Belgium
My story with Belgium begins with Hercules Poirot. The toddling little moustached detective of very British Agatha Christie’s imagination was plagued with everyone’s assumption that the language he spoke meant that he was a French sleuth. Pas du tout! He was from Spa, Belgique. And so, as a very young girl growing up in the middle of Alaska, I imagined this country called Belgium where people ate eggs out of cups, were perhaps a bit fastidious, and spoke French.
What I didn’t know was that the tiny country, a little smaller than the US state Maryland, was like two linguistic and cultural plates pressed together by forces of Frankish domination and two world wars with even a requisite Viking invasion or two thrown in for good measure. Two primary languages: a version of Nederlands (Dutch) and a version of French with a sprinkling of German over in the East, Belgium is a country where Saxon and Romance meet with consistant force. I learned pretty quickly that everything has at least two different names (in Nederlands and in French), and sometimes three (German) and even four (English) and that you had to pay attention to this when navigating trains or you didn’t realize that Anvers is indeed the right destination if you’re going to Antwerpen.
Flanders is the English name for the West Coast along the North Sea and the Northern part of Belgium. Those who live there call it Vlaanderen. Wallonie is the region to the South and East that has no coast line, but does have the beautiful, craggy Ardennes region.
In 1988, when backpacking through Europe with my friend from Alaska, somehow we did not make it to Belgium. I remember feeling sad about this, so when I ventured back twenty-three years later, I was determined to visit the land of Poirot.
I had two places in mind and, looking back, they were very good choices: Antwerpen and Dinant.
The Antwerpen central train station is a wonder to behold, almost a Gothic cathedral of train stations. As I walked the streets of the city, I was amazed by the towering and intricate architecture everywhere. The Grote Markt, main square, was massive. You could put the whole town in here, I thought, and maybe that was the idea because there’s a sense of community in the very architecture of Flemish Belgium. In city after city there is the vast Grote Markt surrounded by crow-stepped gable buildings intermingled with a huge bell tower, cathedral, and a cloth house. Bells are important to the culture of the Flemish. In older times, it was a way to regulate the working day, to communicate with the people, to announce news and warn of danger. The massive squares are the places where people gathered in ancient times and still gather today for numerous, elaborate festivals with giant puppets.
In contrast to the grandness of the squares, the streets themselves wind and tuck and it’s possible to discover hidden streets, like the one I found in Antwerpen called Vlyaekensgang from 1591 with benches and lanterns where the shoemakers used to live. There are statues with stories, like the victory of Neptune over those oppressing the Schelde River and the statue of the trickster giant Lange Wapper towering over two men in front of the medieval fortress Het Steen.
There is a statue in the Grote Markt of Brabo, a Roman soldier who defeated the giant Druon Antigoon who had terrorized the area, demanding money from people crossing the Schelde River and cutting off their hands if they didn’t pay. The statue shows Brabo wielding the hand of Antigoon that he cut off as he prepares to throw it into the Schelde. The legend is that this is how Antwerpen got its name: “Hand” + “Werpen” = “To Throw Hand.”
In Dinant, it was nature that towered rather than buildings. I thought I’d gotten off the train at Tolkien’s Helm’s Deep! Wow! It just went up and up. So did the cathedral, but it was no match for the rock. The people put a citadel on top of it, so I climbed the 408 steep, small steps straight up and viewed the Meuse River winding up toward Leffe Abbey where Leffe beer was first brewed and then the other way looking out over the saxophone bridge in honor of the inventor of the saxophone, Adolphe Sax, born in Dinant. The saxophones were made by artists from different countries and line the bridge along with the country flag. And further across the river was the red brick old nunnery Couvent de Bethléem where I stayed for the night in the Mother Superior room. A few years later, I came back again to Dinant, and this time I visited a cave, La Grotte de Dinant, where about 300 residents of the town of Dinant hid for over a week while Germans bombed the area. It wasn’t a small cave, but not so large that the idea of being crammed in there with the entire town didn’t seem a bit overwhelming. The people of Dinant are gruff and tough and it’s because they’ve had to be. The whole town was thrown into the river by Charles the Bold when he had a temper tantrum back in the 1400s. Wow. That’s a little extreme. For more about my time in Dinant in 2011 and 2013, read Dinant.
