Vanya wasn’t particularly impressed by Mainz but she’s not that keen on larger towns and, anyway, was always going to feel disappointed after Bacharach. I, on the other hand, quite like Mainz. The city has a wonderful cathedral and, joy of joys, there was a beer festival taking place over the weekend we were there.
We booked into a city centre camp site just over the river from the Old Town. The main bridge across the Rhine was a stones throw from the camp site and the beer festival was at the other end of it. Perfect!
Founded at the confluence of the Rhein and Main Rivers by the Romans in the 1st century, Mainz (previously Mogantiacum) is the capital of the Rhein Palatinate state. More than 80% of the city was destroyed by allied bombing in WW2 but, to see the place now, you would hardly know it. The damage was all very quickly and carefully restored except that the burnt out shell of one church, the Saint Christoph close to Karmerliterplatz, was left untouched as a memorial to the city’s victims of the many bombing raids between 1942 and 1945.
The Carmelite Church on Karmerliterplatz and, nearby and now serving as a war memorial, the bombed out shell of the 13th century church of St Christoph of Mainz. This was the parish church of Johannes Gutenberg and where he was baptised.
Anyone visiting Mainz old town will very quickly find the Marktplatz, simply follow the crowds of people. There’s a great deal of history to be found on this square and in adjoining areas. There are numerous pretty pastel coloured buildings, the Marktbrunnen Fountain, the Gutenberg Museum and most important of all, the Mainz Dom (St Martin’s Cathedral). It’s worth visiting the old town to see the Cathedral alone.
The most impressive Mainz Dom……outside and inside.
Almost adjacent to the Cathedral is the Gutenberg Museum. For the unaware, Mainz was home to Johannes Gutenberg who in the early 1450’s invented metal type printing. This form of mass printing revolutionised publishing and it perhaps comes as no surprise that Mainz subsequently became home to both Germany’s first ever newspaper and the Allgemeine Zeitung. William Caxton subsequently built on Gutenberg’s device and introduced printing into England.
After exploring the Markplatz and surrounding area, I headed off to the eastern side of the old town. There I found numerous stolpersteine (see previous blogs on Bacharach and Rudesheim) but, on altogether brighter note, I stumbled on the Evangelische Christuskirche (the Evangelical Church) where a string orchestra was rehearsing. I didn’t recognise the music they were playing but it was an enjoyable 30 minutes just listening and watching. I don’t think I have ever seen a conductor work so hard to get his points across to the orchestra.
Inside the Evangelical Church on Kaiserstrasse.There were quite a few stolpersteine on and around Kaiserstrasse
On the way back to the camp site I paused at the beer festival down by the riverside. There were some 20 to 30 kiosks selling various predominantly German beers and a handful selling snack foods or wine. Needless to say, I stopped and tried a couple of the local beers (three to be precise) and a really cold Vinzentiner Weissbier won the day.
We were ready to take a second boat trip, this time down river. We wanted to go to Boppard (which had been recommended to us by a local) but the boat time tables worked against us and so we settled for St Goar. That was a shame because Sankt Goar proved to be something of a disappointment. Certainly, you don’t want to believe all the hype on the internet about Sankt Goar having the wow factor and being a real up and coming tourist destination, etc. It really doesn’t and it really isn’t.
The best part of our boat trip to Sankt Goar was the journey there and back. It took about an hour heading downstream and an hour and a quarter heading back and this section of the Rhein (between Bacharach and Sankt Goar) is even more picturesque than that which we experienced two days ago. Moreover, sitting and doing nothing while drifting down the Rhein is actually very pleasant.
On the way we passed the two small picturesque towns of Kaub and Oberwesel, numerous almost obligatory castles for this part of the Rhine (one of which, the Pfalzgrafenstein, is particularly eye catching) and, of course, we passed the famous Lorelei or Loreley Rock.
That’s the small town of Kaub to the left of the above photo with Castle Katz overlooking the town and the far more attractive Castle Pfalzgrafenstein in the foreground. Pfalzgrafenstein was used as a toll station between 1327 and 1866
The Lorelei Rock. Okay, so it is nothing special to look at but it is surrounded by legend.
