Belgium and into Holland

23rd August, 2011 (Sally)

The three days after the family left us we spent in Gent{Ghent] depending on which school of thought one belongs to. It has some interesting museums, not only for the displays but also the architecture where they have built inside one: a town house; and in another: an old convent, very light, airy, modern interiors yet still retaining the integrity of the original buildings. The Castle of the Counts, is worth a visit. Situated in the centre of town one would think it was there to protect the townsfolk, until you notice that all the cannon face not outward to the enemy but inside to dominate the town and tell them in no uncertain terms that "Might is right." Apparently the city at one time tried to retain its city state and as a result they got a castle that garrisoned 1,500 soldiers. It also displays the most gruesome collections of medieval torture instuments including a guillotine complete with sack to collect the lopped off heads. A good history lesson for the grandsons. One should not go past Gent without a visit to the cathedral to view "The Ghent Altarpiece" painted in 1432, famed as a very early oil painting but also renowned as the art work that has been stolen the most times. After viewing it I chanced to find in the local bookshop the story of its adventures; or misadventures. Intriguing reading.

Just out of Gent, 80kms from Antwerp and another 80kms to the sea, the river Schelde is tidal so we arose early to be at the first lock to travel downstream on the outgoing tide. Not the most exciting scenery, but with the current running we made it almost to Antwerp, stopping at a riverside quay 20km upstream as the tide turned before carrying on to complete the journey next day. An adventure in itself negotiating the big lock into Antwerp Harbour, two large commercial barges, one oil tanker, a hotel barge, another smaller work boat and then little us squeezed in at the end only to emerge out into the enormous stretch of water full of huge, busy traffic that is just one of the harbour basins of Antwerp. It was a relief to pass through a couple of raised bridges into the peaceful seclusion of the pleasure boat harbour.

We stayed for a week in Antwerp, a city that is often overlooked by travellers, but one that we would highly recommend. The city centre is abuzz with cafes and restaurants, and in true Belgian style they are busy from early morning to late at night. The old warehouses on the waterfront have in many cases become trendy cafes as well and right beside our mooring was a spectacular new city museum, with the tenth floor a terrace with panoramic views over the harbour and city. Two of the floors are devoted to the developement of the port from 1500 to present day, wonderful old paintings and maps plus plenty of models of ships past and present. On Friday we attended a lunchtime organ recital in the cathedral and found to our delight that we were in the midst of a truly wonderful exhibition of paintings. Prior to the French Revolution various guilds maintained their own altars in the cathedral, and they all were adorned with paintings and sculptures by the best artists of the era. Under French rule many of these masterpieces disappeared, some ended up in Paris, others went to the new museum in Antwerp while others were sold. While the Art Museum in Antwerp is being renovated some of the paintings, 14 in all, have been brought back temporarily and are being shown for the first time in 200 years in their original settings in the cathedral. A very memorable experience.

Another memory we will take away is the three hour harbour cruise where we got up close and personal with the workings of a very busy modern port. Ships from all corners of the globe, off-loading fruit from Africa, granite blocks from Brazil and India, coal, wheat; a wharf with 6,000 old cars going to Asia; and millions of containers. We had almost finished the tour when we stopped to allow an 800 tonne floating crane to pass through a lifting bridge before us. Do you have any idea how big that is? We were on the third floor of the cruise ship and it dwarfed us. All this was in preparation for the next day when we farewelled Scott, welcomed aboard Pat and Paul Pritchett from Christchurch and left Antwerp via the port. At least we had some idea of what to expect but as long as you keep right out of the way everything goes very smoothly. From the busy wharves it was a short distance and we were in Holland — flat fields, dykes and windmills.

The next day we took the advice of one of the locals we had met in Gent and left the canal to take the 'so-called' prettier route through the wide estuary of the Oosterschelde. This is a huge tidal estuary, [35,000 ha] which since a disasterous flood in 1953 has been controlled by the Oosterscheldekering, a huge buttress dam with sliding gates built right across the mouth to the North Sea. Unfortunately for us there was a strong crosswind blowing that day (about 15 knots), fine for the sail boats and cruisers but not good for a flat bottom barge like Sable. We rolled and sloshed our way across the open water; glasses went flying at one stage, cupboards and drawers slammed open and shut and our water bed looked as if it was going to roll out of its frame. Pat said it was reminiscent of the recent earthquakes in Chch. Fortunately Paul is an experienced sailor so he provided the moral support for Tony, I retired below and after all the glasses were safely transferred to the sofa and chairs lay on the lounge floor and waited for calmer seas. It took ages but we eventually made it through the last lock into quiet waters and safe harbour at Bruinisse with the welcome sight of the friendly harbourmaster to guide us into our berth. The whole estuary is renowned for its mussel and oyster farms so it was a quick trip to the quay-side fishery for a bag of the freshest, tastiest mussels and a large gin and tonic for all. When we left two days later it was fine, clear and no wind at all so a much calmer ride to the pretty but very popular town of Willemstad. So many boats, six deep in the inner harbour, ranging from the very modest to the "gin palaces" that require a wardrobe to match. Lots of old genuine barges too, lovingly restored with masts and sails in place. It would appear that everyone in Holland owns a boat and if you want to strike up a conversation just ask them about their boat, especially the older ones. It was our first chance to take the bikes and ride out into the countryside. Pat and I had a lovely ride along the top of the dykes looking over farms and fields until we came to the huge locks that control the commercial traffic going through from Belgium to Rotterdam. It is such an interesting sight that they have built a viewing platform overlooking the three gigantic locks. We sat there for an hour watching the constant stream of barges, the largest was 135m x 17m wide and carried 6,600 tonnes of fuel and it only half-filled one lock. I can see that cycling in the countryside will be something we will do often as there are well marked and well maintained and very well-used bike trails everywhere — most wider than French country roads.

Dordrecht was our next stop, Holland's oldest town with a historic harbour full of old ships, restored or part restored. All the old warehouses have been renovated into smart appartments with the gantries that hauled the cargoes to the higher floors still in place. It was at Dordrecht that Pat and Paul left us to travel to Ypres to visit the WW1 battlefields, and we welcomed again Kristy and Matt for a brief stay-over on their way home from two weeks in USA. We took them onto Gorinchem another pretty town where we moored close to the centre. They walked into town one night to sample the night life and introduced themselves to some of the locals, an intersting experience for both cultures. What a wonderful holiday they have all had, and I suspect the travel bug has bitten hard. We now have had on board 10 of our 12 grandchildren, could be a bit of pressure on the remaining two.

We now are on the smaller waterways of Holland, a few cargo barges but nothing like the huge ones that were on their way to Rotterdam in the rivers; and hopefully school holidays are over so we may not have as much competition for a berth. At the moment we are moored at Vianen, you won't find that on a map, but it is the headquarters of Kabola, makers of our heating system and we have progressed from a repair and service to the existing one to a full replacement. If our previous boiler was a Bentley the new one is the Rolls Royce. Holland's winter weather may just stretch the former, ten-year-old one too far. So far we have found Holland much as we expected, the countryside is flat!!!, dykes are prominent, and windmills are prolific. The towns are neat, everything that can be painted is painted — and repainted every year by the look of it — so different from the shabby weathered look of France, people are very helpful, friendly and all speak excellent English so we are having no trouble making ourselves understood. However I am resorting to the dictionary before and after every trip to the shops, some words are similar to the french but most are literally Double Dutch. The markets are full of Indonesian food. I plan to try and decipher the ingredients to try a few recipes but at the moment still struggling with the basics. All good fun and what travel is all about. New experiences, new recipes and when all else fails log onto Google.