I will never forget my first taste of Moules Frites, now one of my favorite foods. A steaming pot of mussels served in a variety of styles of stew along with fries, it’s the national dish of Belgium. Passing through Liège, I tried another Belgian delicacy, Waterzooi, which is a stew boil either with fish or chicken.
Frites are from Belgium, at least so say the Belgians, and a story goes with the claim. Fish were fried for food, but one year, there were no fish, so the people cut potatoes in the shape of fish and fried them instead.
Today, there are frituur stands in the cities so that you can buy fries anytime. Mayonnaise is the usual accompaniment, but there are also curry ketchup and other sauces available.
Waffles are also available at food stands, wrapped and handed to you, with a number of topping choices. No fork, the tradition is to eat these with your hands and enjoy every minute of it.
Chocolate is beloved in Belgium and Bruxelles is the Chocolate Capital.
For more about Belgian foods, select the Rick Steves article: The Best Foods to Try in Belgium.
I’m not much of a beer drinker, however, the people of Belgium insist that the beers they produce there, particularly the ones made in the abbeys, are very healthy for you. I decided to visit the abbey where the man in my life’s favorite beer is produced: l’Abbaye d’Orval. It turned into a pilgrimage and the abbey itself, near the border with France, was an elaborate site with beautiful ruins from the 12th century. I like that Belgians tend to create self-guided tours with a number sequence to follow and information provided at each point. After watching the video about l’Abbaye d’Orval, I walked around the grounds and imagined what it was like to live there so long ago. The Orval beer bottle has a fish on it with a ring in its mouth because of a legend and I stood at the pond that was the source of the story of Countess Matilde of Tuscany, a widow who dropped her wedding ring in the pond. She prayed and immediately a trout came to the surface with the ring in its mouth. Matilde eponymously exclaimed, “Truly this place is a Val d’Or!” (valley of gold = Or + val) and decided to establish a monastery. There was a little stone seat set into the waters of a stream so that you could soak your feet. The monks at the abbey produced beer and cheese, which is a typical combination at an abbey, and it is best to have the beer and cheese together, so I went to the Hostellerie d’Orval a short walk from the abbey and did just that. For a none beer drinker, I definitely liked the taste of the Orval beer. It was rich and not bitter.
There are six official Trappist beers in Belgium. Orval is one. The others are Rochefort, Achel, Westmalle, Westvletern, and Chimay. Leffe is another beer that was produced at an abbey, just not a Trappist abbey, near Dinant that is now produced by the people who brew Stella Artois, another beer that I like. There is now a Leffe Museum where you can sample the beer inside the Couvent de Bethléem where I stayed in 2011. Duvel is a popular family run company brewing beer since 1871 from the Moorgat Brewery just south of Antwerpen. Chouffe is a relatively new beer produced by two brothers-in-law with the fun of different gnome characters for each of the types of beer. And I tend to like lambic beers because they are made with fruits or berries such as cherries and raspberries and so are less like the bitter yellow beers I hadn’t liked when I was young.
The visual art, music, and writing from Belgium is just as unexpectedly inventive and diverse as the beer.
Comic books started coming out in the late 1930s. Perhaps the most famous was The Adventures of Tintin created by Hergé. Born in Bruxelles in 1907, Hergé’s real name was Georges Prosper Remi. Another comic creation of Belgium was the Smurfs, originally called les Schtroumpfs, a word made up by Smurf creator Peyo. Born in Bruxelles in 1928, Peyo’s real name was Pierre Culliford.
One of the surprises I enjoy walking in Europe is finding a poem right out on the wall along a city street. I found two poems while walking in Antwerpen. Hugo Claus is someone you can read right out on the street and that makes sense because he was a sharp, crass writer who told it like it was. Born in Brugge in 1929, he wrote a number of novels and poems in the Nederlands language. Het Verdriet Van België (The Sorrow of Belgium) is considered to be his greatest work and has become a sort of idiom. Because he was deteriorating with Alzeimers, in 2008, Claus ended his life by euthanasia, which is legal in Belgium. For more about Hugo Claus, select From enfant terrible to literary lion
I wonder if Agatha Christie knew about Commissaire Maigret, the French detective created by prolific Belgian author Georges Simenon. Born in Liège in 1903, he worked as a newspaper reporter and wrote hundreds of novels. They seemed to fly out of him. To read more about George Simenon, select the links:
George Simenon, The Art of Fiction No. 9 from The Paris Review, 1955
David Hare: The Genius of Georges Simenon from The Guardian, 2016
The Great Detectives: Maigret from The Strand Magazine
Gent born poet and playwright Maurice Maeterlinck received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1911.
