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Winter circus and memories in Ghent

Tasty mezze in Ghent

After the panel discussion about hearing loss we attended to recently, we took a long walk through the city. We wanted to go to the Turkish restaurant Ankara, Oudburg 44.

Nowadays you can hardly get anywhere in Ghent by car, and actually that is not really a punishment. At least not for those who visit Ghent.

On foot you can feel the city, and what lives there.

At Ankara we ordered mezze: richly filled plates, warm bread that comes on the table spontaneously, generous and affordable.

I noticed that it was quieter than before. Especially an older audience, people who have known this address for years and continue to come there without much fuss.

Oudburg is somewhat hidden, behind the Dulle Griet, the cannon at the Vrijdagmarkt.

In the nearby Sleepstraat you will find more Turkish eateries and restaurants with influences from afar. It is a part of Ghent that has always managed to retain that popular character, regardless of hypes.

Memories, recognition and a different time frame

Sint-Pietersnieuwstraat

On the way back via the Sint-Pietersnieuwstraat, thé student street of Ghent (next to the Overpoort), the memories came back.

The street still breathes 100% student time. The décor has hardly changed in the past forty years, apart from a few new buildings and young, fresh faces on the street. It has also been made traffic-free.

We did notice that female students nowadays often have a higher ‘babe content’ than in our time.

And that the coffee houses and sandwich shops are full of students behind their laptops, with coffee and sandwiches within reach.

For us, eating out used to be a luxury. At most, a hot meal in the restaurants for the students, at democratic student prices.

And we usually studied alone, in our room.

I remember well how lonely that could be sometimes. Maybe that’s why I now understand why students today seek the proximity of others.

Sint-Pietersplein. Memories in Ghent

St. Peter’s Square also recalled memories. At the time still full of cars. Now completely car-free, but also very empty. A large plain of tiles, soulless. What a pity.

Fortunately, the square comes alive every spring with the Half-Lent Fair, old-fashioned fun at the fair.

In 2026, it will take place from 7 to 29 March. As if the square then remembers that it is also ‘allowed to live’.

At the same time, the square reminded me of the demonstrations at the end of the 80ies against the increase in student enrollment fees.

It was sometimes sharp: demonstrators fled into the aula in the Blandijn and the students were ‘smoked’ outside with firebombs together with the demonstrators.

Across St. Peter’s Square, we had to find a way out between police and demonstrators. I saw how a policeman dragged a demonstrator from under a fairground attraction. An image that I have never forgotten.

De Opgang by Stefan Hertmans

During the walk, my thoughts also wandered to De Opgang by Stefan Hertmans.

In De Opgang you can read how a collaborating Fleming in the 30s and 40s gets himself and his family into trouble, without the book raising an accusing finger.

The story takes place in Ghent and feels like a real throwback to our student days.

At that time, as students, we hardly thought about the suffering that had taken place a few decades earlier. And if you thought about it at all, that probably wasn’t one of your first concerns.

But in the current time frame, De Opgang takes on a completely different dimension. The book shows how convictions can harden, how ideals can turn into fanaticism, with terrible consequences.

War’s madness is never far away.

Winter Circus in Ghent: an elderly lady given a new look

The elderly version

The Winter Circus also appears in Stefan Hertmans’ book, and not coincidentally. This building, once circus and event hall, later Garage Mahy, has always appealed to the imagination.

I still knew it as Garage Mahy, when it was full of old-timers. Even then, the place had something irresistible. Industrial archaeology may be the rage today, but even then that raw beauty appealed to the imagination. It also lends itself well as a subject in my memory book.

The Winter Circus, like the city itself, carries several lives. Founded one hundred and thirty years ago as a prestigious circus ring, rebuilt after a fire, then transformed into a garage and storage place for vintage cars, only to be empty for years.

The ‘revisited’ version

And now, since a few years, it has been renovated. It has been brought back to life as a meeting place. There are offices, restaurants and a concert hall.

The renovation has deliberately kept traces of the past visible. Old horse stables and slopes have been preserved. Cast iron columns and even the routes along which cars once drove high up in the building have also remained visible.

It is a vibrant hub for technology and meeting place with a focus on innovation, the buzz word these days.

The Startup Campus is located around De Arena. This campus is spread over several floors. More than 35 young start-ups are working on the technology of tomorrow.

In the former car workshop of Mahy you will find a café, and on the top floor sits a restaurant, with view over Ghent. Unfortunately, I can’t confirm whether the food is also tasty. I haven’t eaten there myself yet.

In any case, the Winter Circus is a place where you don’t just pass by, but linger for a while. Where you will be overwhelmed by the impressive architecture, the hustle and bustle and everything that happens.

Why you want to step into the Wintercircus

There is always something going on there. Check the calendar for events.

Maybe an idea for an evening in Ghent?

You can find more of these stories on my site under my stories.

Emma