The 132m Lorelei Rock sits on the right bank of the Rhein just up river of Sankt Goar (or, to be more precise, Sanktgoarshausen because Sanktgoarshausen is on the right bank and St Goar sits directly opposite on the left bank of the river). It’s a fairly irrelevant little hill not unlike many others on the banks of the Rhine but, it was made famous in the ballad “Zu Bacharach am Rheine” where a stunning young girl named Lora Ley, after being shunned by her lover, sought revenge and caused the death of numerous men. She was arrested and banished to a convent but, on the way to the convent, she asked to view the Rhine landscape one last time and then jumped to her death from the rock. There is another more modern story about Lora Ley sitting on a rock by the Rhine brushing her hair and distracting passing sailors and so causing them to crash and drown and, as if to support this theory, just to the south of Sanktgoarshausen is a statue of a girl sitting on a rock, brushing her hair. I favour the first story.
A little bit about Sankt Goar. The town is named after a Celtic missionary who settled in the area in the 6th century. He was subsequently made the patron saint of innkeepers. It is a small town but it’s castle, Rheinfels, was once the largest in the area until French revolutionary troops sacked it. Rheinfels was subsequently repaired and is now a tourist hotel. The town’s only other claim to fame is it has the world’s largest free-hanging cuckoo clock suspended outside a souvenir shop near the catholic church. We stood outside the shop at eleven o’clock, video camera at the ready, waiting for the cuckoo to show, but once again we were disappointed.
The approach to Sankt Goar and the Cuckoo(less) Clock. That’s Castle Rheinfels in the background of the second photo.
After walking around Sankt Goar we hopped on to the car ferry and crossed over to Sanktgoarshausen where we found a nice little cafe and sat drinking coffee in the sunshine until it was time to catch the boat to Bacharach. That was very pleasant.
And so we set off on a boat trip up and down the Rhine. This was not just any part of the Rhine; it was along a part of the 65 kilometre stretch running from Rudesheim to Koblenz which is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site due to it’s historical significance – there are so many castles.
We travelled upstream with a day return ticket to the small town of Rudesheim am Rhein; passing Lorch, Trechtingshausen, Assmannshausen and Bingen on the way and; we had the boat almost to ourselves.
The journey took us almost 1.5 hours and was both pretty and interesting. We passed numerous castles on the way and received a brief history of each one over the ship’s tannoy system but don’t expect me to remember them all. There were simply too many.
Rudesheim is okay but nowhere near as authentic nor as welcoming as Bacharach. Many more cruise ships dock in Rudesheim and it has become very touristy. A cruise ship docked moments after us and, in no time, a throng was heading off towards the north of the town in the direction of the Niederwald Monument. I can understand that; the Niederwald is an impressive sculpture with, no doubt, fine views up and down the river but it was enough to turn us in the other direction.
The Niederwald Monument (not my photo). Commissioned by Kaiser Wilhelm I and built between 1870 and 1880 to commemorate the Unification of Germany after the Franco-Prussian War. The principal statue is Germania but the Kaiser also figures, on horseback, as do some of his victorious soldiers.
At the heart of Rüdesheim is Drosselgasse, a long two metre wide cobbled alley lined with original timber-framed buildings. The alley is now full of souvenir shops and cafe bars but it is as close as you’ll get to the original in Rudesheim which now attracts three million visitors a year.
Drosselgasse
Vanya, Nala, Beanie and I spent almost 5 hours in Rudesheim before rejoining our boat for the journey back to Bacherach. That would be about right if you were to include the Niederwald Monument in your stay.
We made a short stop at Siegfried’s Mechanical Music Cabinet Museum (it is different!). We went for a stroll around the outside of the Bromserburg Castle which is now a wine museum and we discovered yet more Stolpersteine.
Just outside 20 Rathausstrasse are four Stolpersteine in the names of Karl Keller and his family. I’m sure there are others elsewhere across the town. Karl was a cobbler born in Bacharach (related to Willi Keller mentioned in the Bacharach blog) who fought for Germany in WW1 with the 97th Infantry Regiment on both the Western and Eastern Fronts. He was wounded in action and was decorated with the Iron Cross but that didn’t save him nor his wife and two children.