Jacques Brel was among the most intense and coarse singers to have lived. Born in Bruxelles in 1929, Brel moved to Paris in 1953 determined to become a singer. Facing brutal defeats and criticisms, he remained unshakable in his belief that he had something to give to music. He scraped by writing songs, continuing to perform, and began to receive mainstream acclaim in 1957 with the song “Quand on n’a que l’amour” (“When You Only Have Love”). He made a number of records and toured internationally. “Ne Me Quitte Pas” (“If You Go Away”) was perhaps one of his most famous songs, covered by such artists as Frank Sinatra, Barbara Streisand (a well-thought mixture of the English and French lyrics), Ray Charles, Neil Diamond, Nina Simone (in French), and Sting (in French). The English version of the song is quite a bit different than the French, even the title is different, and many of the beautiful moments in the lyrics are credited to American poet Rod McKuen who translated many of Jacques Brel’s songs. David Bowie covered Brel’s song “Port of Amsterdam.” In 1968, a revue of Brel’s songs translated into English was created by Eric Blau and Mort Shuman called Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris. Starting Off-Broadway in Greenwich Village, it continues to be performed all over the world today. A film version of the revue was produced in 1975. Brel stopped touring in 1966. He created a musical version of The Man of La Mancha in which he played Don Quixote. He wrote songs for films, acted in a number of movies, and took a stab at directing. In the early 1970s, he became very ill with lung cancer and devoted his time to sailing, flying, and spending time on the islands of the South Pacific with his new girlfriend. He returned to Paris to record a final album. He died at age 49 in 1978 and was buried on the island of Atuona.
Jacques Brel had a love-hate relationship with his home country, the Flat Land. He once said, “We have been conquered by everyone, we speak neither pure French nor Dutch, we are nothing.” Brel was not afraid to speak his mind regardless of how it might be received.
Brel wrote a song called “Le plat pays” (The Flat Land) about Belgium. Here are a few of the lyrics roughly translated from French to English. They paint a picture of the country.
“With the North Sea as the last wasteland and waves of dunes to stop the waves and the waves of rocks that the tides go past.”
“With cathedrals as singular montains and black bell towers as plentiful masts where stone devils take down the clouds.”
“With a sky so low that a canal is lost, with a sky so low that it humbles itself, with a sky so gray that a canal hangs itself, with a sky so gray that we must forgive it.”
“When the wind laughs when the wind is in the wheat, when the wind is from the south, listen to it sing, the flat land that is mine.”
For more about Brel’s life, select Jacques Brel 10 of the Best.
You’ve heard Toots Thielemans before, but you may not know it. His harmonica playing is what you hear in the Seasame Street Theme Song. Born in Bruxelles in 1922, Thielemans is credited with making the harmonica a legitimate jazz instrument. Revered by Quincy Jones, he toured with Benny Goodman’s band, became a US citizen, and toured with many other great jazz musicians of the era, earning his place among the jazz greats.
Belgium is known for classic visual art master painters Jan van Eyck of Brugge (early 1400s), Rogier van der Weydenof Tournai (early 1400s), Pieter Brueghel of Bruxelles (mid 1500s), Peter Paul Rubens of Antwerpen (late 1500s), and Anthony van Eyck of Antwerpen (early 1600s).
The Gent altarpiece (The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb) by brothers Hubert and Jan van Eyck in 1432 is a masterpiece that can be seen in Sint Baafskathedraal.
In the modern era, René Magritte from Lessines was a surrealist painter famous for his out of the ordinary use of a bowler hat in his works. There’s a Magritte Museum in Bruxelles.
Audrey Hepburn was born in Bruxelles, but did not live there long.
Jean-Claude Van Damme was born in Bruxelles in 1960 and won a Mr. Belgium body building title. He moved to the United States in 1982. He was an extra in films until he met Chuck Norris, after which he had stunt work in Norris movies. By 1986, he had major roles in films and has continued a film career. Van Damme continues to be a Belgian citizen and there is a statue of him just outside of Bruxelles.
