I was expecting a fish market on Friday morning in Sint Jacobs plaza, just because people online describe it as such. But turns out, there’s more stalls selling clothes than food! Yes, there are a couple fish stalls, and they are gigantically popular:
I’m not exactly sure how the line goes! But seriously, the huge plaza is crammed with stalls and there are so many people shopping. There were two stalls selling Belgian chocolate for pretty cheap prices and man, you have to fight to get to the front!
I went to St. Bavos cathedral afterwards to see the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, a famous triptych painted by the Van Eyck brothers. I’m not a big fan of Flemish art (in case you haven’t noticed, I haven’t paid to go into any museum so far in Belgium… because it’s all Flemish art! They kinda scare me!), and when I found out the fee to see the triptych is 4 euros… screw that! The cathedral is free of course, keeping in line with most all churches in Europe but to see the triptych itself, it’s 4 euros each for adults. I should also mention that since Ghent is under major construction (see yesterday), most ALL sites have chosen this time to renovate as well! Good grief! Even if you were willing to pay 4 euros to see the triptych, it’s under renovation! When I went this morning, the room was actually closed to tourists, but I was told that when the room is open, you pay to see the craftsmen restoring it. But the stain glass windows in St. Bavos are really amazing. There are so many details going into each individual character on the windows, plus the characters are etched so 3-D into the glass with all the shadow effects:
I think these might be my favorite stained glass windows in Europe!
Statue of the Van Eyck brothers (Belgium’s very proud of them ~__^):
But I think you can understand why I’m not a fan of Flemish art based on this statue:
Yes, they’re very realistic (which is typical of the category) but they just look so scary!
This is the Castle of Gerald the Devil. Gerald was a Count that was called the Devil when he was alive, but only because of his brown colored skin and black hair ;(. Talk about discrimination!
Citadel Park has these incredible roses just climbing along the posts:
They actually run all along a half-circle, kinda like an ancient Roman theater. Love ‘em! Wish I had a garden like this! There’s a casino in the park ~__^.
The World Cup is alive and kickin’ in Ghent. Earlier this morning, they were setting up a large screen in front of the Belfry and I didn’t understand why, but when I walked by along my way to my hotel, I understood:
People were already sitting around the plaza with beer and soda (free Sprite, anyone?) watching the broadcast… at 4pm! There’s another plaza with a stage set up and a sign… I guess that one will see action tomorrow? It’s midnight right now, but I can hear people cheering on the streets!
There’s a conference going on in the hotel… again.
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