Wednesday 11 June 2025
Between Ghent and Bruges we had a few hours to kill and, as I wanted to see the sea, I suggested a walk in Zeebrugge. The Belgium coastline is not one to die for, or, indeed, make much of a detour for. But detour we did and we walked a short Zeebrugge history trail. Although Zeebrugge has as much history as everywhere else, there isn't much left standing.
Zeebrugge obviously has lots of maritime connections, as seen by this lovely front garden.
We strolled around the harbour area and stopped for a drink in the sun.
Visserskruis, Fisherman's Cross, was erected in 1936 in memory of those fisherman lost at sea.
I spotted all sorts of interesting boats, a geophysical survey vessel, retired light vessel, Westhinder II built in 1950 and a rather nattily painted ferry.
Zeebrugge isn't large and primarily functions as a terminal, ferrying people, cars and millions of other goods in and out of Europe. We passed trains carrying 100s of cars to the port, and discovered that there is actually a class of ship that is designed just to carry cars (of course, I should have known that, I just never thought about it) - it's called a PCC, pure car carrier.
Zeebrugge isn't really a tourist town, but I did discover a little tourist spot ;-)
Off to Bruges now we go...
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