Grand’ Place, Brussels
The Grand’ Place serves as the center of Brussels (map). Museums, Guild Houses and restaurants line the sides of the city square. These beautiful old buildings, decorated with elaborate stonework and gold leaf provide a spectacular visual setting. Guild Houses served as the headquarters and meeting places for various groups of craftsmen in Brussels. The house of the Brewers’ Guild still serves its original purpose and contains a small but worthwhile museum in the basement (which of course we visited).
Grote Markt, Brugge
Brugge is such a beautiful place that it doesn’t matter that every tourist visiting Belgium goes there. Many of the buildings are hundreds of years old and are in pristine condition. Canals run through and around the historic district. An inexpensive boat ride is a perfect way to get a quick guided tour.
The central area contains all kinds of shops lining narrow streets friendly to pedestrian traffic. The Markt, pictured above, sits in the center of the tourist area. From there, the historic town radiates outward on all sides (map). It’s a nice place to relax at an outdoor table, reward oneself with a drink after a full day of walking, and partake in some people watching.
Citadel of Dinant
Dinant lies in a steep, narrow valley along the Meuse River in southern Belgium. A citadel sits atop a cliff rising directly behind the town (map). We rode a cable car up to the top of the bluff and took a tour of the citadel, poking through various dark passageways. Narrow windows slits allowed firepower to be trained on the enemy of the moment. The citadel often saw action in medieval times and even as recently as the First World War. At least I think that was the case; our tour guide spoke French and Flemish and I understood neither.
Val St. Lambert, Seraing
Seraing can be found just outside of Liège in eastern Belgium (map). My Belgian friend had mentioned that he’d wanted to visit the Val St. Lambert glassworks for quite a while. It sounded like a great idea to us. One large building contained furnaces used to heat glass, and housed various crafts in different stages of production. The same complex held a museum of crystal artwork. It also contained separate shops for items made by apprentices versus master artisans, with objects priced accordingly. We watched the gentleman pictured above use his expert skills to turn a lump of glass into an attractive vase.
Occasionally people wandering the Internet find this page and want to know if I have more information on how to contact Val St. Lambert. Regrettably, other than this one visit, I haven’t had any contact with them and I am truly sorry that I can’t help any further.
The Mercator, Oostende
I’d only stopped in Oostende one other time, to catch a ferry across the English Channel to Dover. I was pleasantly surprised to find on this visit that it was actually a nice town with plenty to see and do. We enjoyed shopping along the Kapellstratt, which has been closed to automobile traffic and resembles an outdoor shopping mall. We also strolled along the Albert I Promenade with the English Channel to one side and a row of high-rise apartments to the other. A passing shower provided an opportunity to duck into a café to enjoy a plate of Belgian waffles.
We spotted the Mercator in a protected arm of the harbor (map). Today the ship hosts tourists, but previously it served as a training vessel for the Belgian navy and for goodwill visits around the globe.
A Belgian Wedding, Overijse (August 1999)
Our Belgian friends had a beautiful wedding and reception in Overijse (map). Even the weather cooperated, which is remarkable since it’s never a sure thing in Belgium. My wife and I had never been to a wedding in Belgium so it was a totally new experience. We learned that it was more like a marathon requiring a steady pace than the quick American version.
The civil ceremony took place at 10:30 am, followed by the church service at 11:30, followed by the reception at 12:30 pm. We didn’t speak Flemish or French but nonetheless found enough similarities to tell what was happening at any given moment in the ceremonies. Twelve hours, two meals, a dessert buffet, and plenty of dancing later we finally left the reception exhausted. It showed no signs of slowing down when we departed and I’m sure it went on for at least another couple of hours. Although we were very tired at the end, we had a great time and will always have wonderful memories.
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