I alight at #Ghent station (pronounced Hent) and am transported to another time. The station is beautiful, painted ceiling, intricate woodwork, tiled scenes. I feel like Mary Poppins, suitcase, umbrella and flowered hat. I am taxied to my hotel. I went all out for this hotel, I searched for something cheaper but in the end, I booked the #1898thepost hotel. It was the old post office built for the World Expo, a mix of Gothic, Renaissance and Art Nouveau. It's image in reflected perfectly in the still canal in front. I walk up the beautiful staircase and check in. My room is amazing, with gothic windows overlooking the cathedral. I have a small bar with a Negroni mix, an orange and a peeler, star anise, cloves and a cocktail shaker. I then go on a tour of the rest of the hotel. A staircase convolutes down to a honesty bar, and in front of the hotel there's another shabby chic bar that is completely my style, full of old book,s vintage portraits of Flemish people, crystal and comfortable armchairs. I order a coffee as I look out over the canal.
I walk until dusk that afternoon and then take a canal tour. We tourists are gloved, hatted and rugs are handed out. It's icy on the canal but the waters are tinted blush pink and soft metallics. The guide points out the one remaining medieval wooden toilet perched precariously over the canal. Once they were everywhere and the canal waters were putrid, so water was taken and herbs added and then it was fermented into a beer which was drunk instead of water, much more hygienic so the guide says. I wonder about that fact but it could be true. Then we're shown a building with two swans looking away from each other. Swans here are a symbol of love as they mate for life so when they don't look at each other, it's a sign of infidelity. In the middle ages, this building was a brothel for the many businessman who came to Ghent and used the Guild houses opposite. It was a major city for the cloth the and the storing of wheat.
I find a restaurant by the canal and take the waiters advice and order the fish of the day, which appears with potatoes (of course) but also with a flavoursome ratatouille. The waiter looks like a burgher from a Jan Van Eyck painting, florid, balding but friendly and he tells me he speaks five languages that he's picked up in his life throughout the countries he's worked in.
Well fed, I walk out into the night that has settled in. The buildings are lit up and shine diamond light onto the canals, students are sitting drinking and eating on the steps of the canal. Rule-fuelled Australia doesn't allow the freedom of alcohol consumption in public places. Oh, how I'm loving the freedom of Europe's relaxed laws.
Up in my room, I look out the window to see a full moon perched on top of the cathedral spire, framed by my gothic window. We have full moon ceremonies back home with a group of girls who want to come and release issues they have, give gratitude and write about things they want to manifest in their life. This will be the first full moon in many years that I've been alone.
The next day I wander past the old fashioned food carts along the streets and decide on a waffle, slathered in thick milk chocolate with a little Belgium flag stuck in the middle. After that I pass by another cart with the famous #Neuzeke, little candies that look like noses. A chemist in the 1800's discovered them when medications he was making became crystallised on the outside but remained liquid inside. Today, they are jellied inside and come in many different flavours but the original ones are purple with raspberry inside and they look like tiny amethyst geodes.
I walk until I can't walk any more, exploring the canal areas, the castle, the University quarter with quaint beer cafes. No matter how much beer and potatoes that are consumed here, everyone is relatively thin, I think it's because they either walk or ride. Everyone is on bikes, but I think I'm finally mastering the art of not getting hit by one. So nice to have no cars in the centre.
I eat that night in the student quarter at a cheap chicken and chips place and I don't feel alone. For someone who is used to having the daughter and a partner around, I'm not looking for company, am enjoying my alone time. I ring the partner and the daughter when I arrive back home and my time in Ghent has ticked away quickly but left me with beautiful memories.
The Hotel.
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