The Ghent Altarpiece, which includes the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, is breathtaking. There are 20 panels, 16 on the front and four painted on the back of the end panels. Each panel has a different theme – Adam, Eve, singing angels, judges, hermits, pilgrims and the centre panel is the adoration. One reason why it is so important is it is an example of the transition from Middle Age art to Renaissance art. I was in awe of its size and colours.
We splurge today and take a boat tour in the canals of Ghent. It is always fun to get a view of a city from the water. The one tidbit of info I come away with is the fact that in the Middle Ages (13 – 15th century) Ghent, the centre of the textile industry at the time, was the second largest and important city in Europe after Paris.
It rains twice while we are out. The rain here is like Caribbean rain. A deluge for 10 minutes and then the sun comes out again. Everyone runs for cover, waits and then carries on. We are getting used to this ritual, although we did don our heavy duty rain jackets.
Walking the cobbles is tricky. Feet are not finding a flat space and there is teetering and tottering. If it is smoother on the sidewalk, or road, or path, that’s where we walk. There is a wide variety of cobbles too, both riding and walking. Flatter to extremely bumpy and everything in between. Guess which we like the least!
We walk to the old docklands and see that the city is repurposing the area like most of the cities in the world that have water front access. The old buildings will be either torn down or renovated into lofts. There will be restaurants and bars for the locals and tourists. The new buildings will be multi-unit and multi use with a large walkway along the canal. When it is finished, it will be a great place to live.
