Blogs from Namur, Namur Province, Belgium, Europe

Rain, fog, robbery, and good beer: a few days in Belgian life. Belgium! As different from France as wine is from beer. Where the French are subtle and quiet, Belgian prefer blunt, caustic truth said with a smile to remove the bite. In France the wine flows but in Belgium the beer froths, though both could care less about the "it's 5 o'clock somewhere" rule. Namur, Belgium is no doubt absent from many of your personal geographical maps. Indeed, I had never heard of it till a random Google search made the name literally pop up in my browser window. But exist it does, and what's more it is the capital of Wallonie, aka French-speaking Belgium. And what might one find in Namur? First and foremost, it's grey and foggy, perfect for anyone looking for a ... read more

Following a successful girls climbing trip I decide to join Dan, his two kids India and Sasha, Celine, Joost, Jacco, Lee and Paul on the weekend of September 12 climbing in the Ardenes region. We even stay at the same guest house. On the way down I rode with Celine and Jacco. Celine was driving. I met them quickly at Rai station after work. We decided to skip climbing in Yvoir on Saturday and head to Beez. Beez had some nice routes, I attempted a 6a with mixed success and Jacco learned how to lead climb. The rest of the day I more so focused on 5a’s and 5b’s. There was even a hint of young romance on our climbing trip as with any good story. In the evening we had some delicious wine and Belgian ... read more

On Saturday, I went with Magali and Ludger to Namur (which is about 30 minutes south of Brussels) for Fêtes de Wallonie. Fêtes de Wallonie is a huge party that takes place all over the French-speaking part of Belgium. It is celebrated on the third weekend of September and usually runs from Thursday to Monday. It commemorates the participation of the Walloons in the Belgian revolution of 1830 and is a huge celebration of the French-speaking regions of Belgium. Since Namur is the capital of the Wallonie region (French-speaking region), it has the biggest celebration. We arrived in Namur around 3:00pm and all of the streets of Namur were filled with tents of food, drinks, clothing, shoes, jewelry, and games. They had tons of live music, street performers, bands, and stilt walkers. All through the streets ... read more

Rushing day, woke up early and stormed out to take the train to Namur, the region/city further south in Belgium. Belgium is dividied into two sections, the Dutch speaking - Flanders and the French speaking - Wallonia. People up North speak more English!!!!! At least thats the first thing I realize.... Anyways, arrived there, got ignored at the tourist office.....-___-" found out about the festival in the city through a book and went into the city. The day just started so most stuff were still being set up. Most concerts and stuff were at night....ahhhhh! that means I'll miss them..... anyways, walked around, most shops closed...just loads of food and beer on the streets... Had some nice cheese and potatos and ham.... It was great weather though, REALLY warm....=) Walked around a bit, not much to ... read more

While I was in Bruges, I decided that I wanted to get over to Luxemburg on my way to Paris. I made two stops on the way: Brussels (we know how that went) and Namur. I took a morning train from Brussels and got in to Namur in the early afternoon. I didn't have a map, but I knew that the hostel was along the river a couple kms from the station. I set off using my compass and eventually stumbled upon a river. I knew that there were two rivers in the town, and this one wasn't flowing the direction I expected it to be, so I assumed I had come across the wrong river. I followed the flow of the river and quickly came across the confluence with the much larger river and was ... read more