Ghent: The City of Arts

Having finished packing around midnight, I got up at around 3.30 AM on Saturday morning (or night more so). Even though I had slept no more than 3 hours, I was quick getting up and was soon on my way to the airport and heading towards Belgium.

I arrived in Brussels airport about 9 AM and hopped on a train straight to Ghent! As I was there for work, I wanted to get there as early as possible as Saturday was really the only day I had some time to explore the city on my own without any rush. I left my things at the hotel, grabbed my camera and went “where the wind guided me”. I did have a map, but sometimes I just like to wander around without a map as then you might discover some hidden gems of the cities you may not stumble upon when following a map. Well, once I ended up wandering in Harlem (NY) without myself knowing, but that’s a story for another time…

Ghent is like a mixture of different cities (just my opinion!) – at times it reminded me of London, other times Copenhagen, Odense and Amsterdam, at times a little bit of Tallinn, maybe even a bit of Paris. All the different kinds of houses, churches and cathedrals (by the way, there are about 65 churches in Ghent!) – old and new, some more colourful than others. People sitting by the canal feeding ducks or having coffee in the outdoor cafes. Bicycles here and there. Even though there were quite a number of people wandering around, it didn’t feel busy. The pace was different. It felt relaxed.

Fun fact: Tallinn (Estonia) – where I’m from – is also one of the 7 sister/twin cities of Ghent!
Sister cities or twin towns are a form of legal or social agreement between towns, cities, counties, regions, etc. in geographically and politically distinct areas to promote cultural and commercial ties. The modern concept of town twinning was intended to foster friendship and understanding among different cultures and between former foes as an act of peace and reconciliation, and to encourage trade and tourism. 

Sunday, however, was a complete opposite to the day before. The city was completely quiet. The shops were closed. Just a few people on the streets walking their dogs. Some were heading to the flower market, which is held on Sunday mornings on the Kouter. I loved the flower market! I walked around 3 times, because all the flowers were just so beautiful and it was kind of fun just people-watching too – tourists making selfies with the flowers (?!), some were listening to the live music that was playing, some discussing which flowers or plants to buy, sellers yelling out words in Dutch or French, which I didn’t understand. But everyone had a smile on their face. Everyone enjoyed the day.

Even though Ghent has many different art museums and galleries, I must confess, I didn’t visit any of them. I usually try to visit some art museum whenever I travel, but as the weather was so warm and nice, I really didn’t want to be trapped inside for more than I had to.

The city itself looks like art, so I chose to wander around the streets instead. Ghent has a ‘Graffiti Street’ (at Werregarenstraatje) – a public canvas for everyone, who wants to do some street art and let her/his artistic side flow. The street was full of colours. Any art there hardly ever lasts for more than a day. Sometimes they even bring kindergarten kids there to scribble on the walls.  I really like the idea of it and I think it serves its purpose well, as now as I think of it, I really don’t remember random scribbles on buildings or walls elsewhere in the city.

It was my 1st time visiting Belgium and I am so happy that this trip brought me to Ghent as it is definitely a city for my liking. It is so artistic and I enjoyed the calm vibe! I know travelling alone is not for everyone’s liking – either it may be scary or some people just think that travelling alone is boring, but I sometimes really enjoy wandering by myself in an unknown city. I don’t find it boring at all as travelling alone kind of forces you out of your comfort zone. You interact with different people you might not interact with when you’re with a bunch of friends. You get to meet all those new and exciting people. Even if it’s just as little as talking to the waiter, who is making you coffee. Who knows, might even end up making some long-term friends along the way.

Belgium is known for their chocolates, but they also have another delicacy called the cuberdons or ‘neuzekes’ (‘noses’), which are a cone-shaped purple jelly-filled candies. There were different colours available, but the purple ones are most common and are raspberry flavoured. I tried a few, but I think I’ll stick to chocolate. The ‘noses’ were too sweet for my liking. Way too sweet.

Ghent apparently has the world’s largest number of vegetarian restaurants per capita. I am not a vegetarian, but I do eat vegetarian food quite often. We had the formal dinner at restaurant LOF and I ended up choosing the vegetarian option. The food was absolutely yum! I am not sure exactly what I ate, because I was only given the choice between “standard menu” and “vegetarian menu”, without any indication of what they contained, but it was kind of fun eating like this – not knowing exactly what to expect and every mouthful was a surprise (it’s not really a “blind-eating” restaurant – they did have a menu, but I had to choose my option months before, when I signed up for the event I was attending). The restaurant itself was nice too, but for a casual dinner it might be a bit fancy and pricey.

