Wandering around Gent and the ferry home

Since we were now only 60-odd km from Zeebrugge and the ferry didn't sail until 7pm, we had plenty of time to wander around Gent before heading to the boat. The city was in a bit of turmoil preparing itself for the Gentse Feesten but it seems like a bit of a madhouse anyway. Utterly chaotic mainly because of bicycles everywhere, heading in all directions and making no distinction between roads, pavements, ignoring signs, lights, restrictions and in turn being ignored by everyone around them. It felt liberated. Cars were there but not in control.

Apart from that it's a bit of a cookie-cutter European city with trams, cafes, McDonalds and slightly different shops. But still pleasant to wander around, killing time. We'd promised Ewan and Hannah toy shops so we sought them out and suffered their wandering. Ewan seemed desperate to buy something, anything. Not that he particularly wanted or needed anything but he had holiday money burning a hole in his pocket and wanted to spend it.

The ferry was exactly like the ferry out so we just got ourselves into our cabins, had a beer and let the kids play in the soft play while we waited for dinner. Of course, I had to pay a visit to the 'duty free' and found that the bloke on duty was very keen that the whiskies be sampled before they were bought. It's a good strategy and after testing 4 or 5 (or so) I came away with 3 litres - Ardmore, Laphroaig and Glengoyne. Bargains.