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Going to Gent...
Feb. 18th, 2011 10:33 pmAfter a wholesome lunch with JW (which was far overdue!) and some tea at home, I hopped into Iota with Nathreee and we set off towards Gent. Some hastily washed and dried underwear barely packed, a camera and a laptop as bare necessities and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies thrown into a bag as an afterthought.
First impression of Gent!
Gent, city of a million cobbles.
But first: how to get there. Through a claustrophobic tunnel and the Ring of Antwerp* we managed to enter the city unscathed. The center was a mass of one-way streets, but Nathreee had hidden talents in the navigational department. I dared not even touch my Samsung GPS.
After arriving at the hotel we were sent on towards a parking, where we left Iota in the fish section, hoping to see it again in a day or two.
I must have mentioned the cobblestone streets somewhere, or didn't I?
After a quick inspection of the room we ventured out into the wild cobbles of Gent. Did I mention the cobbles? There must be billions of them. The city center is very historic, with cobbled roads and ancient buildings. You practically trip over the history here. There's a lovely building wedged in between two more lovely buildings. And across the street there are more lovely buildings. It's quite something. People say Amsterdam is amazing?** Try Gent or Brugge. It'll kick Amsterdam's lily white ass to Paris and back.
After a few rounds around the center we managed to find the food district. Nathreee's sense of direction was still amazing. We checked out a few restaurant billboards before deciding on Amadeus. It was packed, at six pm even, and we were sent into the adjacent (historical) building, where we sat down inside a bookcase and had a lovely dinner.
There wasn't even a menu, just a few things we could choose from. Nathreee wanted to try the waterzooi, a traditional Belgian dish, where I denied myself the spareribs and opted for the entrecòte instead. The (young) waiters even gave us extra jacket potatoes*** for free. The atmosphere was perfected by the 1940s music they played.
After a little more walking, we ran into Dulle Griet by night, brilliantly lit like most of the historic buildings surrounding it, and then we finally returned to the hotel to lie belly-up to gain some breathing room. I soaked in the dwarf-sized tub, reading the horrible farce of a book I brought.
And tomorrow there will be more photography, and more cobbles, and most historic buildings. And free Belgian fries. And sneukels.
The Korenlei, where the grain barges were unloaded.
---
*) "Oh, drive the ring of Antwerp!" is probably the worst thing to wish upon someone.
**) You must have smoked too much of that green stuff, dude...
***) patates
First impression of Gent!
Gent, city of a million cobbles.
But first: how to get there. Through a claustrophobic tunnel and the Ring of Antwerp* we managed to enter the city unscathed. The center was a mass of one-way streets, but Nathreee had hidden talents in the navigational department. I dared not even touch my Samsung GPS.
After arriving at the hotel we were sent on towards a parking, where we left Iota in the fish section, hoping to see it again in a day or two.
I must have mentioned the cobblestone streets somewhere, or didn't I?
After a quick inspection of the room we ventured out into the wild cobbles of Gent. Did I mention the cobbles? There must be billions of them. The city center is very historic, with cobbled roads and ancient buildings. You practically trip over the history here. There's a lovely building wedged in between two more lovely buildings. And across the street there are more lovely buildings. It's quite something. People say Amsterdam is amazing?** Try Gent or Brugge. It'll kick Amsterdam's lily white ass to Paris and back.
After a few rounds around the center we managed to find the food district. Nathreee's sense of direction was still amazing. We checked out a few restaurant billboards before deciding on Amadeus. It was packed, at six pm even, and we were sent into the adjacent (historical) building, where we sat down inside a bookcase and had a lovely dinner.
There wasn't even a menu, just a few things we could choose from. Nathreee wanted to try the waterzooi, a traditional Belgian dish, where I denied myself the spareribs and opted for the entrecòte instead. The (young) waiters even gave us extra jacket potatoes*** for free. The atmosphere was perfected by the 1940s music they played.
After a little more walking, we ran into Dulle Griet by night, brilliantly lit like most of the historic buildings surrounding it, and then we finally returned to the hotel to lie belly-up to gain some breathing room. I soaked in the dwarf-sized tub, reading the horrible farce of a book I brought.
And tomorrow there will be more photography, and more cobbles, and most historic buildings. And free Belgian fries. And sneukels.
The Korenlei, where the grain barges were unloaded.
---
*) "Oh, drive the ring of Antwerp!" is probably the worst thing to wish upon someone.
**) You must have smoked too much of that green stuff, dude...
***) patates
