Namur

Today I visited the city of Namur, which is also the regional capital of the Walloon Community of Belgium (these are the crazies who are considering declaring independence from the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium). The most important site in Namur is the large citadel overlooking the confluence of the Meuse and Sambre Rivers. As you can tell from the picture, this hill is pretty much a textbook spot to place a fortress. Which makes the history of Namur somewhat confusing. Few European cities have been besieged and conquered as often as Namur, despite its supposedly invulnerable defenses. Virtually every major power in European history has succesfully captured this citadel, sometimes more than once! The most recently successful besiegers were the Germans in 1914. Below is a picture of the most famous besieger: Louis XIV.

Note the citadel in the background and also note how undeveloped the countryside was in 1692.

Now compare Louis' portrait to the scenic shot above.

Above is a monument dedicated to Belgians who resisted German invasions in WWI and WWII.

By chance, Namur was having a massive street festival today. Too bad most of the tents were selling cheap sandals and other worthless crap. There was very little street food either, which to me is the most important part of any outdoor festival.

As always, churches figure heavily in the sights of any European town.

Here is the town hall.

Some sort of convent building

Finally, the mushroom omelette I had for lunch. It was completely mediocre as I've come to expect here. French-style cuisine must be in serious danger on its home turf. I'll take Lori's scrambled eggs ANY DAY over this overcooked undersalted disc.