Belgian summer excursions De Haan and Tongeren (August 2007)
De Haan
One of Belgium's nicest places at the coast is for sure "De Haan aan
Zee". This coast town is well-known for the pittoresque tram station (foto)
and for its low building construction, beginning of 20st century style, totally
a-typical compared to the rest of the Belgian coast.
You can stroll along the coastal promenade or between the dunes while meeting
well- or less known personalities.
Less known is the fact that in 1933 Albert Einstein went into hide in De Haan
for the upcoming Nazi-regime. De Haan honoured this famous genius and father
of the theory of relatvity with a statue on a bank in one of the side streets
in the centre.
Talking about surprises: during our promenade stroll our attention was
suddenly drawn to the musical performance of a Latin-American Indian tribe
delegation (!!) who brought - with the North Sea as background - a selection
of Indian music compositions (using eg. Inka- pan flutes and other
instruments, that one is not so used to hear about in these regions...). The
whole scene offered a strange, unexpected sight for the surprised, however
thankfully amused ad-hoc audience. "Strangers in town" ! :-)
Tongeren
It was an in-law family advice to head for the province of
Limburg and visit this small but sympathic city at the river Jeker, being at
the same time however officially the oldest city of Belgium, called Tongeren.
Its most notorious ex-inhabitant is of course Ambiorix, world-famous in
Belgium because of his nearly successful rebellion as leader of the Eburones
tribe against Julius Caesar (himself !!), but unfortunately beaten and banned
and his tribe had to trade places on the order of Julius with the German
tribe of the "Tongeren" (the city name origin thus).
Ambiorix' statue now decorates the Market Place, but also closeby this place a
bunch of century's old buildings, ancient remainings of the city walls and
other treasures from its rich history can be visited.
The Basilic of Our-Lady (Onze-Lieve Vrouwe Basiliek) (foto 1) is impressive as
well at the out- as on the inside. A coincidental play of the incoming sun
rays provided us a divine sight and remembered me a bit of the classical movie
"Metropolis" (foto 2). The Basilic houses besides the actual
archeological excavations, a marvellous organ (foto3) and a nice Romanic
monastery alley with dito decorations (fotos 4 en 5)
Afterwards we walked into the direction of the Beguinage
(convent) (next 3 pictures). Small, narrow streets, paved with the typical
"Paris-Roubaix" porphyry stones, expose after every corner some
surprises like an unexpected terrace (again :-) - see picture). In
the Beguinage Church one can find an 18th century barroque pulpit (dating from
1711) and also an even older confessional box (Pictures).
An amusing faits-divers was the result of modernization of the
confessional box from the 17th century: clearly visible was the electrical
door-bell with the hilarious instruction "Push twice" (In Flemish:
Duw 2 maal) :-))
Our daytrip ended with a final walk through the remaining streets between the
"Kastanjewal" (Chestnut Wall) and the Grote Markt (Grand Place); the
last picture illustrates the typical style of this city district.
This city is, more than any other, worth a visit and the
city
link of Tongeren (flemish only) itself is a benchmark for quality and user-friendlyness.
A TOP- hint.
