Nice Towns of Flanders, Part 2

Antwerpen, Gent, Brugge, Oostende
12-14 October 2007

The first part of the trip is available here.

Brugge

The hotel where we stayed in Brugge was located quite far from the city center, but it was a nice place to stay. After the breakfast on Saturday morning, we drove to the center of Brugge and parked our car in Zilverpand parking garage, really close to the city center.

From the parking place we walked along the Steenstraat to the market square. The square was wide, with nice buildings around it. It was already quite busy that morning. There were several horse carts passing by the stone street and many tourists walking around.
We entered a small toy shop at the end of Steenstraat. It was a very nice shop with funny and cute toys, I particularly liked the carousel miniature.

We expected to find tourist info center in the area, but we were wrong. After asked someone, we were told that the tourist info center is located at the opposite of the Steenstraat. So we walked back along Steenstraat till we reached 't Zand square, where we found the tourist info center. It occupied a corner of the new Concert Hall building. From there we bought a walking routes book including the city map. (While writing this I just found out that the routes and the map can be printed from Brugge's official website.)

From the tourist info center we walked back along the Steenstraat and dropped by at Zara House, an interior shop of Zara. After that we entered a small cafe next to it to have coffee and snack, also to learn the walking routes of Brugge.

After the coffee break we began our walking tour. From the Steenstraat we turned right before St. Salvator Cathedral, passed small street to the Mariastraat, we saw the massive Onze Lieve Vrouwe church with its 122 metres brick tower, the tallest building in the city.

Tower of Onze Lieve Vrouwe church

We entered the church, which contained several arts collection. The highlight was a solemn white marble sculpture, 'Madonna and Child' by Michelangelo.

Madonna and Child

We walked further along the Mariastraat, crossed a river where we saw a busy boat tour operator and then we passed many small touristic shops along the street. We turned right to the small Walstreet, passed some more small shops and restaurants till we reached Wijngaardplein, a square with several restaurants, mostly served mussel on the menu. The square was quite busy as it was also a place where the horse carts stopped to allow the passengers to walk around the area.

Queue for the boat tour

Crossing a river from the Wijngaardplein, we entered the Beguinage area, which now is being used as monastery by the Benedictine sisters. It was a nice peaceful area, with old white houses and a garden full of big poplar trees.

The Beguinage

Outside the Beguinage we found a small lake called Minnewater, which mean 'Lake of love'. We walked a path along one side of the lake, crossed it on a bridge and walked back to the Wijngaardplein through a park that also named Minnewater park.

The Minnewater

It was lunch time when we reached the Wijngaardplein. Being attracted by the restaurants there, we decided to have lunch in a restaurant that served mussel and shrimp croquette.
We ordered the croquette for starter and mussel and omelette for main course. The croquette was not really special, it's basically minced shrimp replacing the usual minced meat inside the crispy breadcrumbs. The mussel also a bit tasteless. Luckily I had no complain about my omelette.

With a nicely filled stomach, we walked back to the Mariastraat and turned right after the Onze Lieve Vrouwe church, heading to the old part of the city. We passed the Dijver where some museums were located.
Along the riverbank at Rozenhoedkaai, we got a beautiful view of the old buildings and the river. I think this is one of the reasons that the city is called the Venice of the North.

View from Rozenhoedkaai

From the riverbank we walked passing the fish market, crossed the bridge and passed small street called Blinde Ezelstraat (meaning 'blind donkey street').
Out from this small street we arrived at the Burg, a big square where several historical buildings of the city were located. There were the Old Recorders' House, a renaissance building, and next to it the City Hall in gothic style. At the corner was the Basilica of the Holy Blood.

Brugge City Hall

We entered the Basilica of the Holy Blood, it was within the time of the veneration of the Holy Blood relic. The basilica has lower and upper chapels. We climbed the stairs to the upper chapel where the relic was located. The decorations of the upper chapel were quite beautiful, with nice stained glass windows and painted walls. The relic was displayed on a high seat by a lady and we queued briefly for the veneration.
After veneration, we went downstair and shortly entered the lower chapel. It was less attractive than the upper one.

Basilica of the Holy Blood

From the Burg we walked to the main market square that we visited before in the morning. The square was marked by the gothic style Provincial Court building and the magnificent Belfry with its tower. In front of the Provincial Court, there was a statue of Jan Breydel and Pieter de Coninck, local heroes during battle against French in the beginning of 14th century.

