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Harbour. OSTEND. 2. Route. 15
enclosed with glass-walls when the weather requires it. In the
centre of the building is the ball-room, on the left the restaurant
and gaming-room, on the right the café and reading-room. On the
first floor is a large exhibition-room.
Farther on, beyond the last houses on the Digue, stands the
Chalet du Roi (Pl. B, 2), or royal villa, built by Leopold II., to
whose energies Ostend owes much. Beside it is the Galerie Royale
(550 yds. long), a colonnade along the entire length of which runs
a glass-hall for shelter in bad weather. Behind the Digue lie some
new pleasure-gardens, the Hippodrome Wellington (p. 13), a race-
course in an old fort, and the Royal Palace Hotel (p. 10), behind
which begins the electric railway to Westende and Nieuport (Bains).
At the N.E. end of the Digue, beyond the Old Lighthouse (P1. F,2)
or Semaphor, 98 ft. high, now used as a signal station only (no ad-
mission), and the quiet E. beach, is the Estacade (Pl. F, G, 4, 2),
Flem. Staketsel, consisting of two estaches, or piers, which shelter
the entrance to the harbour (Chenal). The W. pier, 680 yds. in
length, is provided with seats (chair 10c.) and a small café, and
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serves as a public promenade in the afternoon or when the steamers
are arriving or departing. Fishing-nets may be hired here (1 fr.
per hr. ). — Steamboat-excursions, see p. 12.
The Harbour, reconstructed in the 18th cent. and largely ex-
tended in 1863 by Pierre de Mey, includes the Avant-Port, the old
Bassins du Commerce (P). E, D, 4), the Naval Harbour, the Fishing
Harbour (Bassin des Pécheurs or d’Echouage), and the Bassin
Léopold or Old Bassin de Chasse(Pl. G, 3, 4), besides the two new
Inner Harbours (completed in 1905), with nearly 1 M. of quays and
connected with the Bruges Canal (see pp. 2, 25), and the New Bassin
de Chasse (210 acres), which is alone more extensive than the old
town. The object of the two Bassins de Chasse is to sweep away
the sandbanks at the mouth of the harbour, the water being confined
within them at high tide, and allowed to escape suddenly at low
tide several times a week. — The Ponts de Smet de Naeyer, two fine
bridges adorned with sculptures by Dillens and De Kessel, span the
railway and the harbour-entrance.
Beyond the entrance to the harbour (steam-ferry every 1/4 hr.,
5c.; Pl. F, 3) and the old Bassin de Chasse, which we skirt for
10 min., rises the New Lighthouse (Nouveau Phare; Pl. Ge aiip,
erected in 1858, 190 ft. in height, which should be inspected by
those who have never seen the interior of such a structure (fee 50 Ca):
The light is visible at a distance of 25M. The top (274 steps) com-
mands an extensive view in fine weather. Nieuport, Furnes, and
even Dunkirk are seen towards the S.W., Blankenberghe to the
N.E., and the towers of Bruges to the BE.
The Oyster Parks (Huitritres; P). F, 5) are extensive reservoirs on
the S.W. side of the Avant-Port, where vast quantities of these favourite
bivalves are stored throughout the greater part of the year. They are
imported from the English coast, and kept here in prime condition by |
