We felt like bandits as we climbed onboard the tram to the train station. The ticket machine was 'out of order'. Here's the Ghent rail station, known as Gent-Sint-Pieters :
Short ride to Bruges.
We followed the crowd into the town center.
It was a cold morning! Everyone was bundled up, those that weren't bought sweatshirts in town.
We stopped and entered 'Sint-Salvatorskathedraal' (Saint Saviour's Cathedral). The Roman Catholic service had just started. We stood in the back for the remaining parts. And took a few pics when most had filed out.
Construction was started in 1250. Hats off to those stone masons!!
We left with a mission to find the market square. On the way, their best-known landmark, the Belfry of Bruges, a 13th century belfry housing a municipal carillon comprising 47 bells, was performing a concert for all of the Sunday visitors! The first tune we heard was 'Under the Sea' from the cartoon 'The Little Mermaid'.
What a wonderful market square! More and more people were flooding Bruges!
The next pics are of the .. Chapel of the Holy Blood .. 14th-16th centuries .. which contains the Chapel of St.Basil (1150) and a gold casket that is reputed to hold a few drops of Christ's blood brought from the holy land in 1150. See the crusaders?
We continued to walk around the canals and small streets admiring these old buildings.
The sun was out in force and many were enjoying canal boat cruises.
After a very delicious real Italian pizza, we continued our meandering. Joe wanted to find the .. Gentpoort, one of the remaining medieval gates, but .. along this discovery route we found the .. Holy Magdalena Church, built between 1850-1853. It is now part of the 'Open Churches Foundation'. The church has been converted into a hospitable space where there is room for diverse life questions from a broad group of people. 'We offer you contemplation, coffee, and a good story'.
Here's the medieval gate and a water tower.
We continued to walk along the perimeter of the town on our way to the train station. The following pic shows one of the canal control stations and the houses for the water regulators.
Our last view before walking across to the train station.
We're ready to train back to our hotel in Ghent. What a fun day! What a beautiful historical town! I'm glad the sun came out and warmed all of us tourists!
As a side note .. we've both been fighting bad colds for the last several days. We take an entire backpack of kleenex's for our excursions. Jan was sick first and she tested negative for Covid. Her portable pharmacy helped mollify our symptoms.
After dinner tonight, we bought our train tickets for Rotterdam. Hopefully we'll make our short connection in Breda!
Take care,
Jan & Joe
Shucks! Sorry to hear you've been fighting colds! They surely haven't slowed you down - you've continued your high pace of touring!
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