Ghent to Ghent

Thursday 30 April 2015

 The next morning after a walk into town to see what there was to see,

we decided to get to the very nearby (1.8m away) Stadshaven Ghent/Jachthaven Lindelei the 18 kilometer, long way around via the Ringvaart and into the ‘Leie door Gent’ (Leie through Ghent).

After an uneventful cruise we arrived at a very pleasant mooring with neighbours Frans, a very sprightly 84 year old who is sadly selling his 14m Fairline Targa, Sagitta as he has no-one to travel with and is finding it  bit onerous to do so on his own, and Lieven Van Maele, the Chairman of the Flandria Yacht Club in Bruges – he was visiting on his beautiful 15m boat ‘Cleo’ with his wife and mother-in-law whose birthday it was to be the next day.

Sagitta, Elle and Cleo

The lovely Cleo

The rest of the day was spent seeing sightseeing with lunch on Sint Michielsplein and drinks on Elle with Ian, Sian and Lieven from Cleo next door.

Are they serious?

Not all are wealthy in Ghent.

Lunch.

Looked dodgy but apparently a tourist attraction.

Buying the famous Tierenteyn mustard.

Sagitta from our saloon.

Then supper and bed.

Friday 1 May 2015

Njord had left Ghent to look for long term summer mooring elsewhere so we decided to spend the day doing the real tourist thing: A forty minute canal boat ride (@ €7pp pretty cheap) with the sights being explained in Flemish, German and English, a long walk through the city to Portus Ganda marina (spacious, clean and good looking but not in the centre as we were at Jachthaven Lindelei), had a lunchtime aperitif (read beer) at a café overlooking the Leie and being subjected to the self-laudatory pontifications of a quartet of a quartet of drunk Irishmen. We love the Irish and Ireland but there can be nothing worse in the civilised world that an Irish drunk. Pathetic.

Tourists.

Not everyone supports tourism.

Portus Ganda

When we returned thirteen boats from the Willebroek Club near Antwerp had arrived and taken up the whole marina.

Elle is between the last two boats left of picture (no, we're not the dingy!).

The evening ended with a quick drink with Frans on board his beautiful Targa and then a scrumptious pasta supper.

NOTE: When we first arrived in Ghent were were quite disappointed as it was not the gem we had expected but it grows on one and especially after moving to Jachtclub Lindelei we really started appreciating the city.

However...

The waterways are muddy, if not downright dirty and have dead fish, fowl and assorted fauna floating in them as well as quite a bit of other detritus. The drains, especially around St Michaels church are malodorous to say the least.

Come of Gentians, you need to get your waterway hygiene up to standard!