After our time in Bruges we headed off to the nearby town of Damme. Lonely planet had suggested it as a less touristy place to visit for beautiful Belgium views. The town itself was tiny and cute, but the main attraction was certainly the waterways and trees. The canals went as far as the eye could see, long and straight and with trees perfectly reflected like a mirror to the sky.
The trees were planted so straight along the narrow roads and canals and it made for rather pretty pictures. There weren't many other tourists, just the occasional cyclist passing us by, and it was very peaceful. We stopped here for a picnic lunch with a mountain of Belgian chocolate from the supermarket.
The view while crossing the bridge over the canal into Damme, the little windmill was my first windmill spotting! I'm sure there will be many more to come, especially in the Netherlands.
We had to get some bug repellent to keep the mozzies away while camping so went to an apotheek in the town. On the way we passed by this sign which I thought was unusual - is being the lonliest bookshop a good thing?
We also passed a little bunker with a locked iron door leading into the hillside with a picture of bats on the front. Sadly we did not enter the bat cave.
After our little picnic in Damme, we headed for Ghent. The internet was a little lacking in the camping department for this area, however I found one just under half an hour from the city. We dutifully noted it down and headed into the Belgium countryside.
The campsite proved rather difficult to find, the GPS sending us on tiny narrow winding roads through farmland with no one in sight, and certainly no camping signs. Just as we were about to turn back however, we saw a farmer pushing a wheelbarrow down the road, so we passed him by. He didn't speak a word of English but pointed and said 'camping' when we asked, and that was good enough for us. We found a carpark and wandered up to a house in the hopes we had the right place.
It was in fact the correct place, however there had only been a tiny wooden sign knocked into the ground by the road and it had been facing the opposite direction we had passed in! The campsite was a tiny circular field, and we were its only occupants. It was peaceful and beautiful, and there was free wifi! The house was in fact an institution, the camping lady explained to us -of what nature I'm not sure, the occupants seemed friendly and enjoyed shaking our hands and showing us their plants, we were just told not to leave valuables lying around and fair enough I wouldn't in any other campsite either!
One of the mornings there I woke up extremely early and caught site of the fields in the sunrise, covered with mist. My favourite moment however was when we were trying to sort out all our rubbish in their different bin types and Yannick very seriously asked, "is meat compost?".
Ghent was a city of canals and cobblestones, bicycles with baskets and flower adorned brick houses, tucked away Michelin star restaurants down backstreets and history drenched architecture.
The only problem was the rain, without an umbrella meant walking in the drizzle which dampened my spirits somewhat. The brilliance of the city did somewhat make up for this however. This castle was very striking, and although too expensive to enter I rather enjoyed it from the outside. Called 'Gravensteen' meaning 'Castle of Counts' in Dutch, it was built in 1180 and remains impressive to this day.
Our lunch proved to be a bit of a disaster as we had planned with our trusty Lonely Planet guide to try a cheap and very nice sounding Turkish restaurant in the Turkish quarter, but unfortunately it wasn't open on Mondays. We wandered across the town to another recommendation however this one was shut for renovation. After some more wandering and longing stares into the Michelin star restaurant, we walked all the way back to the Turkish quarter and tried a restaurant at random. Yannick had moussaka which looked very nice, and Necia and I had a spicy chicken and vegetable dish with Turkish bread. The vegetables and sauce were very nice, however I wasn't so sold on the chicken. Necia quite liked it, but kind of reminded me of sweaty feet.
We did however get free apple tea which even Yannick the-Tea-Hater drank, and a free dessert of coconuts lambington things. Very nice!
Our next trek took us to the ruins of Saint Peters abbey. These ruins, dating back to the 7th century are all that remain of what was once the richest abbey in the county of Flanders. The revolt of Ghent in 1539 led to a religious crisis culminating in 1566, where the abbey was looted and mostly destroyed. In 1629 it was rebuilt next to the ruins and that abbey still stands, however I found the ruins more interesting and evocative than the complete structure next door.
The ruins were overgrown with wildflowers and made for a pretty picture. There was one complete doorway still left in the complex which we explored.
The grounds around the ruins encompassed apple and cherry trees, and even a little vineyard. I don't know if the abbey had an original orchard or if it was a completely new addition, but it made for a lovely relaxation spot. It even stopped raining for us!
Wandering back to the city after our religious experience, we noticed many carts selling these strange sweets which were called 'Ghent Noses' which were invented apparently by accident when a pharmisist was trying to make medicine in the late 1800s. Seeing us staring curiously, a nice stall seller offered us one for free which we shared between us. It had a sort of berry flavour, hard on the outside and gelatinous on the inside; it was somewhat nice, but also reminded me slightly of child's cough medicine.
We decided to call it a day by visiting an old and atmospheric pub; Lonely planet mentioned a few, however the first one we tried we were turned away from the completely empty bar by being told all tables were needed to serve food. Oh well we found a better one anyway! On our return to find a better pub, we passed these buskers who were playing fantastic jazz. We watched them for a while as they were truly excellent, before walking on.
We ended up in the upstairs of a 12th century granary turned pub. It was truly the coolest and most atmospheric pub I've ever been in, old wooden beams, crumbling walls, plushy couches and decent priced drinks. I was determined to try a Belgium beer, but upon asking the bartender for a recommendation, she suggested cherry beer. Maybe it's a popular beer, but with a look at my wrinkled nose I think she got the picture and suggested a properly Belgium beer which tasted awesome. 10/10 experience!
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