And so to Bacharach on the Rhein. We were going to stay for a day, have a quick look around and then move on. That’s not how it panned out. We stayed four awesome days enjoying everything about the place; our campsite (we had a great spot overlooking the river); and the town itself (Bacharach now figures up there among our favourite places to have visited during our European Tours – Matera, Obidos, Vannes, etc); and most of all, the German people whom we met and talked to during our stay (locals and holidaymakers alike). Indeed, Vanya now sees Germany in a totally different and much more positive light than when we toured Bavaria and this is due largely to the German staff and customers of the Kurpfalzische Munze bar.
Bacharach is picturesque little town of less than 2,000 people on the left bank of a scenic stretch of the Upper Middle Rhine Valley some 50km south of Koblenz. It started life as a wine trading and shipping station in the middle ages. We visited a number of towns in the area during our stay but none were as pretty as Bacharach. You don’t need to take just my word for it. The great French novelist Victor Hugo, who visited the town in 1842, was moved to describe Bacharach as one of the world’s prettiest towns.
The drive into town took us straight down the Oberstrasse, above.
There are two main thoroughfares through the town, the Oberstrasse and the Langstrasse both of which run parallel with the river. They each have narrow cobblestone streets and half timbered houses many of which date back to the 15th century. The oldest house in Bacharach, on Oberstrasse, dates back to 1368 and has been renamed Altes Haus (Old House). Oberstrasse contains most of the town’s principal buildings (the church, the town hall, hotels, bars and shops, etc) while Langstrasse, closest to the river, is now largely residential.
First photo: Looking down on the town from the Postenturm at the simple but elegant cream and red coloured 14th century Protestant Church (Kirche Sankt Peter). Second photo: The Altes Haus.
It is believed the town’s name is derived from the Roman god of wine and revelry, Bacchus, and certainly this area has long been associated with wine production, particularly white wines. The hillsides around Bacharach are rich with vineyards. We sampled quite a few Riesling wines whilst in the area.
Most visitors to the town will sample the region’s Riesling in a local Weingut and two in the very centre of the town which came recommended are Fritz Bastian’s Weingut zum Gruner Baum and Weingut Toni Just Hahnehhof. Each appears to offer good value tasting sessions. However, whilst in Bacharach, we chose to sample the local wines (including some by Fritz Bastian and Toni Just) in the less formal setting of the town’s bars and hotels where we could meet and talk with some of the locals. It is more expensive this way and we do perhaps miss out on some inside information about the wine from the wine producers themselves but, there’s no better way to enjoy the stuff. The atmosphere in a welcoming friendly bar such as the Kurpfalzische Munze, drinking what the locals drink, and meeting and talking to them easily surpasses what sometimes can be sterile wine tasting session with other tourists.
The surrounding hills are bedecked with vines and down in the town on Oberstrasse is the Kurpfalzische Munze So here we are starting some serious wine sampling just outside the Kurpfalzische Munze. Bread, cheese and grapes were supplied to help with the tastingSometimes we were a little late getting away from the wine tasting
A little more about the town. Towering above Bacherach is the Burg Stahleck castle (520m above sea level) which was destroyed in the late 17th century (some say by an invading French army and others say it was on the orders of the Archbishop of Cologne) but, it was rebuilt in the 20th century and is now a Youth Hostel and open to the public. You can take tea and cakes on the castle terraces whilst taking in some fine views down the Rhine. Having said that I think that the Postenturm, which is not as high and easier to get to from the town centre, makes for a better viewing point.
Looking up to and down upon Burg Stahleck
Just below the Burg Stahleck is the Wernerkapelle ruin, originally a pilgramage church built between 1289 and 1430. This ruin has a particularly dark history. It started with the murder of a teenage boy, Werner of Oberwesselin, in 1287. He worked for a Jewish family and, with anti-Semitism rife in the area at that time, the Jews were blamed for the crime. Retaliation saw some two dozen local Jews killed. Rubbing salt into the wound, the catholic church subsequently made Werner a saint and the Wernerkapelle was commisioned.
