Ostend

View across the old harbour, Ostend, Belgium.

Seaport and pleasure resort in West Flanders, Belgium; 108 km/67 mi northwest of Brussels; population (2006 est) 68,900. There are large docks, and the Belgian fishing fleet has its headquarters here. There are ferry links to Dover and Folkestone, England. It was occupied by the Germans 1914–18 and developed as an important naval base.

The digue, or sea wall, constructed of solid granite, extends for 5 km/3 mi along the shore, and the piers (estacades) guard the harbour entrance.

There is a school of navigation, a fish market, the summer palace of King Leopold I, presented to him by his aunt, Queen Victoria, in 1873, a casino which attracts many visitors, and parks. Its lighthouse was destroyed during World War I, but has since been rebuilt. Although it is an old town, fortified in 1583, most of the buildings are modern.