The Meuse and the Ardennes

To acquire the Wallonia habit, start by leaving the highway, stopping off in a town, or driving around the countryside—and arriving at your final destination a few hours, or a couple of days, late.

Natives of the area by and large speak French (though there is a pocket of German-speakers to the east, along the border with Germany). One in three also understands Walloon, a dialect descended from demotic Latin. The linguistic frontier corresponds roughly to the northern boundary of the Roman empire, and "Walas" was the name given to the Romanized Celts of the region. Today, the economy of rust-belt Wallonia has been overtaken by that of high-tech Flanders. The coal mines are a thing of the past, and the steel industry is fighting a tenacious battle to remain competitive. The Walloons are highly conscious of their culture and linguistic heritage and take pride in their separate identity within the framework of the nation.

The Meuse comes rushing into Belgium from France, foaming through narrow ravines. In Dinant it is joined by the Lesse and flows, serene and beautiful, toward Namur, Wallonia's capital city. At Namur comes the confluence with the Sambre, tainted from its exposure to the steel-manufacturing plants of Charleroi. Here, the river becomes broad and powerful, and gradually the pleasure craft are replaced by an endless procession of tugboats and barges. It passes through Liège, the region's largest city, then up through Holland, where, under a different name, the Maas, it reaches the sea.

From the name of the river is derived the adjective "Mosan," used to describe an indigenous style of metalworking of extraordinary plasticity. It reached its finest flowering during the 12th and 13th centuries with masters such as Renier de Huy, Nicolas de Verdun, and Hugo d'Oignies. They worked with brass, copper, and silver to achieve artistic heights equal to those of the Flemish painters two centuries later.

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