Looking down on Bacharach from the Postenturm
Sadly, Anti-Semitism has been rife throughout Europe for most of the last two thousand years. Bacharach was again touched by it once some 90+ years ago after the Nazis took power in Germany. This was brought home to me during our stay in Bacharach when, whilst walking along Langstrasse, I chanced upon some Stolpersteine (stumbling stones) in the names of Willi and Emma Keller. Stolpersteine are small brass plates inscribed with the names of individuals who were victims of Nazi persecution. They are usually built into the pavement outside the building where the individuals last lived and are intended to keep alive the memory of the ordinary people (my words). Willi and Emma Keller were brother and sister who lived at 43 Langstrasse in Bacharach before being seized and deported to Theresienstadt concentration camp in 1942. They didn’t survive Theresienstadt. The stolpersteine are part of a pan-European commemorative ‘art’ project and an increasing number are being placed throughout many countries in Europe. I have previously seen them in Hungary, Nederland and Germany. There are others in Bacharach (and we saw them in some other towns we visited in this part of the world) but, credit to Bacharach and the other towns for supporting this initiative. Many towns simply will not tolerate them.
Some of the Stolpersteine on Langstrasse. Heinrich Paff who lived at number 25 was a watchmaker and WW1 veteran who was wounded fighting for Germany.
I simply cannot finish this blog on such a sad note. A few more photos of a very pretty town:-
In this area it is almost de rigeur to take a cruise either up or down the Rhine. We did both; first of all heading up river to Rudesheim on the right bank of the Rhein and then, two days later, down river to Sankt Goar on the left bank and Sankt Goarhausen on the right. Those boat trips are covered briefly in separate blogs.
In this part of Luxembourg the River Sauer forms the border between Luxembourg and Germany. Cross the bridge over the Sauer in Echternach and you are in the German town of Echternacherbruck. There is little of interest in Echternacherbruck (other than a very large campsite with the longest riverfront) but Echternach appears to have slightly more going for it. It is reputedly the oldest town in Luxembourg.
This is the second time that I have appeared somewhat dismissive about places we have visited on this tour (earlier it was Wiltz and now Echternacherbruck) and that is perhaps unfair. The fact is we get to see so many absolutely amazing places on these European tours that it is all too easy to denigrate those that don’t fulfil all of ones expectations. Such comments on my part need to be kept in perspective particularly when we are making only a short visit. Henceforth I will endeavour to be a little more objective.
We parked the Van up on the German side of the river for the night; I did my usual recce while Vanya caught up with her Spanish lessons and; in the evening, we both went into Echternach (that’s Luxembourg) for dinner and drinks.
The campsite we selected is on the German side of the River Sauer adjacent to the bridge which leads to Luxembourg. The only evidence of a change in country is the old customs building
During my recce I found two churches worthy of mention in Echternach, one being the Basilica of St Willibrord which was constructed in the 1950’s on the site of an earlier Abbey dating back to 700 (Willibrord was an English monk from Ripon who worked to Christianize the Frisians, became the first Abbot and ultimately went on to become Bishop of Utrecht) and the other being the parish Church of St Peter & St Paul (where Willibrord is now buried). The Basilica impressed me most with it’s simple, elegant lines inside and out and a lovely stained glass window.
The Basilica
There’s not a great deal to the town; a small square, a pedestrian throughfare coming off the square (where a number of cafe bars can be found) and a few narrow sidestreets but all was fairly quiet while we were there.
We ate (I ate) the largest plate of deep fried calamari at a small cafe bar on the pedestrianised street and then we settled at a bar on the town square for the rest of the evening and chilled.
There’s another timely reminder for me; the truly great moments are not just about where you are or what you see, they are about what you make of them. Okay, no more self chastisement.
We were supposed to head east from here towards Dresden but during the course of the evening Vanya has persuaded me that we should head south down along the Rhine Valley. We’ll see what that brings over the next few days.
