Ghent based restaurant-cum-dancefloor Amigo has invited some of their extended family members to curate a series of mixtapes, dedicated to make you feel just that little bit more hungry. And willing.
Our Februari issue is created by Object & Sounds, a mood-based record store in Gent on a humble mission to encourage a different way of discovering and engaging with music. Next to the guest mix they also shared some of their favourite faces in Ghent. Here’s what they have to say about it.
“With every downside, there is an upside. Aside from starting objects & sounds, another good thing that came out of the lockdown for us is being able to (re)discover our own city. Mindful not to be on our laptops all day, we made it a point to go on little walking breaks. One thing we noticed is the abundance of faces scattered all over town. To keep our walks fun and entertaining, we would go on the hunt for cool faces. Here’s a selection of our 10 favorite faces perched in the most random places in the city center of Ghent.”
1. The Crouching Merchant
Location: Belfry of Ghent
At the staircase above the cloth hall of the Belfry, there are plenty of these little men occupying their stance on the pillars.
2. The Marching Soldiers
Location: Between Du Progres and Ellis Burgers
As there are considerably less people on the Korenmarkt now, there’s room and space to linger around and observe even the most minute of details on the buildings. It was a pleasant surprise to spot this, as it was almost camouflaged in a very nondescript wall-
3. The Mighty Zeus
Location: Sint-Michielsbrug
The bronze statue of Sint-Michiel naturally takes centrestage here, but around the bridge there are quite a few cool faces to be found including this one.
4. The Dragon Slayer
Location: Sint-Michielsbrug
Oh, we just thought it would be much cooler to call Sint-Michiel the Dragon Slayer.
5. The Flying Messenger
Location: De Post
One can spot this trusted messenger in the old post office of Ghent. How relevant as apparently the use of homing pigeons to deliver small messages dates back since the time of the Persians. So it’s much older than this building for sure!
6. The Seafood Platter
Location: A few steps away from The Alchemist
Our guess was that this was part of the Oude Vismijn. The fun part is that there’s still much more sea creatures to be found than the ones we’ve snapped.
7. The Sneaky Baby
Location: The Statue of the Van Eyck Brothers
A quick Google search tells us that this monument was erected during the 1913 World Expo, as an ode to the two Van Eyck brothers. Men, women and children are seen bringing them flowers, wreaths and garlands and in the back there’s this sneaky baby happily joining the crowd.
8. The Spitting Lady
Location: Groentenmarkt
At the heart of the Groentenmarkt lies a pump that has been there since the beginning of the 19th century. The website of Ghent tells us that it’s been placed here for the vegetable sellers who used to sell their wares on this square, hence the name “Groentenmarkt”. The cool thing is that the pump is still working and it houses two of these spitting ladies
9. The Street Musician
Location: Sint-Baafsplein
At the exterior of Bluet – a local hotspot for sustainable & ecological floral arrangements and plants – sits three musicians and in the middle is this fellow playing a woodwind instrument.
10. The Grinning Lion
Location: Hoogpoort
From dogs and lions to thumbs and swords, we find it amusing how they used to embellish buildings with all kinds of creatures and objects back in the day.
Next to this grinning lion, make sure to look up the next time you pass by the Slagerij Zwaenepoel in Donkersteeg. They have pigs adorning the building and they seem to be strangely brand new, so some things never change perhaps.
When you think you know your city, start looking up and around and you’ll quickly discover that there are still plenty of stories waiting to be discovered. Recommended for the bored, the curious and everyone in between.