Stories and folklore are very important to the people of Belgium. Belgians like to have a festival. They do it often; they dress up; they do it well.
To see and hear folk dancing and music, select Belgian folk dance: Zwierig Dansje from Leuven, Belgie and select Belgian folk dance: De Loere from Leuven, Belgie and select De Stokkendans.
For more folk music, select Festival de musique trad au Château de Marsinne, Belgique and chanson wallonne: après mi c’est les mooches (achille poulet).
Ommegang is the name for a medieval pageant in Belgium. The word “Ommegang” means “moving around” or “walking around.”
There are quite a few géants et dragons processionnels (Giants and Dragons Processionals), which are parades involving one of the 1,500 or so mythical giants of Belgium and dragons. Jan Turpijn of Nieuwpoort on the North Sea coast is reported to be the largest of these parade giants. Ros Beiaard (Bayard) is a giant horse in processionals celebrating the historic animal.
Binche Carnival is in February on the days preceeding Ash Wednesday with famous costumed dancers called Gilles. You have to be a male resident of Binche to be a Gille and you wear a suit stuffed with straw to create a hunched back with red, yellow and black (the colors of Belgium) designs with white lace cuffs and wooden clogs and belts with bells. In some of the parades, the Gilles wear distinctly designed face masks and hats with big white ostrich feathers pluming out of them. In one of the processions, the Gilles carry blood oranges and throw them into the crowd. And they carry sticks to ward off evil spirits.
Le Salon du Chocolat in Bruxelles in February includes a fashion show and a parade of chocolate dresses made by chocolatiers.
Bal du Rat Mort (Dead Rat Ball) in Oostende in March is a fancy-dress carnival ball held in the Kursaal since 1898.
Laetare de Stavelot is a traditional carnival on the fourth Sunday in Lent where streets are overtaken by Blancs Moussis, people of the town wearing white hooded costumes and long red noses who shower the onlookers with confetti, humorously hit people’s heads with pig bladders, and perform farandoles, traditional folk dances.
Sint-Truiden holds a Bloesemfeesten (Blossom Festival) in late April to bless the fruit tree blossoms.
Heilig-Bloedprocessie (Procession of the Holy Blood) in Bruges on Ascension Day in May.
Ducasse de Mons (Doudou) is an enactment 57 days after Easter of the battle, a Lumeçon, between Saint George and the Dragon (the Doudou), a battle where good triumphs over evil.
Hanswijkprocessie (Procession of Our Lady of Hanswijk) is an ancient procession in Mechelen the Sunday before Ascension Day in May.
Zinneke Parade in Bruxelles, a newly created celebration in May.
Battle of Waterloo Reenactment occurs each June.
Les journées des quatre cortèges (Days of the Four Processions) in Tournai in June is a carnival with floats, fireworks, bands, and the appearance of historic figures such as Louis XIV and King Childeric.
Ommegang Pageant in Bruxelles at the end of June is a costumed parade commemorating the arrival by boat of a miraculous statue of the Virgin Mary from Antwerpen to Bruxelles.
Gentse Feesten – In 1540, King Charles V beat down uprising against taxes and nine were beheaded. The festival re-enacts this event every mid-July.
Boetprocessie (Penitent’s Procession) on the last Sunday in July in Veurne, a town near the North Sea coast, has been taking place each year since 1646 and involves hundreds of people dressed as Capuchin monks and some drag heavy crosses.
Virga Jessefeesten in Hasselt happens for two weeks in August every seven years in honor of the Virgin Mary.
Les Fêtes de Wallonie in Namur each September.
Meyboom (May tree) is the oldest tradition in Bruxelles, the planting of a beech tree every year since 1308, involving parades and giant figures.
15 August Festival in Liège’s neighborhood of Outremeuse includes parades, puppet shows, concerts, traditional games, sampling the traditional drink of Liège: Pékèt, eating of boûkètes, Belgian buckwheat pancakes, and ends with wailing women in a funeral processional.
La Regate des Baignoires (Bathtub Regatta) is held on the Meuse River in Dinant in mid-August
Sand Sculpture Festival in Zeebrugge on the North Sea coast in August.
Ducasse d’Ath is a processional marking the victory of David over Goliath with giant puppets on the fourth Sunday of August that dates from the 13th century.
