Photos

Third in the series of the Graslei-at-dusk pictures. Here you can see some more of the flat-bottomed boats which visited Ghent from 13 to 16 May this year. These boats are small sailing boats without a keel (therefore: flat-bottom) and two side swords; they were traditionally used here in undeep waters for fishing and other commercial purposes. These old boats have been are now being taken care of by their enthusiastic owners who tour from time to time. This tour, the "Pentecost Tour" called in Ghent since our city celebrates 2005 as "Year of the Watertourism".

The city is doing efforts to open up as many waterways as there once used to be (in the 19th and 20th centuries a lot of water flows were filled up or vaulted to create parking space for cars). This in order for water tourism to come as close as possible, or even in, the city centre, and I must say they are doing a good job!

UPDATE: I have sharpened this picture one day after posting it, since it looks too blurred indeed. You can have a look in the Workshop for the (better) result!