Sunday, July 02, 2006
Belgian coast - Oostende to Knokke
  | We felt we needed to rediscover fresh air; so we made a trip to the coast on Canada Day. We arrived about half way north of the French border and half way south of the Dutch border in Oostende. Except for fishermen, this part of the country was largely uninhabited until about the 1830's. This is because it was largely tidal grounds - so sandy and diurnally underwater. The early 1800's saw extensive damning and dyking to make the area what it is today. From Oostende we caught the coast tram (Dutch site) north to Knokke (say every letter) near the Belgian/Netherlands border. (top: Main street Knokke; Bottom: Notre Damme, Oostende) |
  | Upon arriving in Oostende we quickly had lunch and left to get to the coast tram. It was a very nice day, around 30C. But the tram did not have any windws that could even open. It was so hot we had to get off in Aan zee, for the first stop on our coastal pub crawl. The village was very cute, with a 50's tv show set up and the scene on the beach was very turn of the century with the rows of beach chairs and umbrellas. After beer and ice cream it was back onto the coastal travelling sauna. (Top: Aan Zee; Bottom: Beach at Aan Zee) |
    |  We passed through Manitoba and many other small villages before ending up in Knokke. Knokke is a very nice, tourist town worth a visit. It has tried to keep its beach scene very nice by implementing such building restrictions such as maximum height restrictions at 2 stories - to keep the sun shining on the beach. In Knokke we watched both of the day's World Cup games at the coolest pub. It was also an antique store, so everything was on sale. It was arranged like living rooms all over the place, each one centred around a large flat screen tv. We liked it so much after the first game (the pub good; the game bad - from my point of view) we decided to stay late and catch the France - Brazil game. We left it a bit early because Brazil had no chance in winning and we had to catch the last train home to avoid sleeping on the beach that night. (Top left: modified Smart cars; Top right: Tram stops, including Manitoba; The rest: the Antiques pub) |
 | Then the fun began. Once the train had been a half hour late we found out there had been an accident in Gent. So they were sending out a separate train to get those of us stuck in Knokke. This eventually came and dropped us in Brugge. After a nap on the platform another train picked us up and stopped at every stop on the way back to Brussels. Our return to Brussels at 3am left us downtown without public transport. We were able to find a taxi which took us the loooooong way home. |
Speaking of clean air. The smog here is crazy, doctor's offices and hospital rooms are filling up with asthma patients. Ozone levels are high making it difficult for many to breathe.
# posted by Us : 10:38 p.m.
Hangman
