Josaphat Park and residential Schaerbeek

Yes, even in 2021 we still lived in pandemic times. Seeing friends means having walks. Bram lives in the Schaerbeek (Schaarbeek) borough of Brussels and in January he took me to Josaphat Park and residential Schaerbeek.

Josaphat Park (French: Parc Josaphat, Dutch: Josafatpark) is a public park of 20 hectares (49 acres). The football stadium that was formerly used by the K.V.V. Crossing Elewijt lies on the north-west corner of the park.

There is also an elementary school, Chazal, a tennis club, R.T.C. Lambermont, the municipal greenhouses, animals (horses, donkeys, hen, ducks), two playgrounds, a minigolf course, an archery range, three cafés – La Laiterie, La Buvette Saint-Sebastiaan, and La Guinguette Populeir -, a kiosk (Josaphine’s), and some ponds.

The park is a remainder of the old Linthout forest that began at Dailly Square. It was designed by Edmond Galoppin and inaugurated by King Leopold II on 6 June 1904.

Its name comes from the resemblance between the valley of the Roodebeek (a tributary of the Maalbeek) where the park is located and the Valley of Josaphat in the Holy Land, noted by a pilgrim back from Palestine in 1574.

Outside the park

Bram took me to the Cinquantenaire, the European neighbourhood and more Schaarbeek afterwards. I discovered Jazz Station, in the former Leuven Causeway Railway Station (Station Leuvensesteenweg, Gare de la Chaussée de Louvain) in Saint-Josse-ten-Noode (Sint-Joos-ten-Node).