Good-to-know: Ghent promotes a meat-free day on Thursdays (called Donderdag Veggiedag) with vegetarian food being promoted in public canteens for civil servants and elected councillors, in all city funded schools and promotion of vegetarian eating options in restaurants around town. This campaign is linked to the recognition of the detrimental environmental effects of meat production.

And when in Belgium, we must not forget about the beer. The Belgians surely know how to make some nice beers! Whenever I travel I have a sort of a ‘quest’. A good few years ago my brother got a book “1001 beers you must try  before you die”. The book has a description of 1001 specialty beers from countries around the world. And as you might guess, my quest is linked to finding some of those beers. Whenever I travel, it is highly recommended that I bring back some beers from that list for him. I have a copy of the index pages saved to my phone, but it is sometimes quite difficult and time-consuming to find any beers from the book, so for a couple of years I hardly ever checked the list and instead got him an interesting looking local beer. I am not sure how many beers he has managed to cross out from the list by now, but if I am not mistaken, a couple of years ago it was a bit over 100. So a bit of a way still to go.

Travelling is fun, but it’s also tiring. Especially if you have early or delayed flights and the trip itself is short, but you want to see as much as possible! I was only there for about 4 days, so on Tuesday evening I was on my way back home. The train ride from Ghent to Brussels airport takes only about 1 hour and I was really tired, so I thought I’d just rest my eyes for a while. At one point I opened my eyes and much to my surprise the train was standing in a station and appeared to be empty at first glance, so I instinctively jumped up grabbing my bag, preparing to make a run, thinking I’d reached the airport already and everyone had gone off except me. The train was super quiet, but as soon as I had jumped up I saw people still sitting there (just the seats next to me were empty). It was probably a funny sight, so I started laughing and sat quietly back down as the airport was still a few minutes ride away.

And when you’re tired and kind of just want to get back home, the Murphy’s law kicks in and the flight is delayed, so instead of being home by midnight like Cinderella, I managed to get home after 2 o’clock at night, only to sleep a couple of hours and be at the office at 8.30 for the very busy work day ahead of me. Managed to get a cold somewhere as well, so the landing was really painful as it felt like there were thunder strikes in my head and ears. Hate when that happens, because there’s nothing you can do about it. But I’ve recovered by now more-or-less! The last few weeks have been hectic! Got a day off from work last Friday and I just pretty much slept through it!

The Midsummer Eve, which is celebrated on the 23rd of June in Estonia, kind of marks the start of the summer for me as now most of my colleagues are off for their summer holidays, things are beginning to calm down and I can really start enjoying the summer here in Estonia. And it really looks like summer this year! The weather has been quite nice – aside from the rain today, over 25 degrees most days and sun shining bright! :)

Enjoy the summer!

A.

PS! Before I wrap this post up, I want to mention one more thing. Ever since I saw the movie “Black“, I’ve had a certain fear, when it comes to Belgium and especially Brussels. I saw the movie as a part of Black Nights Film Festival a couple of years ago. What I like about the Black Nights Film Festival is that usually some actors or director/producer are present at the screening and the audience can ask them questions afterwards.

This time the lead actor and actress were both present and I think the producer (or maybe he was the director) was there too.  The movie is about the gangs in Brussels. The summary says: “Ricocheting from moments of extreme tenderness to scenes of extreme violence, and enhanced by the raw performances of its young leads, Black is a full-on, no-holds-barred experience that will resonate long after you’ve left the cinema”.

And it sure does. Years later, I’m still shocked. At 1st I thought it’s just a movie and not real life, because I could have never imagined something like this happening in nowadays Europe. But they all said that even in nowadays Brussels, the gangs are still active. The movie is not a documentary, but they said that very much of what happens in the movie has actually happened. If it’s any consolation, they said that attacks don’t usually happen towards tourists or random people, just between the members of the gangs.

It’s a really well-made and eye-opening movie. I highly recommend it, but be prepared to be shocked. Not suitable for kids! And you might need some subtitles if you don’t speak French and/or Dutch.