Adventures in Europe: Kunststedenroute bike ride to Ghent, Belgium

I was still determined to get my bike ride in before I leave Belgium tomorrow, so last night I stopped in at the bike rental place at the Antwerp train station. The man there was tremendously helpful. Not only did he set me up with a bike, but he walked me through all sorts of route options. Originally I thought I would ride to Brussels along what they call a cycle highway, but he discouraged that for several reasons. One of his alternative suggestions was the Kunststedenroute, or the "Art Cities Route": https://www.vlaanderenmetdefiets.be/en/routes/kunststeden.html. The whole route is 300+ kilometres from the coast to Brussels, but it passes through Bruges, Ghent, Antwerp, and so on. My bike rental friend told me if I rode to Ghent and took the train back I would have a lovely ride along the Scheldt River and should be able to get in a full metric century (100 kilometres of riding). And, so, that is what I decided to today.

No rain this morning, although it was quite cold as I set out. I would have started earlier, but I wanted it to warm up a little. Even with a late start my fingers were numb as I navigated out of Antwerp. Partly because I needed to add a few kilometres to my route to reach 100, I decided to detour a little past the Guiette house, which is one of a group of buildings designed by the architect Le Corbusier that are UENSCO-listed. I was intrigued that a residential home would have a UNESCO designation and indeed I managed to cycle right by it without realizing! In the end, I did get a picture of the side of the house!

I suppose without scaffolding perhaps it is more impressive? Here is some information about it:

On 17 July, 2016 the UNESCO World Heritage Committee decided to list 17 buildings designed by the Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier as World Heritage. The Guiette House is one of them. The other buildings are located in Argentina, Germany, France, India, Japan and Switzerland. Together with these countries it took many years and hard work to get these unique sites listed by UNESCO. The Guiette House is the only preserved building of Le Corbusier on Belgian soil. It was built in 1926 as a residence and studio for the Antwerp painter René Guiette.

In the end, I was more impressed with the tunnel I transited under the Scheldt! It required riding an elevator on either side of the river, and then a bike ride through this tunnel. I am sure it was a good kilometre long. A little eerie, in a way. That is a lady on a scooter way ahead of me.

To be honest, getting out of Antwerp had been challenging, and I was still cold as I reached the other side of the river. I was really not confident I was going to make Ghent. I had to return the bike in Antwerp by 19:00, so I had to make it to Ghent in time to catch the train back. I was under the impression that there was an train hourly, but I was confused by the train schedule, and moreover had failed to save it, so was also not confident as to when the trains were running and how long it would take to get from Ghent to Antwerp. All of this was unfortunate, because it meant I was too anxious to stop along the route and enjoy the cafes and restaurants and other spots that might have been nice to stop and relax at.

I had some almonds, but otherwise nothing to eat, so I did stop at a trailside snack spot around noon. It was run by a very friendly Filipino lady who has a cousin in Canada and was eager to chat and even teach me some Dutch (i.e., how to know which bin to put your beer can in vs. which one is garbage). She wished me a nice ride and visit in Belgium as I rode away.

My route crossed the Scheldt a few times--once with the tunnel, of course, and here I was crossing a lock on a canal that came off of the river, presumably to control flooding.

But the best place I crossed was here, where a little boat ferries cyclists back and forth across--so cool!

At many places along the route there were sheep in temporary enclosures, apparently to "mow" the grass.

By the middle of the afternoon, I was confident I would reach Ghent, but still unsure how much time I had to spare, so was keeping on pretty strong, rationing my water and almonds through the afternoon. I passed Wetteren as I approached the outskirts of Ghent-- you can see the impressive church tower high above the town!

Obviously with the position of the sun my photography whilst cycling was less than ideal, but really it was just the angle of the sun, because even my photo off the bike looks like that!

Shortly after 15:00 I reached Ghent!

I went straight to the train station to figure out the train. In fact the schedule told me there were trains every half hour and take less than an hour, and so the 17:27 train seemed just fine. That still gave me over an hour to spend in Ghent. 

