Many people visiting Belgium think only of the cities -- Brussels, Bruges, Ghent, Antwerp, etc. Obviously they are all worth seeing, but some of you are driving, and this is the perfect opportunity to get off the beaten track and see some of the charm of the tiny villages. I was in eastern Belgium last week, which normally gets short shrift on the travel sites since the famous towns are <i>not-a-number-one-attraction</i> Liège, <i>only-for-formula-one-fans</i> Spa and <i>special-for-war-buffs</i> Bastogne. In other words, not much of interest to most people. But if you scratch the surface, there are some great little places to see, although you might need a GPS to find some of them.

Frankly, my interest was piqued after coming across a mention of the association of "the most beautiful villages of Wallonia" and then checking out the website. I only had one free day to see things -- leaving from Luxembourg and planning to sleep in Reims the next night. But I was very happy with what I saw and I will definitely seek out some more of these villages in the future.

Here is the photo report that I made about it: http://tinyurl.com/h5d8lbg

I have never been to those villages actually ;-)

nice snaps, I was in the region between the ardennes and luxembourg within belgium this autumn and apart from the very busy tourist spots everything felt a little down-at-heel.

<i>I have never been to those villages actually</i>

You probably have plenty of time to correct that.

A nice start to my day
Those stone buildings look lovely, though probably a bit grim in February. We can park 8 cars in our front yard, so I find it charming to have nothing but a seat and a step to the front door (must be so much more neighbourly), but perhaps I am romanticizing life in a little village compared to our urban sprawl.

Yup. They are close to my brother.
Last I was there I visited a U.S. Cemetery. Forget the name. Huge. Full of tombs of fallen soldiers who died for my country.
A sobering thought when my anti US Meter explodes after a speech from trump.

Nearby in the U.S. cemetery in Sandweiler, Luxembourg, you can visit the tomb of General Patton, who was the main liberator of the area.

http://anyportinastorm.proboards.com...itary-cemetery

Lovely photo essay as usual, Kerouac!

One thing puzzles me; where are the people? I have a son who lives in Belgium, near another U.S. Cemetery, Henri-Chapelle, close to the village of Welkenraedt. I notice the same thing when I visit. The small villages seem deserted. Not abandoned, just empty of people.

Is a puzzlement.

I would say that basically in most European villages there is nothing to do out in the street. Most people are just inside their houses or else in their gardens in back of the house. Of course, one can assume that when it is warm and sunny in a place like Limbourg that people do sit out in front in the afternoon -- but that only concerns 2 or 3 months of the year.

When I left Limbourg, it was just past noon, and since I was parked in front of the school there was a pretty big group of mothers (maybe 10 people) waiting to collect their offspring for lunch, but I didn't take a picture of them.