Polé Polé

Polé Polé

After our Antwerpen gig, the boat sailed us to Basrode. The ocean tides were now having an influence on the rhythm of the ship. The captain told me how navigating the locks was a little more difficult due to the drought conditions and on the marine wavelength he had heard of water issues at some locks. Some  were open later in the morning and closed earlier in the day, needing the tide to enable large heavy boats to navigate the locks. His bridge "office" is quite sophisticated - two computer screens and buttons and switches that he says "all probably do something " with a shrug of his shoulders and a wink. 

Many of the freight carriers on the river in Europe are also homes to the captains and their families. Below the bridges the living quarters' windows have curtains and flowers. We often saw other family members, including quite young children. Sometimes the barge was captained by a female, while the male was busy with other duties. Almost all have a car secured on the afterdeck, sometimes 2. Makes me wonder how they get the car onto a wharf. 

And of course the Viking class cruisers. 

We cycled to Dendermonde. As it was Sunday there was very little bicycle or vehicle traffic and the town square was empty. This allowed for some great picture taking. 

Photo bombed by a cathedral!

 A ferry transported us across the river. Corinne told us that before the father of the ferryman retired, he did not adhere to a  schedule. When people were there he took them across. His rather sour son only goes every half hour. Even though we were full at 5 after the hour, we waited 25 minutes for passage. Union rules? 

This gangplank downstream is level at high tide as is the one in the top picture. 

We stopped for lunch at Laarne Castle. Constructed in the 13th century, it is today one of the best preserved moated castles in Belgium. Closed on Sundays but 1.5 Euros got me into a washroom. 😅 Infinitely worse for the six "witches" who were interrogated and tortured in the tower in the early 1600's. Four were burned at the stake. 

When we reached Ghent, spelled Gent in Europe and pronounced Hent by our Dutch guides, it was the last day of the Ghent Festivities Polé Polé festival. Polé Polé translates as relax, chill out, enjoy. It's an annual 10 day event with all events free - Afro, Latin, and global music, street theatre, dance, spoken word and arts displays. Temporary floating bars line the confluence of the Graslei and Korenlei Rivers. It's like as if our Oktoberfest/Bluesfest were combined and fed massive steroids. It is the largest festival of it's kind in Europe. 

Interestingly, it takes place in the city's designated low emission zone. Year round, electric cars may enter free, polluting vehicles have to pay. A driver must register their car and at a certain vehicle limit any car needs to wait to enter the city centre. 

We were booked for a canal ride at a specific time, and had to fight some headwinds to make it on time, so pushed it. There was a lot of beer flowing, and placed throughout the festivities were outdoor urinals. Simple. Walk up, unzip and aaah, instant relief (so I'm told 😉).

There was no sign of a similar female device. Most washrooms we encountered in our travels were not gendered so in this case I guess the ladies would at least have a very short line to manage when the urge hit. 

Our canal guide had a sardonic wit. I really enjoyed one of his many historical offerings. Leather was a huge industry in medieval Ghent. The tanners discovered that human urine made for a great addition to break down fats, remove hair and create soft, supple leather. So they paid men by the bucket. Animal urine lacks certain enzymes and was less favoured. People in desperate economic circumstances sold their urine. The terms "piss poor" and "not having a pot to piss in" derived from this process. 

The men of Ghent were heavy drinkers and tanners came to realize that children's urine was not diluted by alcohol. So they paid children more per bucket. Eventually, the kids' entrepreneurial instincts kicked in and they began to add canal water to their buckets to fill them more quickly at greater profit. 

Our guide ended by saying that when the tanners learned of the scams they closed up shop in Ghent, moved their business to Amsterdam in 1864 and renamed it Heineken. 😂😂😂

 

After our visit, we had to cycle another 8 km to the boat and sure were glad to see it waiting for us with another fantastic Chef Liam meal.