Provincial Court at the market square

From the square we walked through Wollestraat back to Rozenhoedkaai, where we stopped for a while in a cafe for coffee.
We almost finished with the walking route. After the coffee break we walked along Oude Burg and ended up at Simon Stevin square, named after mathematician born in Brugge and famous for several innovations in The Netherlands and chose to publish his writings in Dutch, making it the only European language that has the word for mathematics (wiskunde) was not derived from Greek or Latin.

From the Simon Stevin square we visited St. Salvator cathedral, which was not as impressive as the Onze Lieve Vrouwe church. It was around 5 in the afternoon when we were out from St. Salvator cathedral and we finished completely the walking route.

After that we attended the mass in the Onze Lieve Vrouwe church. Before the mass we had a short time to visit old St. John's hospital in front of the church. The hospital was another old preserved building in Brugge and now it is being used as museum.

The almshouses

After the mass we walked to see old almshouses on Driekroezenstraat and walked along Groeninge following the horse cart route until we arrived near the Rozenhoedkaai. Already in the center, we orientated ourselves to the menu cards outside some restaurants. We wandered around the Burg and the market square until finally we settled on with a small restaurant in Huidenvettersplein.
I had a local waterzooi, a creamy stewed fish and vegetables dish. It was quite good, the fish was fresh and the cream was just enough.

Belfry tower in the night

After dinner we strolled slowly through the market, glanced at the majestic Belfry once again, and then back to our car.

Oostende

On Sunday, after breakfast and checked out the hotel, we drove to Oostende, a seaside town about 20 km to the west of Brugge. After parking the car, we walked along the promenade parallel with the coast. We found the tourist information center near the big casino building.


After getting the city map and little information about touristic spots, we walked on the promenade to the marina. The promenade was very ideal for walking and enjoying the sea view. It was very wide with several benches to rest and relax.
About halfway we saw the seamen's memorial, a monument to commemorate died fishermen.

Seamen's memorial, Oostende

Walking a bit further, we reached the marina. It was full with fish market and small booths selling different kind of seafoods and escargot. We tried a cup of escargot, which was quite nice.

From the marina we walked along the shopping area, which was open on that Sunday. Lucky for Sri because she managed to get a shoe there.

For lunch we stopped by at small pizzeria. The place was 100% Italian and the food turned out to be very nice. After the nice lunch we walked back to the car and drove home.

Nice Towns of Flanders, Part 1

Antwerpen, Gent, Brugge, Oostende
12-14 October 2007

After our summer break in Paris last August, we planned another weekend break to celebrate our wedding anniversary. We chose to drive to Brugge in West Flanders province in Belgium. With a reasonable distance from Eindhoven, we also planned to stop at Antwerpen and Gent, two big cities in the Flanders region that lay on the route to Brugge.

Antwerpen

On Friday, our anniversary day, we started our trip after breakfast from Eindhoven. We drove heading southwest on the highway to Antwerpen. It was pretty quiet on the road and after about one hour we already reached Antwerpen. We were guided by our TomTom navigation system and, using it for the first time, we had no idea that it could give direction to a parking garage in the city.
After being guided until very near to the center of the city, finally we found a parking garage near Groenplaats.

From the parking place we walked to the old city of Antwerpen, passed the big cathedral to Grote Markt, the main city square. We visited the tourist information center to take a city map. After that we decided to have lunch, in where we also could study the map.
We chose a quick lunch at a simple wok. I had a baguette with fried fish, quite tasty and fresh.

After lunch we walked to the bank of Schelde river. From the promenade we could enjoy the view of the river, but unfortunately it was cloudy so the view was a bit somber.
Walk a bit along the river, we visited het Steen, which means 'the Stone', a castle built around year 1200. The building currently is used as Maritime Museum and displayed some old ships next to it.

het Steen, Antwerpen

From the riverside we walked back to the old town area. We passed the Vleeshuis (Butcher's Hall), a unique building with alternating white stones and red bricks (locally known as bacon layers) for the wall construction.

Vleeshuis, Antwerpen

Walking a bit further, we arrived again at the Grote Markt. The main square was a nice spot of the city, with the City Hall building at one side, a fountain in the middle of the square with the statue of the Antwerpen's mythical hero Brabo, the beautiful Guildhouses, and some cafes at the opposite side of the City Hall.

