I swung through Belgium for four days en route from Paris to Vienna, stopping in Antwerp and Ghent. Belgium has a lot of things I like…frites, bicycles, waffles, chocolate. I’m sort of outgrowing the last two, but have an abiding love of the first two. So do the Belgians, apparently. Perhaps they can get away with unrestrained consumption of frites smothered under blobs of mayonnaise on account of all the bicycling they do. I didn’t get a chance to go to the main train station in Ghent, but apparently it has 10,000 bike parking spots, but that isn’t enough to accommodate the onslaught on two-wheel commuters. Even bike parking at Ghent’s smaller Dampoort Station was full on a Saturday morning, although admittedly a fair number of those were obviously not being ridden with any regularity. The cobwebs were a dead giveaway. It gave me a chance to grab a few nifty souvenirs; Belgian Railway and Deutsche Bahn were advertising cheap fares by snapping bike seat rain covers printed with ads on parked bikes. At least a quarter of the bikes were wearing seat covers. I had stayed with a couchsurfing host, and when she walked me back to the station on my way out of town, she collected a bunch of covers that were littering the ground, and gave me a handful.

Belgian special sauce – mayo, ketchup, chopped onions. Don’t forget your fork. 

bikes at Dampoort Station

I’m trying to use couchsurfing more, now that I’m a traveler of zero income and decreasing means. I’m not always successful in finding hosts, and looking for one can end up being a huge time suck, but when it works, it really works. I had basically an entire attic floor studio to myself in Antwerp, with a glass of fresh orange juice waiting for me in the fridge every morning. My host in Ghent served up what was technically a three-course meal, rounded out with ice cream topped with raspberries. We shared a bottle of Belgian beer, and she made sure I had samples of her favorite chocolate to take on the bus with me when I left. The people I meet on the road never cease to astonish me with hospitality. During the last 1.5 years I’ve always been on the receiving end, and hope that someday I’ll be able to return it all, in some form, to someone who needs a hand, somewhere in the world.

I saw some really good art, too. Antwerp has the Plantin Moretus printing museum, but the icing on the cake (or whipped cream on the waffle) was Jan and Hubert Van Eyck’s enormous Adoration of the Lamb altarpiece in Ghent. I very nearly missed this, seeing as I arrived in town having done about a total of ten minutes research. Even after I figured out it existed, I only had about an hour to see it before I had to leave. This is the third Van Eyck I’ve seen in person. Sometimes I think it’s a little weird that someone as non-religious is myself is so interested in his paintings, or religious painting in general; but on the other hand, they are basically a visual representation of a story, and some religious stories are good, even if I don’t believe them. And I don’t have the same weird feelings when looking at religious works from antiquity. Anyway, other than the subject matter at hand, the technique and level of detail are endlessly fascinating. There are apparently 16 or so accurately portrayed and readily identifiable flowers in the central panel alone. It’s a level of perfection that I can not only appreciate, but relate to. I’m going to make it part of my travel checklist to always see a Van Eyck when the opportunity presents itself.