Tongeren, the Oldest City in Belgium

Over the weekend, I headed to Tongeren, just over the Belgium border. It prides itself in being the oldest city in Belgium. We took the bus and it took just 30 minutes.

The main reason we went was to see the antique market that the city is famous for. There were a bunch of stalls, inside and outside selling the most random things. I was on the hunt for lacy things for my mom. There wasn't too much available, but what I did find were pretty reasonably priced and good quality.

One of two buildings with many stalls

I was starving, so we headed out to get some Belgium waffles =) So now I can say I've had Belgium waffles in Belgium (Its kind of tacky... oh well). It was an interesting waffle. It had the syrup mixed into the dough. Inside the waffle it was soft and gooey almost. Very different from the Belgium waffles we have a home. It wasn't too sweet, but it was sweet enough to be good. Mmm thinking about it makes me want another one!

We walked around the city a bit and came across the La Basilica de Notre Dame. The Basilica took over 300 years to build from 1240 until the 16th century. It was a massive church! The church is currently undergoing renovations and has turned into an archaeological project. They were originally suppose to complete the project earlier this year, but when I was there, there were still fences up and it looked the renovations were still in process. According to their website, they're in Phase II of the process.

The outside of the basilica

Around the corner from the entrance to the basilica sits a small replica of the church. It was placed there to allow the blind to "see" the church with their fingers. It comes complete with braille descriptions and labels. I thought this was a really cool idea. Apparently, this is type of model is available quite frequently here (according to the guy taking us around).

It also showed us the part of the church that was not visible due to renovations and the archeology project.

Across the square stood a lone figure, the statue of Ambiorix, a Belgium hero because of his resistance to Julius Caesar. He remained largely unknown until the 19th century, when the Belgium became independent and government started going through their historical archives. There are tons of touristy things available with his name on it.

By the church are some walls from the original Tongeren I'm guessing. There were plaques with descriptions available, but were really washed out and difficult to read. It was still pretty cool to touch and walk over parts of the walls.

Then we headed to a prison turned museum. It reminded me all too much of my trip to the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum (S21) high school turned prison in Cambodia. While I know the circumstances are very different and the nature of the two places are extremely different, I just couldn't shake the feeling. I felt uncomfortable the whole time I was there.

The front gate of the prison/museum

We walked through the Beguinage, where Tongeren was original founded. It is a small collection of buildings where Beguines lived in the 13th century. Beguines were Roman Catholic lay communities living in a semi monastic community, but without the vows. There are a number of these communities throughout North and Northeastern France, Belgium, the Netherlands and West and North Western Germany. The one in Tongeren has been recognized as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

We headed to one of the original city gates (Moerenpoort or Marsh Gate) and was able to climb up to the top for a good view of the city. We were able walk along the old city walls for a bit before heading back for the bus.

Even though Tongeren is in Belgium, many of the people here speak Dutch. A lot of the menus and tourist information is available in Dutch. I heard some French and there are French publications (along with English and German), I think the majority of people still communicated using Dutch. I guess its understandable, the city is really close to the Dutch border and travel between the two countries is ridiculously easy.

All in all, it was a good first trip from Maastricht. It was close and wasn't too different from what I was use to (both good and bad...). I definitely can't wait to head further into more French parts of Belgium and see how much of that French I have retained (probably not much >.<)

See more pictures here.