In about ten minutes I found the centre of Ghent and the famous squares and belfries. The town was bustling, and all the cafes and restaurant patios were packed. 

I tried to lock up my bike at the enormous bike rack in the Korenmarkt square, but it was so crowded I could not fit in. There were well over a hundred bikes locked up--maybe two hundred! I found a fence I could lock the bike up at and then got some lunch. Burger King appealed, for some reason; strange cravings after riding 100 kilometres . . . After that I walked around a little and bought a postcard and with that my time in Ghent was done, so I rode back to the train station.

It was only after buying my ticket and the bike supplement and reaching the platform that I understood there was a change in the schedule and there was no 17:27 train. As far as I could understand, there is work on the railway between Sint-Niklaas and Antwerp which meant the train was running less frequently. I double-checked and confirmed there was a 17:57 train, which I figured was going to be fine. At 17:57, I boarded the train, found somewhere to stand with my bike, and we were off. Of course, work on the track turned out to mean a detour, south from Sint-Niklaas across the Scheldt River.

Anyway, all that to say that we were running well behind schedule and I was getting quite nervous that we would not reach Antwerp by 19:00. In fact, we did pull in at 18:55, and I managed to wheel out of the station and down the sidewalk on the bike, reaching the bike rental shop at 19:01. Happily, the door was still unlocked and I was able to return the bike without trouble; phew! Tomorrow I am catching the train from Antwerp to AMS to fly home, and I did not want to have to spend the morning dealing with an overdue bike rental!

Adventures in Europe: Antwerp, Belgium

On Thursday I bussed from Fisterra to Santiago, flew from Santiago to Barcelona, from Barcelona to Brussels, and then took the train to Antwerp. It was a long day, and I arrived at my hotel near the central station around 22:00.

This morning it was raining, so I lingered over breakfast, but eventually it did clear up. I had been keen to rent a bike, but the weather dissuaded me. Instead, I began exploring Antwerp on foot in the early afternoon.

The neighbourhood around the train station is the diamond district, and very interesting! The diamond industry is dominated by Antwerp's historic Jewish community, although the newer Indian community is apparently making inroads. This means there are jewelry stores (lots of them!), synagogues, diamond brokerages, Indian restaurants, kosher delis, and Judiaca bookstore all side-by-side-by-side. I was hesitant to photograph around here out of respect for the Haredi Jews that were walking around, but it was all quite fascinating.

Further towards the river is Antwerp's tallest building, and what was once the second tallest building in Europe! It is rather quaint now, but I suppose it speaks to what an a) major economic centre Antwerp once was and b) how relatively insignificant it is today. Still, its diamond district remains the largest in the world and according to Wikipedia 84% of the world's rough diamonds passed through Antwerp!

Past the KBC tower (as the "skyscraper" is now known) is the old town, and Antwerp's iconic Grote Markt.

I stopped nearby for an obligatory Belgian waffle.

Then I went down to the Scheldt River. There is a pedestrian tunnel under the river, but it's under restoration and there is a free replacement ferry, which I took advantage of.

I sat in a park on the other side and read my book with a view across the river. That tower is the cathedral's and is among the fifty-six belfries in Belgium and France that are UNESCO-listed.

Back across the river, I considered visiting another UNESCO site, the Plantin-Moretus House-Workshops-Museum Complex.

This was a printing press and publishing house dating from the 16th century.

I went inside and looked around a little, but I was discouraged from paying the entry fee because it was closing soon, so rather I sat outside and had a beer!

Adventures in Europe: Bouillon and the Ardennes, Belgium

This morning after breakfast in the veranda of my hostel, with the view of the castle and town below almost entirely obscured in the mist, I drove uphill further and into the Ardennes forest in search of a lookout tower I had read about.

The tower proved harder to find than I had hoped, and I had given up and drove down into town to wait for the castle to open at 10:00.  But from the streets of the town I finally spotted the tower, and managed to find it on my map.  I headed back uphill into the forest and followed the road that I expected to lead me to the tower.