Situated close to the German border in the north east of Luxembourg is Vianden; an absolute gem of a place; a fairytale little town with a fairytale castle. With less than 1,800 people it could easily be overrun with tourists (stay away weekends) but it is very much worth a visit.
There’s a small church at the lower end of the town with a simple yet charming interiorThe town’s castle is visible from the bridge over the River Our and the castle is nowhere near as high above the town as some Google sites and the owners of the chairlift would have you believe.
A cobbled main street, the Grand Rue, leads gradually up from the town bridge through candy coloured cottages, cafe bars and a few small hotels to the castle (and beyond). It is an easy walk but for those unable or not wanting to walk up, there is a chairlift which will take you to a viewing platform above the castle and you can then walk down to the castle. Be warned, however, the chairlift is not for those uncomfortable with heights.
You’ll pass a few interesting features on the way up to the castle including Le Badigeonneur – don’t ask me what it represents or how it got there. It looks like a collection of musicians.
Perched on a small hill overlooking the town, Vianden Castle was put together between the 11th and 14th centuries (and properly restored in the 20th century with some additional Gothic touches) and it was owned for four hundred years until 1820 by the Dutch Royal Family. I read somewhere that the castle looks like the castle out of Disney’s ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and it really does. I paid the 10 Euros necessary to go inside the castle and within it is unlike any castle I have previously visited – it’s wholly enchanting.
The inside is very appealing and I love those windowsThere are several exhibits inside depicting medieval life in the castleThe views down to the Vianden were impressive
Vianden is a small town and you don’t need more than half a day to see it all but one place perhaps worth visiting in addition to the castle is La Maison Victor Hugo. This is where the renowned author Victor Hugo lived for a while during 1871. The house now serves as a small museum and exhibits a range of artifacts which belonged to him during his stay. Look, it’s not a great museum but I am a fan of Victor Hugo (remember the post on Montreuil sur Mer?).
We crossed the border from Belgium and stopped at the first campsite we saw, Camping Kaul, which proved to be a top site and one that we would have been happy to stay at for longer but as for the town of Wiltz… it was very quiet. We walked it all and despite having a population of 5,500+, it appeared deserted (and this at a time when the town is in the middle of it’s Summer Holiday Festival – there were signs all over the town advertising the festival and we even visited the outdoor music hall to see what was going on – nothing! ). Disappointing but, sometimes, that’s the way the cookie crumbles.
That’s the Camp Kaul swimming pool behind Vanya. The locals seemed friendly enough and one went out of his way to help guide us into town (past a quite exquisite mural). There were very few decent photo opportunities in Wiltz but there is a story behind the lighthouse style monument in the second photo (above) which is certainly worth recounting . In August 1942, during WW2, after the German occupiers of Luxembourg introduced forced conscription of workers, some people in Wiltz went on strike and that strike quickly developed into a General Strike. The Nazis responded by executing 21 Luxembourgers and the monument, erected in 1954, pays tribute to those victims. Brave people.
And then the evening improved. As we made our way back to the campsite we happened upon a small but surprisingly noisy little bar owned by a Luxembourg-Romanian who was entertaining a few friends from the Balkans (well, the guy I first spoke to was from Montenegro and the owner of the bar subsequently confirmed that his customers come from all over the Balkans). We were made to feel most welcome and the owner charged me “mates rates” for the alcohol we drank. Yep, there’s nothing wrong with the people we met in Wiltz.
The schedule today was, by our standards, a heavy one. We would visit the two small Wallonian towns of Dinant and Durbuy and then overnight at the Luxembourg town of Echternach which sits on the River Our opposite Germany. One only has to cross the river from Echternach to be in the German town of Echternacherbruck.
