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| St. Bravo's Cathedral, Ghent |
Ghent and Brugge
are two heritage citires of Belgium and are remarkably preserved. The water
bodies and the beautiful old-fashioned buildings by their side provide a quaint
charm to both of them. Both are in the Flemish region of the country. Ghent is
closer – about 50 Kms from Brussels and the best way to get there is by train
that takes around half an hour. We had Eu-rail passes and we preferred to use
them though the distance to be covered was very short.
Ghent is the
capital and the largest city of the province of East Flanders. Its municipality
includes some of the nearby small towns and is the second largest in Belgium.
The city dates back to the hoary past. At one time it was the biggest city of
Europe after Paris, and that too almost a millennium ago. It has a history of
woollen industry and is known for its well preserved madieval structures.
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| On the bridge over River Scheldt |
Ghent is
situates on the banks of the River Scheldt that originates in France. Flowing
through Belgium, it meanders into Netherlands and then drains into North Sea.
Somewhere around Ghent it receives the waters of one of its tributaries to
become somewhat of a river substance.
We walked around to see some of the mdeieval
buildings. The most impressive was the 10th Century castle complete
with a moat. It is remarkably well preserved. We were also impressed by the
architecture of St. Bravo’s Cathedral, St. Nicholas Church, the Belfry and so
on. The place is ittered with structures of madeival
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| The 10th Century Castle complete with a moat, Ghent |
times and the efforts of
conservation have been remarkable.
We completed our
round of the town as fast as possible as the day’s outing had two places on the
agenda – Ghent and Brugge. We had to catch a train and therefore rushed to the
station. Ghent is half way between Brussels and Brugge. So, another half hour
in the train and we were in Brugge.
Brugge is
situated in the North-West of this tiny little country. While Ghent is in the
East Flanders, Brugge is in West Flanders.
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| A view of Brugge from the boat |
Both are Flemish and both have more
than a millennium old history. That is why these two cities are crammed with
buildings of heritage value. Precisely for this reason they have been nominated
as heritage cities.
Brugge, like
Amsterdam, has a canal system round wich the life of the locals revolve.
Because of its canals and the sea up north it was also known as “Venice of
North”. Brugge or Bruges (the Dutch
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| Another view of Brugge with the tower of the Church of Our Lady dominating the landscape |
name pronounced Bruzh) are the two ways to
call the city. I prefer tAnother vie of Brugge with the tower of Our Ladyo call it Brugge, its German name, as I have heard
them pronoune the name as such on the public address system of the trains. I
think it is here that famous satire on the Indian godmen “PK” was filmed for
its initial introductory shots. But I could be wrong.The shot of Anushka Sharma
cycling down a road along a
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| Church of Our Lady, Brugge |
canal couldn’t be from any other town. She was also
shown on a brifge over the canal watching a boat go by.
Most of the
tourists take a ride on the canals. We too joined them and it was fascinating.
The boat took us through to the city, through the historic city centre which is
a World Heritage Site.Some of the sites I took photographs of as best as I
could in the murky weather but we missed out on the street scenes as we were
riding the canal waters. There appeared to
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| Gabled houses of Brugge |
be some fascinating medieval
buildings in immaculately preserved condition. In fact the medieval buildings
of Brugge are considered to be some of the best preserved structures.
The town is old and the canals too are old.
The City of Brugge had its golden age almost a thousand years ago because of
trade through what was known as the Golden Inlet – a tidal inlet from the sea. Known
for their maritime prowess, the merchants of Brugge travelled far and wide in
pursuit of commerce
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| A canal in Brugge |
and wealth and made a lot of money. It is all evident in
the city with its buildings, their architecture and décor.
Some of the
remarkable buildings are the Church of Our Lady, the spire of which seems to
dominate the city’s skyline. The other popular tower is the Belfry. Apart from
these we had some fascinating sightings – one of a row of pure old-style Dutch
gabled houses that were colourful.
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