction of the road surfaces. So it is a total win for the trucks.

Anyway, that’s Ghent for the day. And it didn’t rain!

Photos:

http://picasaweb.google.com/101628277989220379025/Ghent

Leuven

Of course, I had to go to Leuven. For the uninitiated, Leuven is our Wellington Belgium café so naturally the real thing was on my visiting list.

Leuven is partly a student town and in summer the students aren’t there. But it has a stunner of a town hall whatever the season, and a mixture of other interesting architecture - large, such as the cathedral and the university library, and smaller, as in the individual houses and buildings.

There are several streets of shops, which I wandered in at my leisure. And sat in the sun, or at least the warmth, as it had been raining all morning in Antwerp. And the trucks on the 10 lane motorway were still fairly overwhelming!

Photos:

http://picasaweb.google.com/101628277989220379025/Leuven