Gent

 

On Saturday morning the crew of MR joined us for a trip into then  most central part of Gent we could reach in Avalon.

We set off from our mooring on the park and travelled the short distance up the brown Visserijvaart to Portus Ganda.  We moored up, well actually before we had even finished roping up the Havenmaster (mistress) was on us for mooring fees.  We explained we were only staying for lunch and some shopping and we would be off gone by evening.  We were told to be off by 5pm or we would be charged a nights mooring fees. 

A picnic lunch was soon out and being enjoyed by all.

After lunch the girls went of in search of shops so I decided to play with my dingy. I did row it and put the small outboard on but the best photo was once it was back on top of Avalon.

At 4.59pm I started the engine, Graham cast us off and by 5pm this was the view of Portus Ganda.

Later that evening the girls decided to sit out a walk into the centre to see the city by night.

Poignant Graffiti

Gent is OK, had I not seen Brugge first I would be impressed but Brugge is way better.  Gent is much more commercial and has all the normal chains like McDonald's, Starbucks etc. and of course fat people once again.  It’s making me think a bit.

Overall I wasn’t that impressed with Gent.

Our moorings were however very entertaining.  Each evening we were there, largish groups of youngsters would gather to have BBQ’s using the parks BBQ pits.  All the people without exception were quiet, polite and cleared away all their rubbish. Some took the time to chat about the boat and the dogs and seemed genuinely interested.

An early forward party assembling

We set off for Asper on Saturday morning having had our fill of Gent.