In fact the only place we got to see was Dinant. We discovered a problem with the habitation door step which I couldn’t fix. It simply wouldn’t fold away. We could jam the step shut and make do without it but I was unable to stop the door step alarm from emitting it’s monotonous, high pitched, ear splitting, “Your door step is not shut” buzz. Trust me, you cannot suffer that noise for long; we had to find a mechanic! We found one in Namur and he was able to perform a temporary fix but by then we were already an hour or so behind schedule. Then we went shopping for food (that we didn’t really need, did we Vanya?!?) first at Carrefour and then Delhaize and that set us back a further 90 minutes. I’ve never met a woman who loves Continental supermarkets like Vanya. Once, in Santiago de Compostela I dropped Vanya off at a large Carrefour while I walked into the city centre to visit the Cathedral. I returned three hours later and she was still shopping. God’s truth, I even had to wait for her!
Sorry, I digress. We’d still make Dinant but Durbuy was now compromised and we’d probably not make Echternach but, so what? This is the beauty of motorhoming – such plans can be broken.
This photo captures the heart of Dinant. There’s the Citadel on the rock overlooking the town. The large church to the right of the photo is the 13th century Collegial Notre-Dame de Dinant. The line of cafe bars next to the River Meuse are on the Boulevard Leon Sasserath
The area around Dinant is made for hiking and cycling but Dinant itself is small enough to see in just half a day even allowing for a long lunch in one of the welcoming bars on the Boulevard Leon Sasserath and that’s about how long we stayed. After crossing the Charles de Gaulle bridge to take the above photograph we were happy to just sit and relax with a small beer and make small talk with the locals.
The local sites which do perhaps warrant a visit are the Citadel (which is now a museum and can be accessed by a staircase of just over 400 steps or by the cable car), the 13th century Collegiate Church of Notre Dame (which can be accessed by the side door and it’s centrepiece is it’s large stained glass window), the Maison de Leffe (a place of homage to the world famous Leffe beers which were brewed in this old convent but which are now produced in Leuven) and the Maison de Monsieur Sax (Dinant was home to Adolphe Sax who created the saxaphone and – there are countless saxaphones dotted around Dinant).
Many of the town’s saxaphones are to be found on the Charles de Gaulle Bridge (Charles de Gaulle was wounded in a battle here during WW1) but my favourite is the glass one made by the Master Glassmaker Bernard Tirtiaux which is in the Town Hall Courtyard
By early evening we were in Wiltz just inside Luxembourg having decided that Durbuy and Echternach could wait until another day. Thank you Dinant.
Namur (Namen in Dutch), nestled at the confluence of the Meuse and Sambre rivers, was settled well before even the Romans arrived but it came to prominence in medieval times and is now the capital of the province of Namur in the Wallonia Region.
Dominating the city is an enormous fortress, the Citadel. It is supposedly one of the mightiest fortresses in Europe but that would have been only up until medieval times; the Citadel didn’t fare at all well in any the Napoleonic or the First or Second World Wars. You can drive up to the Citadel (there’s plenty of parking) or you can use the cable car system operating out of Namur’s Old Town but, I chose to use one of the many walking routes. After all, this is Belgium and there simply aren’t any tall hills here. It didn’t take long to reach the top but I didn’t stay long. There was a fair underway and far too many visitors for my liking although, at a quieter time, I could have stayed, not because there is anything particularly impressive to see on the hill (it is just massive sprawling fortress) but because of what is underneath it. Napoleon called it ‘the termite mound of Europe’ due to it’s network of underground passages. Some 500 metres have been restored. Now that would have been interesting.
I didn’t bother taking many photos while up at the Citadel but the view over the old town (while ascending) and of the Meuse River (while descending) were not all that bad. That’s the cathedral in the first photo.
After the Citadel, Namur (at least for me) is about its food and in particular Wallonian Cuisine. The old town is full of cafes and restaurants offering a rich variety of foodstuffs. The foods which most caught my attention (I don’t think local beers qualify as foodstuffs?) were the mustards and the snails (not together I hasten to add). Belgium offers a host of different mustards but the one I like most is local to Namur, Bister’s L’Imperiale. It’s made only with mustard seeds. There are no enhancers nor colourings and it has a robust tangy flavour with just an edge of sweetness which is fabulous with salami. The other food to be sampled in Namur are the snails (I always think they sound more palatable if you use the French word ‘l’escargot’) and l’escargot I am referring to are the petit-gris which are farmed in and around Namur. In fact, the petit-gris has long been the symbol of Namur. Now, l’escargot petit-gris warmed in a little garlic butter… yummm.
