15 November is Dynasty Day or King’s Day in Belgium. 15 November being the name day of Leopold, the name of three of the seven Kings of the Belgians. To mark this occasion, and inspired by a Belga News Agency post, let’s take a look at names of villages, towns, municipalities and cities in the…
Tag: Tournai
ITALY | Trains in Sicily
March 2025. We’re embarking on a train trip to Sicily. We fly from Brussels Airport to Leonardo da Vinci Rome Fiumicino Airport with ITA Airways. Then we take an Intercity Notte sleeper train by Trenitalia from Roma Termini Railway Station across Italy to Syracuse. Yes, the train is loaded on a ferry to cross the…
BELGIUM | Fête du Rail at Rétrotrain, Saint-Ghislain
August 2024. Two weekends in a row, we experienced some Belgian railway heritage. On the 11th, we went to Baasrode-Noord for the Dendermonde – Puurs Steam Railway or Stoomtrein Dendermonde-Puurs over line 52. On the 17th, we travelled all the way to Saint-Ghislain for a special ride over freight railway line 100, organised by Le…
BELGIUM | Excursion to Couvin in Namur
January 2024. Since December 2023, there’s a new intercity train service between Leuven (Louvain) and Charleroi-Central, with stops at Heverlee, Wavre (Waver), Ottignies, Court-Saint-Étienne (Sint-Stefaanshof) and Fleurus. Wanting to try this new link, we decided to first travel to Charleroi via Brussels, a classic itinerary. There we explored railway line 132 to Mariembourg and then…
Archaeologists discover Bierwerf medieval part of the port in Antwerp
In Antwerp, the Bierwerf mooring place under the Zuiderterras has surfaced. The Scheldt Quays are currently undergoing a major redevelopment. An ideal moment for city archaeologists to investigate the location and condition of the old city wall and the city gates Kleine and Grote Bierpoort.
Belgium European champion for rail tourism
Previously, we shared the Eurostat statistics regarding intra-European Union travel in 2021. One notable statistic is the means of transport. Belgium is – or at least was in 2021 – champion at rail tourism.
Monkeypox vaccine, an excuse for a day trip to Lille
Summer 2022. The monkeypox virus is spreading, almost exclusively amongst men who have sex with men (MSM). In Belgium it was and is almost impossible to be vaccinated. But in France, conditions are less strict. The Centre De Dépistage Anonyme Et Gratuit (CeGIDD) or Anonymous and Free Screening Centre in Lille (Rijsel) announced a day…
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