Guildhouses at Grote Markt, Antwerpen

From the Grote Markt we continued our short city tour to the Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal (Cathedral of our Lady). From outside, the cathedral offered nice view of its high tower. The inside part was worth visiting for 2 Euro entrance fee.
The highlights of the art collections in this cathedral were Baroque style paintings of Peter Paul Rubens. At both wings we could find The Raising of the Cross and The Descent from the Cross, the large triptych (three panels) paintings illustrating the crossing of Christ. Above the high altar we saw The Assumption of the Virgin Mary, a suitable piece for the cathedral. At one of the side room of the cathedral, there was another painting by Rubens, The Resurrection of Christ.

The Cathedral viewed from Grote Markt, Antwerpen

After the cathedral, we decided that we had enough of touristic spots and switched our attention to the shopping district of Antwerpen. We walked along Meir, the main shopping street of the city until we almost reached the train station. On our way back we stopped a while to enjoy the Belgium waffle, then we back to the car and drove out from Antwerpen to the next city, Gent.

Gent

Gent was not very far from Antwerpen and we reached the city around 4 in the afternoon. Once we entered the city, again we could not manage to quickly find a parking place. This time was worse than in Antwerpen, we drove away from the city center. In the end we followed a parking sign and found a parking garage at Sint-Pietersplein. It was pretty far from the center, about 10 to 15 minutes walking.

While we were walking downhill (yes, it was a bit hilly) from Sint-Pietersplein to the city center, we noticed many students of Gent University that was located nearby. Those students made the atmosphere more dynamic and lively, shaping our first impression of the city.

Closer to the center, we could see old buildings that define the city's landmarks. Feeling a bit clueless, we tried to find the tourist information center, from where we got a city map with walking route to visit the famous spots of the city.

St. Bavo Cathedral, Gent

Only having the evening to spend, we duly follow the walking route from the map and we managed to visit, or at least pass, all the buildings indicated on the map.
We started from Sint-Baafs (St. Bavo) Cathedral near the tourist information center. The cathedral hosted the Mystic Lamb, a panel painting by Van Eyck brothers. Unfortunately we were late and the entrance to the chapel hosting the painting was already closed.
Opposite the cathedral there was the Cloth Hall and the impressive Belfry tower, and on the right hand side of the cathedral we saw the city theatre building.

Belfry tower, Gent

From the cathedral we walked through small streets, passed the music academy, from where we could hear a nice piano sound, then went further around the corner to the City Hall building and a hotel building opposite to it that was stated as the oldest hotel in Western Europe!

City Hall, Gent

A bit further we visited the Friday Market, a big square surrounded with old buildings and on the center of it we saw statue of Jacob van Artevelde, Gent's politician from the 14th century, pointing his hand toward England.

Friday Market, Gent

Leaving the Friday Market, we crossed the Leie river and arrived at the corner of Patershol area, the old part of the city that nowadays hosted the famous restaurants of Gent.

Old buildings near Patershol, Gent

Along the river, we walked down Kraanlei heading away from the Patershol. Near the next bridge we saw the Butcher's Hall across the river.

Cafes along Leie river, Gent

Walked further we saw the huge Gravensteen (Castle of the Counts), a fortress built in 1180. Opposite to it there was Fishmarket building, which was closed and would be renovated.

Gravensteen, Gent

Crossing the Lieve river and walked through Jan Breydelstraat, we stopped at Appelbrugparkje, a tiny park that provided a nice view of the Butcher's Hall.

View from Appelbrugparkje, Gent

But the best part of the city was the old buildings from the 11th century along the Graslei and Korenlei, at the both sides of the Leie river. The area was the ancient trading harbour of Gent and the beautiful buildings there reflected the wealth and success of the trading era.

Graslei from two sides

At the end of Korenlei we walked up to the St. Michael's bridge, from where we could get great view of the area.
Crossing the river and walking back to the direction of city center, we had a nice view of St. Nicolas church with its tower, with the Belfry and St. Bavo towers at the background.

St. Nicolas church, Gent

Near the Belfry we stopped by at the Grote Triomphante, a big bell that used to be part of the carillon hung on the Belfry. Closer to the Belfry we saw a fountain statue that named The Fountain of the Kneelers, image of five persons staring at the water.

