Visiting Namur

The last stop of the day was a wish of Dad's.  For those that don't know, this is the second mission for Dad in this area.  He had mentioned that we could go to a town that he had served in or...we could visit a place that he had not been to but had always heard about.  We decided to be adventurous and visit Namur. 



Driving through Namur



I liked the trees and the lights




The best thing about Europe is the architecture, no two buildings are the same.

Namur is a city and a municipality in Wallonia, located in southern Belgium.  It is the capital of the province of Namur and of Wallonia.  It began as an important trading settlement in Celtic times and then the Romans established a presence after Julius Caesar defeated the local tribes.  The town came into prominence during the middle ages when settlers build a citadel on the rock overlooking the town.  The placement of the citadel was right at the coming together of the Sambre and Meuse rivers.  It fell into the hands of Philip the Good of Burgundy in 1421, became part of the Spanish Netherlands in the 1640s and then Louis XIV captured the town in 1692.  It changed hands only three years later, then was bounced around a few times (the citadel being rebuilt twice during this time) until after the defeat of Napoleon in 1815 when the congress of Vienna incorporated Belgium into the United Kingdom of the Neterlands.  In 1830 Belgium broke away from the Netherlands in the Belgian Revolution and the citadel was rebuilt again in 1887.  Namur was a major target for the German's in World War I because they wanted to use the Meuse valley as a way to get into France.  The town and citadel was taken after only three days and it was occupied by Germany for the rest of the war.  In World War II it was used in the front lines for the Battle of the Ardennes in 1940 and the Battle of the Bulge in 1944.

We were at a disadvantage because we had not planned on the visit so we had not done any study of what there was to see but when we arrived we ran into a couple of interesting sites.
One of Namur very distinct landmarks was the 18th century cathedral dedicated to Saint Aubin.  It is designed in academic Late Baroque and it was the only church built as a cathedral in Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg and parts of northern France and western Germany after 1559. 

                                The cathedral was big and beautiful.  I would have loved to see the inside.

      I love this, the history is just one layer down.

Unfortunately for us, we didn't get to go inside as they had experienced some break-in's and the church had to be locked up, only opened for services.  It was really impressive and I was disappointed that we were not able to see the interior. 

The other was the citadel that I mentioned above.  I have to toot my own horn, as I saw the citadel and asked the question that led to our wanting to find out what the structure was, but dad, with his amazing sense of direction, was able to find our way there.

This is how we found it, we saw this and Dad followed the road up.

                                                                                                           The front door

        You can see how extensive it is.  It goes forever.

It was originally build from the Roman era but as mentioned, it has been rebuilt several times.  The original dates back to 937 and is one of the largest fortresses in Europe.  We ran into it quite by accident, but it was a fun place to visit. 

                                                         Mom and I, just having a little fun

                 A Panoramic view from the Citadel.

                                            The church is HUGE from the top as well as from below.

      Lots of church steeples, I think we counted 7 total.      

We were not able to stay long, we had to get back for family home evening with the young adults, but it was fun to go somewhere that Dad had not been.  I really enjoyed the day.