Plaisirs d’Hiver / Winterpret (translated to English would be Pleasures of Winter / Ready for Winter and the English title given is Winter Wonders) in Bruxelles in December includes a Christmas market in the Grand-Place and a light show.
Kerstmarken / Marchés de Noël (Christmas Markets) are in most cities and even towns in Belgium often beginning at the end of November.
BELGIË / BELGIQUE Regions-Cities-Towns-Sites
BRUXELLES is the capital region at the heart of Belgium and the transportation hub to the rest of Europe.
The Atomium from the 1958 World Expo has art and science exhibitions, views of the city, and even a restaurant in one of its nine spheres.
Trainworld is a historic train station with the oldest locomotive in Europe.
Grand Place de Bruxelles (Grote Markt) includes the requisite Belgian Hôtel de Ville (Stadhuis, Town Hall) from the 14thcentury with a mirrored concert hall, façade, tower, and tapestries, Broodhuis (Maison du Roi, King’s house) now a museum, Belgian Brewers Museum that is more of a pub than a museum, and many more ancient buildings, restaurants and shops.
Not far from the main square, Fondation Jacques Brel is a museum in honor of the life of the Belgian performer.
Manneken Pis is a 400 year old bronze fountain statue of a peeing boy.
The squatting Jeanneke-Pis fountain statue was created in 1985 in an equal rights for women business boosting attempt.
And if you want to see a peeing dog, there is the Zinneke Pis on rue des Chartreux.
None of the three above statues are in the Grand Place and they are a little way from one another. Happy Finding!
There’s a Smurf statue near the train station: Bruxelles-Central.
Mont des Arts is a hill with gardens and museums.
VLAANDEREN (FLANDRE, FLANDERS) is the Nederlands speaking part of Belgium in the west and north.
NORTH SEA COAST
Select 10 coastal resorts to look at each location on the Belgian Coast where there are beaches with long fishing piers, nature reserves, and sand sculptures.
Oostduinkerke on the coast near the border with France is the place left in the world where people fish for shrimp on horseback. Horses go cheep-deep into the surf and the riding fishermen pull chains to create vibrations so that the shrimp jump into their nets, a method of fishing that has been done for around 700 years.
The “East End” sea city of Oostende (Ostend) along the strip of sandy beachfront has the pentagonal fortress Fort Napoleon.
BRUGGE (Bruges) is an idyllic medieval town with canals, intimate streets, and crow-steeped gabled buildings. The Kerstmarkt Brugge is one of the top Christmas Markets in the world.
The Grote Markt (main square) is surrounded by the brick of the 15th century, and Neo-Gothic structures. Built between 1248 to 1482, the Belfort van Brugge soars over everything. It’s possible to climb the 366 steps of the tower.
Onze Lieve Vrouwekerk (the Church of Our Lady) of Brugge, built in 1280, has a white marble sculpture of Madonna and the Child created by Michelangelo in 1504.
The Stadhuis (Town Hall) was constructed between 1376 and 1420.
Sint-Jansspitaal (St. John’s Hosital) from the 12th century is the oldest building in Brugge.
The Heilig-Bloedbasiliek (Basilica of the Holy Blood) has a crystal vial that is reported to have a drop of Christ’s blood brought from the Holy Land in 1149. The vial is carried through the streets each May in the Procession of the Holy Blood.
Rozenhoedkaai (the Quay of the Rosary) is one of the most beautiful places in the city.
Groeninge Museum has works by Jan van Eyck.
Jeruzalemkerk from 1429 is a family chapel modeled after the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.
Stedelijk museum voor volkskunde (Folklore museum) is a little museum with old scenes from history.
Café Vlissinghe from 1515 is the oldest continuously running café/pub in Brugge.
In 2016, a beer pipeline was built to connect the De Halve Maan brewery in the city center of Brugge with its bottling plant, the first of its kind.
IEPER (Ypres), is an ancient town from the 1st century BC close to the border near Lille, France that was significant in WWI with hundreds of thousands lost in battles in the area. Every evening at 8 pm, there is a Last Post ceremony at the Menin Gate Memorial in honor of those lost.
Grote Markt is the huge main square with fascinating buildings, restaurants, and statues. Built in 1304, the Lakenhalle(Cloth Hall) with its belfry dominates the square and houses the In Flanders Fields Museum with WWI history.