Fountain of the Kneelers, Gent

Arrived back at the St. Bavo square, we finished our Gent walking tour. It was around dinner time, so our next activity was to find a place for dinner.
We walked to Patershol area with a hope that we could find decent restaurant there. Without any reference, we walked around and browsed the menu card in front of some restaurants. We were not satisfied with any of them, so we moved to the area nearby the Korenlei. We found several good candidates but they were full. Then we moved again crossing the river to the square near the St. Nicolas church. The restaurants there were also full, and finally we found a place that was not packed, in Pizza Hut! Well, at least we had no problem with the familiar menu card.

Graslei at night

After the economic dinner, we walked back to the car, climbed the hill to Sint-Pietersplein. The driving to Brugge was uneventful and we arrived at the hotel safely.

The Four Seasons by Vivaldi

Frits Philips Muziekcentrum, Eindhoven, 5 October 2007


It has been a while since the last time we enjoyed classical music concert, especially in the Frits Philips Muziekcentrum Eindhoven. Then about two weeks ago Sri found an interesting performance, the complete Four Seasons of Antonio Vivaldi by English Chamber Orchestra and violinist Sarah Chang.
We got the tickets last week, bought a mid-price seat, the third row from the stage. We went with two friends of us.

So, yesterday we met in the music hall some times after 8 in the evening and hurrily checked in because the concert started at 8.15. Our seats were really very close to the stage so we could see clearly everything on it. Unfortunately the seats were the same height as the stage, meaning the sound will pass above our heads.

The concert started sharp on time (sigh..I wish rock concert follow this example). The first piece was the famous Brandenburg Concerto Nr. 3 by Bach. It was a simple performance, which was performed only by 11 persons: 3 violins, 3 violas, 3 cellos, 1 bass, and 1 harpsichord.

This famous piece from Bach was very nice to listen to, with some circling sound from the violins, violas, and cellos. As expected, the sound of the harpsichord was 'vaporized' in the air from where we sat.

After the brilliant performance and warm applause from the audience, the orchestra went inside and the stage was rearranged for bigger capacity. The second piece was something new for me, Serenade in Es Op. 6 by Josef Suk, apprentice of Dvorak.
The composition turned out to be very nice and melodious, although according to Sri the last two movements were a bit like movie soundtrack.

After that we had a break for about 15 minutes. Something noticable during the break was that the audience was not only dominated by old people like normally we noticed in the classical music concerts. There were some young people, very casually dressed for classical music concert. I assumed it was because The Four Seasons is really popular, or maybe they went to see Sarah Chang :).

After the break we back inside the hall, when I realized that it would be my first time watching the Four Seasons live.

The orchestra was in the same formation as when they played the second piece. Then the main violinist walked to the center of the stage. Dressed in elegant long gown and with her Asian look (she has Korean blood from her father), Sarah Chang held a beautiful charisma on the stage.

After quickly tuned the violin, she gave a sign to the others and begun the first part of the Four Seasons, La Primavera (Spring). This cheerful piece was really enjoyable, with impressive and confident playing by Sarah Chang and perfect harmony from the orchestra.

The following three parts of the concerto were also great. Normally I did not really able to enjoy Summer and Winter but live performance provided different view of it. It was great to capture the moments when the main violin played head-to-head with the cello or the viola. Moreover, watching Sarah's fingers flying on her violin was also awesome.

It felt the complete concerto was so short when they played the final notes of Winter and Sarah Chang finished it. She and the orchestra received a standing ovation for quite a while before finally they left the stage.

After the concert we had drinks at one of the terrace in the main square of the city, enjoying mild autumn evening. When it was getting colder, we went home. It was a good show and very nice evening!

Performers:

English Chamber Orchestra
Sarah Chang, main violinist in the Four Seasons

Complete performance:

Brandenburg Concerto Nr. 3 in G major - JS Bach
Adagio - Allegro

Serenade in Es Opus 6 - Josef Suk
Andante con moto
Allegro ma non troppo e grazioso
Adagio
Allegro giocoso, ma non troppo presto

----

The Four Seasons (Opus 8 Nr. 1-4) - Antonio Vivaldi

Spring (Concerto Nr. 1 in E major, Op. 8)
Allegro
Largo
Allegro

Summer (Concerto Nr. 2 in G minor, Op. 8)
Allegro non molto
Adagio
Presto

Autumn (Concerto Nr. 3 in F major, Op. 8)
Allegro
Adagio
Allegro

Winter (Concerto Nr. 4 in F minor, Op. 8)
Allegro non molto
Largo
Allegro