03-Feb-2025
Liege, where we arrived on Saturday, was not originally on the itinerary. We'd planned to stay in Brussels, and take the Eurostar from there. But we couldn't find accommodation in Brussels that ticked all our boxes: Not too expensive, near the railway station, and safely accessible quite late in the evening.
We've been very happy with our substitute, though. Liege is very pretty (think red brick, tall houses, and handsome churches):
The city also has a big river, the Meuse, whose traffic includes all sorts of interesting barges:
Some are quite massive...
Guarding the bridge
And then there's Georges Simenon (1903-89)... I knew that the famous creator of Inspector Maigret had been born in Belgium. I hadn't realized he'd been born right here:
Rue Leopold no. 24, birthplace of Georges Simenon
You can't miss it...
Actually, the statue is of Simenon, not Maigret, but there are apparently many similarities
The road named after him is on the island in the river (Outremeuse)
As is a bust of the author
Of course, in Belgium, you have to have waffles. If we'd been here longer, we'd have had frites, too, but you can only do so much...
These, one chocolate-coated, one "normal", came from Le Matin Liegeois, a lovely, busy, friendly little cafe in the middle of town. Yummy. A fabulously chewy consistency, and quite sustaining
I'll close with a couple of murals, which were nice surprises amid the more sombre colours:
All in all, then, this is another place I'd happily come back to.