Eventually the road went from pavement to stones covered in wet, orange and red and brown leaves, and finally, the car could not take it any more and the engine screamed at me for trying.  But now I had myself in a predicament, because I was heading steeply uphill on a very narrow road, and the car refused to go forward anymore.  Moreover, the smell of burning clutch was overwhelming, so I was not eager to try some complicated turn around maneuver.  I was not even entirely confident the emergency brake would hold me given the hill's steepness and slickness.  Instead I simply put the car in neutral and let it roll backwards.  The car has a rearview camera and numerous sensors, and the road was thankfully deserted, so this ended up working fine.  But it was certainly a nerve wracking 100 metres or so.  Once the road widened I turned around and parked the car half in the ditch.  The smell was awful when I opened the door, and I felt a strange feeling of sympathy and guilt for this car that I apparently am becoming attached to.

Anyway, I left her to settle down and walked up the road on foot.

The tower was probably another kilometre at least past the furthest point I had gotten to with the car.  The road passed a pasture with cattle, who looked at me indifferently;

a field where reforestation attempts were evident;

and then passed through the forest itself, with incredibly high trees, that were mostly just trunk for the majority of the way up.

Eventually I came through the forest and into the clearing where the tower was.

I was quite impressed with it.

It is four stories tall, and has lookouts on each level.

I climbed one by one.  Obviously it was built to look out over Bouillon, and it does offer an amazing view of the town and the castle, although mist or fog still obscured the view.

But it also provided a great view of the entire valley, and the forest behind it, as well.

After enjoying the tower, I walked back down to the car, and drove to the castle.

It was about 10:30 when I got there, and I was the first visitor of the day, so I had it completely to myself for about twenty minutes.

The castle has number signs spread out throughout to guide you through the castle and ensure you see everything.

It's quite well done.

The castle has clearly been restored, because it is in incredible shape, and I could go almost everywhere, including up on the walls and in the towers and down in the basement.

I was planning to hurry because I wanted to get going to Luxembourg, but I spent almost an hour in the castle--even though the sign said a visit takes 45 minutes!

Unfortunately, they do a falconry display multiple times daily in the summer, but not in the "winter."

I could hear the falcons though, and they sounded like they wanted to be displayed . . .

Adventures in Europe: Bouillon, Belgium

From Vimy I headed west back into Belgium, to a place called Bouillon, about a three hour drive away.  I am now roughly halfway back towards Frankfurt, with three nights to go on the road. 

Bouillon is a little place, tucked into a valley with a castle dominating the townscape.  It is quite an incredible sight, and my hostel is on a hill high above the castle and the town, allowing for a really great view.

Right now, after dark, the castle is lit up against the dark hillside behind it, and it looks quite spectacular.  Unfortunately my camera is completely inadequate to do this scene justice.

I arrived in Bouillon too early to check into the hostel, so I decided I would try to tour the castle, even though there was not much daylight left.  I drove down the hill into the town, only to realize that in Bouillon, Armistice Day is a HUGE deal, and people were everywhere, and parking was not going to happen, no matter how confident I was.  Eventually I parked up the hill and walked down, but it was now after 16:00, and it made little sense to pay to tour the castle in the twilight.  I decided I will try to go tomorrow morning before I leave.  I did scamper around parts of it that do not require an entrance fee, however, and I walked around the town.

There was a huge street market with all types of vendors and buskers, and even a brass band.  By the way, today is also St. Martin's Day, which is a big deal in Belgium, so I assume some of the festivities were related to that.  Anyway, it was somewhat overwhelming, but I fought my way through the crowds and tried to take it all in.

I bought a coffee and a delicious apricot pastry and sat on a bench by the river for awhile.

And then bought a plate of some food that looked delicious, even though I was not entirely sure what it was.  I took a picture, which does not make it look as delicious as it was, but anyway I enjoyed it thoroughly. 

Now I am enjoying some locally brewed beers.  Belgium is not only famous for its beers, Belgians seem very proud of them, and also very keen on serving them in special glasses.