That little bowl of Bister Imperiale went very well with the salami and cheese.
So what else is there to say about the city? Our interest was with the old town so, after parking the Van up in a space underneath the Citadel on the Avenue de la Plante, we made our way back along the banks of the River Meuse to where it meets the Sambre and entered the old town through the Rue du Pont. This brought us directly to the town square where the imposing Palais de Congress, previously the stock exchange, stands.
There is a curious group of bronze statues on the square, directly in front of the Palais de Congress – two characters invented by the Belgian cartoonist Jean Legrand (Francwes and Djoseph, sic) have caught two snails; one is imprisoned in a cage and the other is on a lead. This scene is supposedly a reference to Namur’s particularly slow place of life (with the snails being restrained such that they don’t race away). If nothing else, they proved a conversation piece and provided Vanya with a photo opportunity for Beanie.
The bronzes provided a bit of a distraction for Beanie and a photo opportunity for Vanya
To the west of the Palais de Congress are a jumble of cobbled lanes and squares which are home to a range of fashion boutiques (especially on the Rue de Fer and the Rue de Bruxelles) and countless cafe bar restaurants. This area is our favourite part of the old town. The Baroque Cathedral of St Aubin and the Jesuit Church of St Loup are also located in this part of the old town but I wouldn’t list either building as a ‘must see’.
One building I would like to have visited during our visit but didn’t make sufficient time for is the Felicien Rops Museum which is also in the old town. Rops was a prolific and versatile 19th century Belgian artist, born and raised in Namur, who was a pioneer of Belgian comics (although he is perhaps best remembered for his erotic and occult art). Sods law, I read (only after we had departed Namur) that entry to the museum is free on the first Sunday of every month – that was today! Next time…
And so to Ghent, one of the most underrated of the cities in Europe and my favourite city in Belgium. Okay, so Bruges (where we were yesterday) has history and is pretty and peaceful but Ghent also has history and Ghent is pretty and lively (and has far fewer tourists than Bruges) and, if I were to be based somewhere for any length of time, give me the latter any day of the week.
Ghent has a population of 250,000. To help put that into perspective, this is much the same population as Brighton (where we currently live) but whereas Brighton simply has it’s Old Stein and the Pavillion, Ghent has it’s 12th century Gravensteen Castle, the 14th century Ghent Belfry (a UNESCO World Heritage site), the 13th century Sint Nicholas’ Church, the 15th century Sint Bavo’s Cathedral (building started 500 years earlier), the 7th century St Peter’s Abbey and plenty more besides. Add to this that 50,000 of Ghent’s population are students and it is hardly surprising that Ghent can be a very lively place. Don’t misunderstand me, I’m not knocking Brighton; I make this comparison only to illustrate how very unsung and unique Ghent is. Everyone seems to have heard of Brighton and Bruges but, Ghent?
Ghent city centre has it all; a tangle of rivers, canals and bridges; cobblestone streets and alleys and; a wealth of architectural beauty. Medieval buildings abound.
The view back over the Leie River toward the Korenmarkt, where St Nicholas Church, the Ghent Belfry and St Bavo’s Cathedral dominate the skyline, is breathtaking and from here it is easy to understand why Ghent has been referred to as the City of the Three Towers. Ghent has too many wonderful buildings to describe – I’d have to write a book not a blog to do them all justice. This blog will focus on just two or three iconic buildings, including the Ghent Belfry and St Bavo’s Cathedral but, if you’re visiting the city with limited time available to explore… well, you should simply make more time so as to also visit St Nicholas Church, the grandiose Stadhuis or City Hall and, most important, the remarkably well preserved Gravensteen Castle.
