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 A
federal country, with three official languages and an intense regional
rivalry, Belgium has a cultural diversity that belies its rather dull
reputation among travellers. Its population of around ten million is
divided between Flemish-speakers (about sixty percent) and French-speaking
Walloons (forty percent), with a few pockets of German-speakers in the
east. Prosperity has shifted back and forth between the two communities
over the centuries, and relations remain acrimonious. The constitution
was redrawn in 1980 on a federal basis, with three separate entities:
the Flemish North, Walloon South, and Brussels, which is officially
bilingual (although its population is eighty percent French-speaking).
The north and south of Belgium are visually very different. Marking the
meeting of the two, Brussels , the capital, is a culturally varied city
at the heart of the European Union. The north , made up of the provinces
of West and East Flanders, Antwerp, Limburg and much of Brabant, is
mainly flat, with a landscape and architecture not unlike Holland.
Antwerp is the second city, a bustling old port with doses of high art,
redolent of its sixteenth-century golden age. Further south and west are
the great historic cities, Bruges and Ghent , with a stunning
concentration of Flemish art and architecture. Another enjoyable inland
Flanders town is the cathedral city of Mechelen , halfway between
Brussels and Antwerp. The southern reaches of Brabant are French-speaking,
and merge into the Walloon province of Hainaut - rich agricultural
country, scarred by pockets of industry and boasting the historic city
of Tournai . East of here lies Belgium's most scenically rewarding
region, the Ardennes , an area of deep, wooded valleys, high elevations
and dark caverns.
The Ardennes reach across the border into the northern part of the Grand
Duchy of Luxembourg , a verdant landscape of rushing rivers and high
hills topped with crumbling castles. Diekirch , Vianden and Echternach
are perhaps the three best centres for touring the countryside, and
Luxembourg City itself is at least worth a stop, although its population
of around 80,000 is tiny by capital-city standards.
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Antwerp |
Bruges |
Brussels |
Dinant |
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Belgium's second city, ANTWERP , fans out from the east bank of the
Scheldt about 50km north of Brussels. Many people prefer it to the
capital:
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"Somewhere within the dingy casing lay the ancient city", wrote
Graham Greene of BRUGES , "like a notorious jewel, too stared at, talked
of,
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Amongst Europeans, Brussels is best known as the home
of the EU, which, given recent developments, is something of a poisoned
chalice
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At the centre of the Meuse Valley tourist industry, DINANT is a
pretty little town slung along the river beneath craggy green cliffs
about 30km
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Mechelen |
Namur |
Tervuren |
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The seat of the Counts of Flanders and the largest town in western
Europe during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, GHENT was at the
heart
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Home of the Primate of Belgium, MECHELEN was one of the more
powerful cities of medieval Flanders, even overshadowing Brussels when
the Burgundian
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Known as the "Gateway to the Ardennes", NAMUR is a logical first
stop if you're heading into the region from the north or west, though
without a car
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Six kilometres southeast of Brussels, the small town of Tervuren is
one of the prettiest (and greenest) places in the region. Bordered in
the south
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Tournai |
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TOURNAI is the nearest southern Belgium has to the Flemish "art
towns" of Flanders and the north, and is a pleasant spot to spend a
couple of nights
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