Monday 18/6. We were up earlier than the alarm, being woken
when a locomotive shunted into a bunch of carriages and then to find that it
was pouring rain. By the time we were ready to pack the car the rain had
stopped. We headed into the centre of the old town of Gent and found an
underground car-park right on the edge of the historic section of Gent. From
here, we spent 6 hours wandering the streets and doing a one hour river trip.
The trip was very interesting with the guide repeating everything three times,
in the local Belgium version of Dutch, in French and in English. Gent is yet
again another interesting old town. From around the year 1000 to 1550, Gent was
one of the most important cities in Europe. It was bigger than London and
second only to Paris. It had a population of about 60,000 in the 14th
century. Gent was fortunate to suffer little damage during the two world wars;
so much of its historical heritage has remained largely intact right up to the
present.
Around about 4PM, we left Gent and travelled about 130km
most of it in France to arrive in the town of St Omer.
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