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EMMA THOMSONBELGIUM “I bought a bike and started cycling” was the response
veteran Irish traveler Dervla Murphy gave when she was asked
how she planned her odyssey across India that would become the
beloved travelogue Full Tilt: Ireland to India With a Bicycle. It’s
proof that adventure can start with a simple push of the pedal.
Ghent, in the northern Flemish region of Belgium, may not
be India, but it has a long love affair with the bike. The city has
the largest pedestrian zone in Europe, with more than 120 hect-
ares of car-free space to roam. Sandwiched between the capital,
Brussels, and the fairytale city of Bruges, Ghent delights in being
the underdog, but the city is far from being the ugly duckling of
the trio. French novelist Victor Hugo described Ghent as “a kind
of Venice of the North,” thanks to the pretty, medieval twist of
streets that cluster around swan-patrolled canals.
Ghent isn’t sleepy in the least though. For 10 days in July,
close to two million people turn up to enjoy a riot of free concerts
and street theater known as the Gentse Feesten. And the green
credentials extend further, too. Ghent is dubbed a vegetarian
capital, and every Thursday is a meat-free day with restaurants
and cafés dishing up veggie options for all.
In fact, I find Ghent is a city to be explored with legs and
stomach. So after dipping into Sint-Baafskathedraal to see the
famous 15th-century polyptych Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, I
bump across the cobblestones and turn down onto Graslei quay.
The city’s first commercial port, it’s lined with ancient guild
houses, and I find students cooling their ankles in the water.
Then it’s on to Groentenmarkt, home to Tierenteyn-Verlent,
a 229-year-old delicatessen known for its homemade mustard
doled out of wooden barrels, and stalls selling cuberdons—local
cone-shaped purple candy also known as neuzekes (little noses).
I pass ‘t Dreupelkot, a slip of a café serving shots of jenever (a
gin-like liquor made from malt wine) in flavors ranging from garlic
to grapefruit, then pedal across the bridge to the medieval maze
of Patershol. Once a working-class district home to brothels and
dingy drinking dens, it was gentrified in the ’80s and now conceals
some of the most exciting (and exclusive) restaurants in the city.
For me, biking trumps other modes of transport because you
don’t just see the city, you feel it. The cobblestones judder your
bones, the wind streaks your hair, scents surround you, and then
you can park right in front of your destination.
I wend westward away from the crowds. The streets seem to
fold in on themselves, as if hiding a secret. I step off and gently
roll the bike along Provenierstersstraat. I’ve entered the Oud
Begijnhof Sint-Elisabeth, a medieval community founded by
pious Catholic women who wished to serve God without enteringLOOK AROUND:
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