Near Ieper, the man-made Hill 60 and the Flanders Battlefield are among sites that detail the brutal WWI history of the area.
Godshuis Belle is a hidden church with ancient art on Rijselstraat near the Grote Markt.
Leonidas Chocolaterie is on the Grote Markt.
Kazematten Brewery was used for ammunition storage in WWI and the building is from the 18th century.
Kattenstoet (Festival of the Cats) is a parade in May in Ieper commemorating a Middle Age tradition of throwing cats, believed then to be associated with witchcraft, from the belfry tower of the Lakenhalle (Cloth Hall) in an effort to destroy evil. Giant cats parade in the festival.
GENT is where the Leie and the Schelde Rivers. In Medieval Times it was a powerful place, one of the largest cities in Europe.
Sint-Baafskathedraal (Saint Bavo Cathedral) houses the masterpiece by the brothers Hubert and Jan van Eyck in 1432 called “De Aanbidding van het Lams God,” a 12-panel altarpiece centering around the death of Christ. The acclaimed work was nearly destroyed many times: condemned by Calvinists for having a nude Adam and Eve and temporarily replaced with clothed versions, absconded to Paris during the French Revolution, and stored in an Austrian salt mine during WWII. There is one panel still missing and some indication that it might be buried beneath the town square.
Het Belfort van Gent towers over the city as do the spires of Sint-Baafskathedraal and Sint-Niklaaskerk
Gravensteen (Castle of the Counts) is a 10th century moated castle with an armory museum.
Gentse Feesten is a ten-day festival in July.
ANTWERPEN (Anvers in French)
It is ironic that the city known for its Diamond District where people seek rings to put on the hands of those they love, was named for the hand of a giant that was cut off and thrown into the river.
Antwerpen is the 13th biggest port in the world and the 2nd largest in Europe after Rotterdam about 100 kilometers north.
Grote Markt is dominated by the Onze Lieve Vrouwekathedraal (Cathedral of Our Lady), the tallest cathedral in Belgium. Inside are works by the city’s celebrated artist, Peter Paul Rubens. It is possible to visit the house that he designed and view his paintings hanging inside at Rubenshuis.
Also on the Grote Markt is the Stadhuis from the 16th century, old Guild houses, and Brabo throwing the giant’s hand as the central statue.
Het Steen, overlooking the Schelde River, is the oldest building in Antwerpen. Built as a fortress in the early 11th century, there has been a settlement on the site since the 900s AD.
Vleeshuis (the meat house) is 500 years old, the oldest guildhall in Antwerpen. Today, there is a musical instruments museum inside.
Oudste huis van Antwerpen met houten gevel is the oldest house in Antwerpen, built in 1500.
Museum Plantin-Moretus is medieval building with the world’s oldest printing press, priceless manuscripts, original type sets, library from 1640, and works by Rubens.
Het Elfde Gebod (The Eleventh Commandment) is a café/pub next to the Cathedral of Our Lady filled with relics of saints, angels, etc. It’s a good place to find traditional Trappist beers.
Hotel Rubenshof was once the place where the cardinal stayed when he was in town and now it is an affordable, beautiful, charming hotel.
Letterenhuis is the largest literature archive in Flanders. In 2018, words of the writer Hugo Claus were put on the walls of the building from outside: “Het is beter gras te zijn, men kan het maaien, wieden en wild groeit het weer, en altijd anders.” (“It is better to be grass, it can be mowed, weeded, and it grows wild again, and always different.”)
The poem “Een Minimum” by Ransey Nasr is on an external wall on Boogkeers Straat.
The poem “De Zwerver” by Wannes Van de Velde is on an external wall on Heilig Geest Straat.
MECHELEN is known for the soaring unfinished tower of Sint-Romboutskathedraal (Saint Rumbolds Cathedral) with 500 steps to the top for a great view over the Grote Markt.
LEUVEN is a University town. The Grote Markt and the Oude Markt (Old Square) are right next to each other, so it is easy to walk around one area and see many things.
The Historisch Stadhuis (Historic Town Hall) from the 15th century towers over the Grote Markt with 236 sculptures in its external walls. It is a stunning building.
Sint-Pieterskerk is a Romaneque church right next door.
