Oostende on foot

Oostende on foot: the sea first, then the streets, the church, five walls worth stopping for, and a quay that tells you not to say goodbye.

This is our nearest city. Robbe’s parents live here, so we do not visit Oostende, we go home to it, and these are the streets between their front door and the sea, walked over one summer with a camera and no plan.

Start at the water, because everyone does: the beach, the gull that runs the sea wall, one seat with your back to the town. The tower at the end of the beach is the Europacentrum, 1969, just under 104 metres. Then inland. The Belle Époque is still here if you look above the shopfronts. The church by the station was built to face it, so the first thing you see leaving the platform is its two spires, and behind the altar there is a chapel for Louise-Marie, the first queen of Belgium, who died in this city in 1850. Five walls on the way back, one signed by Bué this spring, date and all, and two by Jaune that are the size of your hand, so look up.

We ended at the marina, where the quay reads zeg nie toet ziens: Ostend dialect for don’t say goodbye, and the title of a 1973 song about a fisherman’s wife. We took it as an instruction. The people are on Tuesday.

The Crystal Ship street art route: map from Toerisme Oostende, Monacoplein 2

Sint-Petrus-en-Pauluskerk: opposite the station, free to enter

Europacentrum: 1967 to 1969, just under 104 metres

Which corner of Oostende should we walk next?