Ghent was great, but while we were there we couldn’t help but feel something was missing. What was missing, as it turned out, was the students. The place felt deserted as we had arrived just after the summer holidays had begun, but before the big 10 day festival Gentse Feesten started. As such a lot of stores, bars, cafes etc. were all closed. Nevertheless a day off the bike had come at just the right time, it was a welcome break.

The day before, when we had checked into the hostel before getting in contact with Tom we had paid for our rooms and weren’t able to get a refund once it transpired we wouldn’t be staying. The room came with breakfast so of course in the morning we left Toms place to go back to the hostel and get our money’s worth. 

 

 
We split up in the afternoon and went to check out the city at our own pace. I spent a bit of time moseying around a few museums and the old part of Gent before finding somewhere with Internet to update the blog.

  

 in the evening we met up again to check out a Genever bar, a little hole in the wall place that served a traditional Belgium liqueurs in a wide variety of flavours. Tried some crazy flavours (coconut, chestnut, avocado…) and then went back to Toms to patch up the tubes that had punctured before bed.