The view across the Leie River towards Korenmarkt. This photo was taken from St Michals Bridge. The imposing building on the left is St Nicholas Church. The tower just behind and to the right of St Nicholas is the Ghent Belfry. The third tower, the top of which is just visible to the right of the photo, is St Bavo’s Cathedral
St Bavo’s Cathedral is spectacular. Construction started on the site of earlier churches in the 10th century but it was several hundred years (1569) before the cathedral was completed. It’s a fetching blend of stone and brick and has an impressive collection of stained glass windows. Pride of place inside the cathedral is an 18 panel collection “The Adoration Of The Mystic Lamb” painted by the Van Eyck Brothers in 1432. This masterpiece, together with some other artwork by Peter Paul Rubens, draws many visitors to the cathedral but, it is the impressive cathedral pulpit, made of oak and black and white marble, which most caught my attention. I have never seen such a wonderfully ornate pulpit.
The front entrance to St Bavo’s (also known as Sint Baafs) and look at that pulpit on the right!The Adoration Of The Mystic Lamb
Not to be confused with St Bavo’s Cathedral are the ruins of St Bavo’s Abbey, also very much worth a visit. It’s a beautiful place, full of historic charm. The resident monks fled the 7th century Abbey during the 9th century (after a visit by wandering Vikings) but later returned and restored the Abbey to it’s former glory. All went well, with the Abbey becoming one of the most famous in the north of Europe, until 1540 when the Emperor Charles V ordered it be destroyed after a local insurrection. Part of the cloisters and the original chapel survive as ruins and/but the footprint of the original abbey church is now marked out by tall hedges (and in place of the original altar is a concrete stage, where artists sometimes perform). It really is worth a visit but the site only opens for a few hours every Friday, Saturday and Sunday afternoon in the summer months. Talk about lucky, it opened just as I arrived.
And so to The Belfry of Ghent. It is 91 metres tall UNESCO World Heritage Site and was built as a fortified watch tower with it’s large bell, the Klokke Roeland, being used to sound the alarm. At some time the bell was damaged and removed from the belfry and ‘Roeland’ now sits at ground level to the rear of St Nicholas Church. The views from the top of the Belfry are everything you would expect from such a vantage point and there is even a lift for those who don’t fancy the stairs.
That’s the Klokke Roeland Bell in it’s new position behind St Nicholas Church
Two old quays on the Leie River which are not to be missed are the Graslei (where vegetables used to be stored) and the Korenlei (where grain used to be stored). These have long been given over to bars and restaurants and are a perfect place to sit and chill and watch the river traffic cruising up and down.
No visit to Ghent is complete without a visit to the Patershol district. An older part of the city, as is evidenced by the medieval buildings and cobbled streets and alleys, and now home to boutique shops, cafes and restaurants. Another of those places to just sit and watch the world go by (albeit with a beer in your hand).
Needless to say, Vanya was tempted to visit some of the shops in the Patershol; not that I have any problem with her being interested in Belgian Chocolate. It’s not chocolate but one local sweet which I do very much enjoy and which simply has to be sampled during any visit to Ghent is ‘Cuberdon’. It is cone shaped and about the size of a golf ball with a soft candy shell (the consistency of a large jelly baby) stuffed with a runny raspberry flavoured filling. It’s delish!
Lots of boutique shops in the Patershol some of which Vanya simply had to visit but lots of cafes, bars and restaurants at which to sample some of the 250+ Belgian BeersGhent’s very own Cuberdon
Talking of shopping, the Vrijdagsmarkt Square (the Friday Market Square) is one of the oldest squares in Ghent – there’s been a market here every Friday morning since the 12th century, hence it’s name. This square was also where public executions were held but they weren’t as frequent and the last such execution was in 1863. There is a market on the square on Saturday afternoons too but we were disappointed with both it’s size and it’s content. Perhaps Friday is better?
I cannot finish on Ghent without mentioning it’s Street Art. There is Street Art all over the place; so much so that the City produces a Ghent Street Art Map describing the best art and identifying where it can be found. This map can be downloaded from “Sorry Not Sorry”. Some of the art is truly amazing. Others such as that on Werregarenstraatje is awful (although, to be fair, any and all would be street artists are encouraged to paint the walls in this particular alley and it can change from day to day – perhaps we were just unlucky).
Some of the Street Art is very impressive…… Others less so.
Two great days in Ghent. Next time we’ll make it three.
