If you’re going to go somewhere, first you have to leave somewhere. Makes sense don’t it. To get to Belgium first I had to get out of the Netherlands. And the Netherlands is a funny place, all flat and below sea-level, 10 metres of dikes holding back the ocean to the north and all these little canals wandering around the place like an odd relative at a family gathering, who everyone can see but no one admits is actually there.

Last Exit to the Netherlands

Another impossible angle in Amsterdam

Well you can see them, but it’s their everywhereness that ultimately makes these canals almost invisible after a time.

But that’s not what gets me from the road – it’s that the “built” Nederlande landscape all looks like its been made in the last 20 minutes (well, except for the photocopy and repeat tall licorice-allsort terraces in the city centres). It’s kinda like you’re stuck in some architect’s idea of an over-ambitious airport terminal, which adds up to an excess of architectural statements all over the place.

“See here, I made this” (covered in green glazed glass).

“Look, another impossibly acute angle at the edge of a building” (which nearly takes your eye off even the freeway).

“Not enough room? See how I effortlessly straddle this canal” (for the buildings on stilts that step over obstacles).

Even the common garden-variety shed looks like it just landed from some neighbouring solar system, leaving the place looking like a Looney Tunes idea of Legoland – all paint-on roads and urban spaces with not a right angle to be seen in the post-psychedelic meltdown of it all.

Go rural, go Belgium

Heading away from the northern ports, Rotterdam being Europe’s largest, where the huge metal crabs lay on their backs ready for arriving container ships - or maybe they were just cargo cranes and I had been letting the old hair down a bit hard with all those “coffees”. Anyway, so the metal crabs and the giraffes play by the seaside, meanwhile the urban sprawl remains unrelenting to the Belgian border. The architectural angles remain obtuse and the land flat and wide, but then enter Belgium – it’s a welcome surprise. It’s like someone dropped a flag that said “Go rural!” and then things go all back a few years to when innovation didn’t just mean Brand New.

Belgium is a change of pace, shifting back a few gears as the landscape slides into Belgium, which only became independent from the Netherlands back in 1831. It’s got a more “country” kinda feel to it, the train stations look like they haven’t changed in 30 years, the villages and cottages look as though they used to be housing for farmers who got about puffing on their pipes of tobacco. It’s like a dose of reality where the old and the new are a bit more integrated.

The northern half, Flanders (or Vlaanderen, as its known in the local version of Dutch, although some people might try and sneak some French in too), is your entry to Belgium. Now that you’re here, and if it’s a little moment away you fancy, then perhaps Ghent is the place for you today?

Gentse Feesten: More fun than you can poke a stick at

It’s a quiet old town, all bricks and mortar with none of that fancy looming glass and steel creations they are fond of over the border. It’s a University town, but smaller than somewhere like Leuven. That doesn’t mean its crawling with dreadlocked students. Ghent is a relaxed place that’s very easy on the eyes - it’s got loads of nice architectural touches and details, cobblestone streets and canals, hushed open spaces and quaint back lanes. The buses here are on electric leashes, tying them to overhead power lines - I’m starting to get used to seeing them but it still feels like a public transport system that could break free just about any moment.

Gentse Feesten?
It’s Belgian for beer, mate

If the buses did manage to run amok, then it’d be straight to the cafés to sample some of the famous Belgian beer, Duvel, which I’ve heard is Flemish for ‘devil’ even though it is made by Trappist Monks. It is a nice strong little number (starting at 8%) that’ll have everyone your friend in 10 minutes or less. A couple of Duvels and even the coldest winter will melt away into obscurity. If the monk’s beers have you inspired in a religious direction then there’s no shortage of places to go – set out on the plein (that’s Flemish for plaza) and then choose from the three grand cathedrals listing at your feet, before or after your alcoholic inspiration. These buildings are enough to make you believe in something bigger even if it might just be a festival of colossal proportions.

Gentse Feesten is that festival. It runs this year between 19-28 July, which is, as they might always say, 10 days and 10 nights. I’ve heard say that the days are almost an excuse for the near out-of-control craziness of the nights… one party just cut and mixed into the other. Within this great snarling beast of a festival there are several smaller festivals, or sub-festivals if that makes you feel more diverse.

Rest easy, finger puppetry is on the Gentse Feesten agenda

For example, Ghent is known for its theatre, including some well-supported experimental theatre, and holds a street theatre festival within the Gentse Feesten, which as you can imagine takes in places all over town. How about a comedy festival, or a puppet busking festival? There is also a techno festival, Ten Days Off, and a jazz festival (no less than the famous Blue-Note), just so if you fancy you can chop and change between boom-boom and da-ti-dah (like boom-ti da-ti-dah-boomda).

And if you’re still charging after midnight, then as the bigger parties get closed down piece by piece, there’s a more exotic quarter that starts up round 4am and goes through til 9am. Just in time for work when you have to rock up to the day-events. The final day is called the Day of Empty Pockets, as everyone has spent all the hard earned of course, which probably goes to include faculties of thought. At over 2 million attendees over the festival, there’s bound to be more than a few empty pockets.

-Jack Brown

Planning a trip? Browse Viator’s tours in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and things to do in Belgium.

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 5th, 2008 at 12:47 am and is filed under Destinations, Europe, Suggested Itineraries, Travel Inspiration, Weird & Wonderful. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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