My plan to set up home base in one city and do day trips to other nearby cities is still in full effect.   After being in Antwerp for the last couple of days, it was finally time to explore some more of Belgium.

Today I went to Ghent, a smaller town about an hour train ride southwest.

A late start

The free walking tour didn’t start until 1:30 so I had plenty of free time this morning.   I actually woke up the latest I’ve done so far on this trip at 9am.   Still early by my standards and, amazingly, still not 8 hours sleep as I didn’t crawl into bed until 2am last night.

By 10am I was out of the hostel and walking to the restaurant I wanted to go to last night that was inexplicably closed on Wednesdays.

The place is called Focaccia and, if you haven’t guessed, their menu is mostly fresh made focaccia sandwiches.

Actually, let me rephrase that…

Gluten free focaccia sandwiches.

And, I gotta say, so damn good.   Holy crap!   Like seriously.   The best gluten free bread I’ve ever had.   So, yeah, as annoying as it was to have the place closed last night, it was definitely worth the wait.

As noon approached, I went to Antwerp Central Station to catch my train.   I went to the ticket machine, pressed a few buttons, and went to tap my card.   I’ve done this dozens of times now in the last week and a half.   Of course this time my card was declined.

Sonofabitch!

I’m telling you, having your card intermittently declined while you’re traveling is one of the most annoying and stressful things that can happen.   I’m chalking it all up to a big lesson.   Next time, I’m traveling with a backup (or two) card.

Anyway…

I couldn’t pay by cash either as it only accepted coins and I sure as hell wasn’t walking around with 21€ in coins.   So, it was off to find an actual ticket agent who, of course, was way on the other side of the long, so very long, train station.

I got there and decided to try my card again at a different machine, just for the hell of it.

Yeah, now it worked.

Okay then…

Moving on…

By foot and by boat

I did miss the train I intended to take but luckily the next one was only a few minutes behind.   I arrived in Ghent at 1:00 with plenty of time to get to the meeting point for the tour.

By the way, I have to add – the “live view” feature on walking directions for Google Maps is mindblowing.   It literally has big blue arrows pointing you in the right direction overlayed on top of your live view of your surroundings taken by your camera.   Crazy the technology that is out there.

Anyway, where was I?

Oh yeah, the walking tour…

There was about 25 of us in the group and we spent the next couple of hours walking through the city looking at various historical buildings, statues and monuments.   Our guide told some great stories about the city’s history and, overall, it was a good tour.

Afterwards I decided I’d continue the touring of the city by hopping on one of the many boat cruises around the city being offered for 9.50€ ($15).

The cruise was 45 minutes and the captain told his own stories as we went around the city, only this time from the water.   Honestly, I didn’t really listen much to what he was saying as I already got enough info stuffed in my brain from the earlier tour.

Nah, for me, it was all about the photos.   Just a unique, and almost romantic, view from a boat.   I don’t know.   Something about taking photos from the boat just seems better for me.

Food, food, and more food

Well, I already mentioned the amazing focaccia sandwich I had earlier.   I followed it up by stopping by two gluten friendly restaurants/cafes in Ghent after all the touring.

I had found both on my “Find me GF” phone app and had them marked on my map.   I was so excited about this gluten free adventure.   Maybe even a little more excited than the walking tour.

It’s funny.   Food has always been a big part of my travels.   I love trying new foods and with me now having a gluten allergy, it now turns it into a bit of an adventure to seek out the food.

Of course, if you read yesterday’s blog, you know that that adventure isn’t always fun.

But today I was on the right side of the adventure.

I stopped by a little restaurant that served gluten free pasta first.   I ordered a veggie pasta and added chicken to it.   Oh, and a glass of sweet white wine to go with it, of course.

After lunch I trekked over to the other place on my map.

This one is a 100% gluten free bakery.   The perfect place for some dessert.

One cream tart with blueberries later and I was on my way back to the train station.

Yeah, the food today was 3/3 and I was so happy.

But there was one more meal to come.

I came back to the hostel around 7:30 and after relaxing for a couple of hours, I headed out to a kebab place a few blocks away.

Yup, time for some more Kapsalon.   If you still don’t know what that is, um, Google it.   Seriously!   It’s so damn good.

The one I had tonight was even better than the ones I had a week ago while I was in the Netherlands.

So for food today I went 4/4.   Batting a perfect 100%.

It was a good day.

I have one week left on this trip.   The next couple of days are still here in Belgium before I spend one night in Budapest, Hungary on Sunday and then the last two days of my trip are in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Let’s keep the good times rolling…