Hasselt and Herkenrode Abbey

This morning we enjoyed a lovely breakfast at the hotel and then we each went our separate ways. Wim wanted to do some shopping in the many fashionable shops that Hasselt has. I wanted to visit the fashion museum.

The fashion museum is a ‘must see’ in Belgium, so this one has definitively been on my list for a while. The current exhibition was about streetwear. Designers like Kim Jones and Virgil Ablog have successfully introduced the language of streetwear into luxury fashion. And Dirk Bikkembergs is still a fantastic designer. Who could have imagined that men as well as women would wear leggings and still look fashionable?

After that overdose of fashion, I went for a healthy smoothie in the new neighbourhood of Hasselt. The ‘Quartier Blue’. This is a new district on the lively ‘Blauwe Boulevard’. The terraces along the quay, the attractive promenade and the colourful marina radiate a relaxed holiday feeling. Just what I needed 🙂

Next stop on our trip was Herkenrode abbey. It was the first Cistercian abbey of the Low Countries and turned into an important pilgrimage place. This used to be a monastery of Cistercian nuns located in Kuringen, part of the municipality of Hasselt. The historical buildings have been restored, you can enjoy aromatic scents at the ‘herb and inspiration’ garden and buy some delicious abbey products.

Next to the abbey are the lavender fields. It is actually more of a mix between a small farm or a large garden instead of lavender fields. But the aroma of walking between the plantation is blissful. Afterwards we enjoyed a home-made lavender ice cream and continued our journey to Antwerp.

After a nice stroll in Wim’s neighbourhood and a delicious dinner, our Belgium roadtrip came to an end. The most important thing is that we enjoyed it, even if the weather did not always cooperate. But we made some new and awesome memories.

Bokrijk

Our day started with an adventure when the fire alarm went off quite early in the morning. We were urged to go down and regroup outside the hotel lobby. Since we were on the 12th floor, it was a bit of a workout. But we were rewarded by very nice firemen and a ‘keep your customer happy’ breakfast.

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Our plan was to visit Bokrijk and take a bike tour through the water. There was enough water, since it was raining again. But, we still had a good time, visiting the open air museum, looking into the little farmhouses, checking some pottery and baking bread.

I especially had a blast in the village of the sixties. The pink kitchen and the interactive hairdresser were my favourites.

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The bicycle trip between the water was very cool, especially when the swan wanted to befriend Wim. Along the way we stumbled on a beautiful arboretum. It was awesome, but we did become a bit worried when it appeared that we didn’t find the way out anymore…

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Tongeren and the Japanese Garden

From Liege to Tongeren today. But, what is the actual story with Tongeren? To cover that, we visited the Gallo-Roman museum of Tongeren. Here you can learn all about the city and the history of the region. There is also a very impressing exhibition about the start of the Roman history and the local Eburones tribes that lived in Tongeren. One name popped up over and over again: Ambiorix. The man that stands proudly in the city’s main square.

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By the time we left the museum, it was raining cats and dogs, so great timing to have a hearty lunch and to continue our road trip to the Japanese Gardens.

Roadtrip in Belgium

My travel buddy Wim and myself have discovered parts of Australia, New Zealand and even Singapore. But have we ever traveled in Belgium? Do we actually know our homeland? We decided to take a little roadtrip in our own ‘lBelgium’…

We started with Liege, Luik, Liejas, Leck, Luttich. This belgian city has indeed a lot of names that don’t have much in common. Once off the frenetic main road that rolls through Liege’s historic centre, we found an impasse of tiny dead-end laneways hung with flowers and vines that feel a world away from the gritty streets of the city center. This felt more like a rustic village in the countryside than of the big, bustling city of Liege.

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But …first things first: We needed to climb the ‘Montaigne de Bueren’. The famous staircase in Liege with its 374 steps. These steps were built between 1875 an 1880. What makes them unique is the angle difference – from bottom to top, a whopping 28 degrees. The first time I visited Liege, I somehow ended up climbing them up and down twice. But…that was a long time ago. Now, some people had climbing gear to clim up the ‘Montagne’. I’m proud to say that both me and Wim made it to the top! Hooray for us 🙂

Going down through the Impasse the Ursulines, we stumbled upon this amazing brewpub, ‘Brasserie C’. An real junction between story and passion. Founders Renaud and Francois spent 3 years to develop ‘Curtius’, their signature beer. Curtius was not only present at several festivals and at the Royal Palace, but also in several movies and a Michelin-starred Paris restaurant.

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After having eaten des ‘Boulettes de Liege’ at Brasserie C, we visited the Musee de la Bouverie, enjoyed a gauffre de Liege and ended admiring an empty airport at Liege. It felt so good to see some familiar airplanes and walk in an airport again, even if it was an empty one….

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