December 24 - It's Christmas Eve! Santa continues to leave goodies in our stocking each night. Between chocolate and Stroopwaffles, I don't know how we're going to get all this stuff in our suitcase!
Due to weather, we're docked in Antwerp so today our choices were to do a walking tour of Gent or a walking tour of Brudges. Both have their pros and cons. We opted for Gent/Ghent because the bus ride was shorter. And it has a nice Christmas Market, which is one of the reasons we wanted to take this trip.
It was still cold, super windy and raining off and on. After about a 50 minute bus ride, we were in Gent where we met our local guide. He took us around the town, seeming not to notice when the rain started or stopped.
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Belgium chocolate and waffles abound
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| Brrrr... |
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charming cobblestone square and streets
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| always bicycles.... |
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| and as in Amsterdam, waterways are abundant |
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Christmas market candy vendor
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a Santa band entertaining at the Christmas market in Gent
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one of many booth vendors
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Gent Christmas Market
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Belgian waffles are a big thing
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waffles or crepes, anyone?
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| historical Ghent counterpart Brussels “Manneken Pis” |
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store fronts I liked
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Christmas market - Gent
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one can buy pretty much anything in these markets
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garlic and cheese vendor
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Below is a short video of a Christmas market scene inside the Sint-Baafs Cathedral in the market area. I took a lot of photos inside the church where we heard the story of the "mystic lamb" but there are too many to post here. Like all of these huge cathedrals in Europe, it was very cold inside and over-the-top ornately decorated.
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inside Sint-Baafs cathedral - Gent
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the "mystic lamb"
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our guide explained what each part of the painting represented
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stained glass in Sint Baaf
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manger scene - but where is the baby?
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I wish I could remember more of what was said about the piece above in the center of the church. I think I must have been on information overload. If anyone is interested in learning more, their website is https://www.sintbaafskathedraal.be/en/
After our walking tour, walking around the Christmas market and our visit to Sint Baffs, we were bussed back to the boat where we enjoyed a nicely prepared Christmas Eve dinner. After dinner there was a musical in the lounge followed by Christmas karaoke, but we opted to spend the rest of the evening in our room. Ronnie watched a movie while I downloaded my photos and caught up on my email.
All in all, it's been a very nice Christmas Eve on the MS Grace in Antwerp, (the Flanders region of) Belgium. We'll see what Santa brings tomorrow.
Barb: oh my, how beautiful and just like a Hallmark card! I would gain so much weight-Belgian chocolates are my absolute favorites...after a few pounds of every Euro Chocolate! This ship seems to be more modern accommodations too. I wish the weather was not so wet-but that's winter there. Even when we were there in the spring, it was quite cold to me. Always windy. The Dutch and Belgian people are so industrious-this kind of weather I'd be fireside-but they ignore it and get everything done.
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid I did! And I even brought it home with me.
ReplyDeleteThe MS Grace was built in 2016 but it was very clean and looked brand new! Yes, the weather was absolutely horrible by our standards. But like you said, that's to be expected and people carry on as if the sun was shining. It doesn't prevent anyone from getting out on bike or foot. At one point, our umbrellas were turning inside out! We met one lady (80's) who was traveling alone. She did the same exact river cruise last Christmas and said the weather was much worse last year. I declined some opportunities for a walking tour and a Christmas market simply because I didn't want to be out walking in the cold, mist/rain and wind!