Keizersberg Abbey is a Benedictine Abbey from the 15th century just outside of Leuven.
Universiteitsbibliotheek is the University Library with stunning architecture and a brick tower.
Brouwerij Artois, available for tours, is the Stella Artois Brewery just outside of Leuven.
Leuven Beer Festival is between April and May each year.
TONGEREN is the oldest town in Belgium and has a Gallo-Roman Museum. It’s possible to see the ruins of the old Roman walls. The Grote Markt has a statue of an old hero, Ambiorix, King of the Eburones, who defeated the army of Julius Caesar in 54 BC.
WALLONIE is the French-speaking region in the south and west of Belgium that includes the beautiful, forests, craggy hills, and rivers of the Ardennes.
TOURNAI (Doornik in Dutch) is the birth place of the first king of France, Clovis I, in 466 AD; his father Childeric is buried in Tournai. Much of Tournai had to be rebuilt after WWII.
In the Grand-Place (Grote Markt) de Tournai, there is the typical Belgian large square with the cathedral, stratospheric bell tower, and many cafés and restaurants.
Cathédrale Notre Dame de Tournai was built in 1175 and has five bell towers, the tallest stands at 272 feet. It’s an impressive cathedral with works by Peter Paul Rubens, other medieval art, and a 14th century tapestry inside.
Beffroi de Tournai, Belgium’s oldest belfry, was built in 1188 and is 236 feet high. The oldest bell in the tower was created in 1392.
La Halle aux Draps (Cloth Hall) was built in 1610 to replace a 13th century building that was part of Tournai’s carpet making past.
Leonidas Chocolatier is on the Grand-Place, making chocolates in Belgium since 1913.
Pont des Trous (Bridge of the Holes) was a multi-arched bridge built in 1290 over the Escaut (Schelde) River. The central arches were recently removed to allow for larger boats.
La Maison Tournaisienne Musée de Folklore tells the story of Tournai and is in a 17th century house with part of the building creating a bridge over the street.
Musée des Beaux Arts includes works by Monet, van Gogh, Manet, Seurat, Pieter Brueghel, and Peter Paul Rubens.
L’Église Saint-Jacques de Tournai was a stopping point on the Way of St. James (Saint-Jacques) pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
Musée de la Tapisserie de Tournai tells the story of tapestry weaving that has been part of Tournai since the 15th and 16th centuries.
LESSINES
Hôpital Notre-Dame à la Rose demonstrates the development of medieval medicine. Founded in 1242, it is the only medieval convent-farm-hospital to remain intact.
Surrealist painter René Magritte was born in Lessines in 1898.
In the Grand-Place, there is a a statue of Magritte sitting down on a bench with a hat upsidedown on his head.
MONS (Bergen in Nederlands)
The unique feature just outside of Mons is the Ascenseur funiculaire de Strépy-Thieu, the tallest boat lift in the world at 100 meters, using giant containers of water to raise boats to different levels and you can watch.
Grand-Place with the Hôtel de Ville, built in 1458, with the Toison d’Or House, built 1615, and Chapel of St. George, built 1604, on either side, and there is a monkey statue.
The Belfroi de Mons is not in the Grand-Place. It’s up on a hill. Built between 1661 and 1672, it’s 87 meters high.
Festival Ducasse de Mons takes place every year 57 days after Easter. People process from Collégiale Sainte-Waudru de Mons to the Grand-Place with a nine metere dragon called Doudou. Then the fight begins, le Lumeçon, between Saint-Georges and the dragon.
Binche is an ancient walled town east of Mons that has a festival each year in the days before Ash Wednesday involving 1,500 costumed dancers called Gilles. Near the Grand-Place, there is a Musée du Carnaval et du Masque (International Museum of Carnival and Mask).
WATERLOO is just south of Bruxelles and the site of the historic defeat of Napoleon in 1815.
Le Butte du Lion is a man-made hill with 226 steps to the top where there is a lion statue looking out over the Waterloo battlefield toward France. There’s a Panorama building next to it with information about the history of the battle.
Louvain-la-Neuve has the Musée Hergé in honor of the comic-strip creator of Tintin whose real name was Georges Remi.
CHARLEROI is the largest city in Walloon and was voted ugliest city in the world in a Netherlands survey. Locals have turned this into a tourism opportunity by offering “urban safari” tours of Belgium’s “most depressing street” with a stop at the home of a notorious serial killer. Graffiti is another urban draw.
