Day 34-35: Ghent

On Thursday (February 18), Ashley and I headed from Antwerp to Ghent, Belgium. According to the awesome "Free Map for Young Travelers" that we picked up at Boomerang hostel in Antwerp, Ghent is only a short 45-minute train ride. So we boarded the train shortly after noon and headed to our second stop on our "Tour de Belgium".

We arrived in Ghent to find similar weather to what we had so far experienced- reasonably cold and windy. But no worries, Google Maps indicated it was only a short 15-minute walk to our hostel. WRONG! We ended up walking for about one hour to our hostel, with a few hiccups along the way. Streets in Belgium have a tendency to change names about fifty times as you proceed down them, so we were watching the name change and looking for where we were supposed to turn next. After quite awhile, we decided to go into a gas station and ask for directions. We knew we were nearby, just needed a little guidance! The man was very nice and told us to turn right a few streets down next to the prison. Oh great, next to the prison! We proceeded on our journey (walking quickly past the prison) through a park and to our hostel. We arrived at our destination- Ecohostel Andromeda- about 4:30pm.

Ecohostel Andromeda. Doesn't sound like you're typical hostel, right? Right. It is an ecohostel on an old barge. This couple started this business about a year ago. They have constructed an environmentally friendly hostel on a small boat that floats in one of the canals of Ghent. Ashley and I had opted to stay here (although it wasn't the cheapest option) to experience something different and learn what it was all about. Ashley is very involved in environmental activism at Agnes Scott and I consider myself a "friend of the environment", so we thought it would be a nice choice. It was really interesting to see what measures they took to make it an ecohostel. They served a 100% organic breakfast (including organic Nutella!), used a particular eco-friendly heating system, had a composting pile for trash and grew plants on the top of the boat. Everything about our stay was eco-friendly! It was really cool :)

Once we settled into the hostel and revitalized, we asked one of the owners how to get to the city centre and where we could find someplace to eat. They gave us directions (via tram, bus and walking!) and we attempted to find the tram stop with no luck. So we walked into town and found a nice, quiet restaurant where we had dinner. I ordered a cappuccino and a Belgian waffle, while Ashley had a nice big bowl of soup to help ease here throat. My waffle was great! I had wanted to eat a true Belgian waffle while visiting the country, and I did! Yum :)

On our way to dinner and back to the hostel, we saw a lot of Ghent's city centre. It was really nice and historical. We saw the Gravenstein (see left), an old medieval fortress, and walked over several canals. The sun was beginning to set, but it was nice to see a bit of Ghent!

Back at the hostel, we went up to the computer to check out plans for the next few days of our trip. We made good use of the free internet and looked up train times, directions and things to do. That night, we stayed in a 6-person mixed dorm with another girl from Russia and two guys from Denmark (one bed was empty). Ashley and I had a good laugh, as the owner that showed us to our room mentioned "making our beds properly", which we later read on a sign listing the hostel's rules. I'm not quite sure why they were so uptight about making your bed "properly", but it made for a good laugh! We also had a near catastrophe with the water. Apparently the water at the hand-washing sink near the bathrooms is not drinkable. I had filled Ashley's water bottle up for her with water from there, but luckily the Danish boys warned her about it before she drank from it!

In the morning, we enjoyed the continental (and free!) organic breakfast before setting out for the day. We took our belongings with us again so that we would not have to trek all the way back to the hostel later on. Ashley and I had decided that we really wanted to go and see the Ghent Altarpiece in the morning, so we set out for our "pilgrimage" to this treasured bit of Art History. The Ghent Altarpiece is housed in the Sint Baffs Kathedraal in Ghent. I recalled studying this magnificent work by Jan & Hubert Van Eyck in my Art History Survey course; Ashley knew much more about it, as she has studied it more in depth in her courses. The Cathedral was nice. We roamed around for a bit looking for the Ghent altarpiece. Then we saw that it was housed in a private room at the front of the Cathedral. The 4 euro we paid to see it was totally worth it! This piece is absolutely massive and traces the story of Jesus. The symbolism is fantastic as well. We awed at this masterpiece for several minutes before hitting the gift shoppe so that I could purchase a postcard for my collection. I got one of the scene of The Adoration  of the Mystic Lamb.

After the Cathedral, we headed towards the Ghent Sint Pieters train station to journey to Bruges. We again walked through the shopping district (loads more H&Ms!), before finding the tram stop we were looking for. Ashley and I purchased tram tickets and boarded tram 21 to the station. This was a nice reprieve from all of the walking we had been doing. Plus there was a lot of construction in Ghent, so it was nice to ride back to the station.

We got to the train station just after noon and boarded a train for the next part of our trip...Bruges!