NAMUR
La Citadelle de Namur is a fortress over Namur from the 10th century with underground passages.
Cathédrale Saint-Aubain de Namur was built in 1772 on the site of a cathedral built in 1047.
Église Saint-Loup is a Baroque Church built in the 17th century with intriguing pillars and an intriguing ceiling.
Château de Namur is a château hotel with a restaurant not far from the Citadelle.
DINANT is known for dinanderie (copperware), gingerbread, and Couques de Dinant, cookies as hard as the people. The name “Dinant” comes from the Celtic words for “sacred/divine valley” = “Divo-Nanto.” Thrown in the river, stuffed in a cave, bombed, set on fire, the people of Dinant have seen some things and they continue to survive and thrive in one of the most beautiful places in the world.
Select the titles to find out more about the highlights of Dinant:
La Citadelle de Dinant
Collégiale Notre-Dame de Dinant
Charles de Gaulle Saxophone Bridge
Maison de Monsieur Sax
Maison Leffe in former Couvent de Bethléem
Abbaye Notre-Dame de Leffe
La Grotte de Dinant la Merveilleuse
Rocher Bayard is a dramatic split rock with a legend. Bayard, that giant horse who makes appearances in parades around the country once used its hoof to split the rock while he was carrying the four sons of Duke Aymon who were fleeing from Charlemagne.
Hôtel Castel de Pont-à-Lesse is a wonderful hotel and former castle in the countryside near Dinant.
Château Fort de Bouillon was built in 1076.
Abbeye d’Orval is near Florenville and Villier-Devant-Orval.
Abbaye Notre Dame de Scourmont, makers of Chimay beer and cheese
Achouffe Brewery, makers of Chouffe beer.
La Grotte Lorette in Rochefort is 626 steps down into the abyss
Les Grottes de Han is the site of the première caves in the Ardennes.
La Roche-en-Ardenne is a gorgeous town in a tiny toe bend of the Ourthe River with ruins of a castle high on the hill and an intriguing church.
Libramont-Chevigny has Musée des Celtes (Celtic Museum)
Bastogne (Bastenaken in Nederlands) is famous as the site of the Battle of the Bulge that led to the defeat of Germany. There are a number of war memorials.
LIÈGE
My son asked me to pass through the train station in Liège when I had the chance, so I did in 2011. I thought it was going to be a steamy old -fashioned arched railway station. No. It looked like a spaceport out of Star Trek. The Gare Liège-Guillemins is worth seeing for its impressive and surprising architecture. It’s very white.
A long staircase goes straight down between the buildings called la Montagne de Bueren (Mount Bueren).
Collégiale Saint-Barthélemy (Church of St. Bartholomew), founded between 1010 and 1015 has distinctive red-lined designs on its towers and outer walls unlike any church I’ve seen before. It was built with greywacke, a kind of sandstone.
Liège is the birthplace of writer Georges Simenon.
SPA
The Romans had a bath site they called Aquae Spadanae in the 1st century BC. The word “spa” may have come from the Latin word “spargere” which means “to scatter, sprinkle, or moisten.” Over time, the word “spa” came to be associated with a place of healing and medicinal baths.
Spa is the birth place of the fictional Hercules Poirot.
Pouhon Pierre le Grand, built in 1880, sheltered one of the springs, the source that named Spa as a resort. It is now a tourist office.
The Thermes de Spa has an outdoor steaming pool with water from the spring source and saunas.
Signal de Botrange, near the border with Germany, is the highest point in Belgium at 2,295 feet, and has a staircase to nowhere at its top. It is the site of an ancient volcano
To find out more about the Wallonie Region of Belgium, select Wallonia: Eight things you didn’t know about Belgium’s French-speaking region
DEUTSCHSPRACHIGE GEMEINSCHAFT BELGIENS
is the little German-speaking region of two cantons in the Liège province of Belgium.
For an overview of Belgium from Rough Guides, select Where To Go In Belgium.
For more, select Belgium Travel Guide.
To learn more about the dialect of the North of France (and south of Belgium), select Bienvenue to the land of Ch’ti.For some insights into the divide between the people of Vlaanderen and the Wallonie, select An Introduction To The Flemish-Walloon Divide.
