Sunday 19 September 2021

West side story, Part 2

Hello, and welcome to the second episode of this year's West country travelogue.

It was Monday the 6th of September and, after a restful night, we'd woken up to the first proper day of our little holiday. Another blue-skied and sunny day had been forecasted, with temperatures which were expected to climb steadily towards the high twenties.

Drawing the curtains of Marjolein's French windows leading to its balcony, the sight that greeted us was as magical as ever, the view across the lake and the patchwork of fields gently rolling towards the French-Flemish hills still managing to delight us after all those years.



We'd brought essentials such as bread, butter and eggs with us, as well as the remaining perishables from our fridge at home, but in our haste we'd left the contents of our fruit basket behind. Therefore, instead of our usual fruit and yoghurt breakfast, we had a starter of berries with a dollop of yoghurt, followed by one of Jos's delicious omelettes and slices of bread and butter. Washed down with cups of strong coffee, obviously.




We hadn't made any definite plans for our holiday, letting our moods and the weather be the deciding factors each day instead. That morning, we got it in our heads to go abroad for the first time since the pandemic. This isn't in any way as far fetched as it seems, as the French border is less than six kilometer from our cottage! France, here we come!

So, we set the controls of Truus, our satnav, towards the charming little town of Cassel, a journey of less than half an hour. This wasn't exactly new territory for us, as we first visited the town back in 2017. But while Marie-Jeanne, our old satnav, took us along winding country lanes through tiny hamlets and fields ripe for harvest, Truus seemed to prefer busy main roads. These we followed until we passed the ghostly empty shell of the former border control building followed by the sight of an unusual church tower which halted us in our tracks.



As we'd just passed a village sign, we knew we were in a little town called Steenvoorde which, in spite of being just across the French border, is a decidedly Flemish sounding name. And no wonder, as this area of present-day France was once part of the historical County of Flanders.

We decided to investigate, so we parked our car and walked into the direction of the church dedicated to St. Peter, its 92 meter spire guiding us like a beacon. 

The church, whose origins date back to the 12th century, has had quite a turbulent history. It fell victim to Iconoclasm - in fact, it was here that the Dutch Revolt started in 1566 - and after being burned down and destroyed in the 16th and 17th centuries, it was rebuilt in the late Gothic style between 1660 and 1664. The tower is from 1712 and the spire was added in the late 19th century. After being badly damaged again in May 1940, the church was finally restored in 1950.



Making our way to what appeared to be the town's market square in search of a boulangerie in order to buy a baguette and some brioches, I was drawn like a moth to a flame to a rusty post box and a row of houses which appeared to be in a serious state of disrepair. This kind of delightful dilapidation seems to be par for the course in these parts.



A friendly waitress was laying tables on the terrace of Brasserie Le Faucon, and after successfully scanning our Pass Sanitaire (vaccination certificate) we were allowed to sit down and enjoy un petit café before continuing our journey to Cassel.


Lunchtime was approaching when we reached the town and by the time we'd parked our car in the last available spot in the free car park near the Grand' Place I remembered from our previous visit, our stomachs announced they could do with some fortification.

Spotting a couple of inviting terraces further along the Grand' Place we strolled into their direction and, after perusing the menus, selected Café-Brasserie A l'Hôtel de Ville. Judging from the office workers who joined us shortly afterwards, it was a local favourite.


Again, our vaccination certificates were successfully scanned, after which we both ordered faux filet au poivre, which came accompanied by a salad and what I'm reluctantly calling French fries (as opposed to the correct Belgian fries) since we were in France.

We might have been drinking our usual alcohol free beers, but a rusty plaque announced that the place was granted the licence to sell alcohol and spirits in September 1940!



Hunger pangs satisfied, we briefly returned to our car as I'd forgotten my hat, after which we decided to once again attempt the town walk we did back in 2017. 

The walk, which is waymarked by copper studs (below, bottom right) starts almost opposite the restaurant, in front of the Musée de Flandre, details of which you can admire in the above collage, bottom left and right. A photo of the stunning 17th century Flemish building can be seen in the first Cassel collage on the top left. 



Originally established by the Romans on top of the 176 meter hill now known as Mont Cassel,  overlooking the lush rolling pastures of French Flanders, the small town is considered one of the most picturesque in the area. In fact, it was voted one of France's favourite village (Village Préferé des Français) in 2018.

From the Grand' Place, the walk climbs to the top of the hill by way of the Rue du Château, passing under the Porte du Château, or Castle Gate, a replica of the 17th century original.

However, Mr. and Mrs. Know-it-all preferred to take a different route. After all, we'd been here before. Never mind that we got a bit lost at the time ...



After a stiff climb upon a winding cobbled path, we eventually arrived on the summit, where a magnificent panorama of the town and surrounding countryside awaited us.

There's the Jesuit Chapel with the town's main church, Collégiale Notre Dame de la Crypte, on its right in the collage's central picture. We visited the church last time we were here. Now, it was partly covered in scaffolding, which I conveniently cropped out of the frame here.



There are several viewpoints with orientation tables, this one pointing us not only into the direction of Steenvoorde, where we had our morning coffee, and Poperinge, but our hometown of Antwerp as well. 

My outfit of the day was built around the recently charity shopped zig-zag patterned skirt which I combined with another recent charity shop find, a lightweight yellow top with a delicate leaf pattern, which had its origins in a high street shop. Both the belt - one of my beloved stretchy ones - and the sandals were retail buys, the latter picked up in the Clarks sales in a Shropshire town in June 2018. 



After admiring the attractions of Mont Cassel, the Casteelmeulen (Castle Mill, top left) and the equestrian monument of Marshall Foch (bottom right), who had his headquarters here during the Battle of Ypres, we took a path downhill to arrive on the sleepy Rue de Bergues. As you can see, the street signs are all bilingual, Bergenstraete being the local Flemish dialect. In the Flemish spoken by us at the other side of the border it would be Bergenstraat.



Just after the octagonal Horne Chapel we turned left and walked into the direction of the Rue de Dunkerque, where an open garage door allowed us a peek into the premises of the Mont Cassel brewery with its vintage Citroën delivery van.

At that point, it was only a matter of passing through the Porte de Dunkerque to arrive back at the car park, where we had a welcome break and another alcohol free beer on the terrace of the café on the corner. On our first visit, we'd parked our car directly opposite the café and had a coffee to get our bearings. At that time, we were both mesmerized and horrified by the old-fashioned sticky fly paper full of hapless victims hanging from one of the café's lighting fixtures. Admittedly, we were quite disappointed to see that this part of the decor had gone.



We might have been back at the car park, but that didn't mean our walk was finished. Suitably refreshed, we continued following the copper studs, pointing us into the direction of the Jesuit Chapel - and other cases of delightful dilapidation - and the Chemin du Chapitre, with its steps taking us down another level. 


At its bottom an atmospheric old cemetery awaited. The sun had momentarily dipped behind a veil of clouds, turning the delightfully dilapidated jumble of graves quite spooky. Especially since I was all alone there, with Jos resting his weary feet on a bench at the roadside.



The final part of the walk took us along the Chemin des Remparts, a footpath running parallel with the Grand' Place, offering yet more panoramic views.

Having walked roughly half of the path's length, we decided to cut our walk short by taking a street passing under another town gate, the Porte d'Aire, leading straight back to the Grand' Place.

We had both grown quite tired by now, which wasn't helped by the temperature, which had easily reached the predicted high twenties.



Finding a shady bench, we sat and stared for a while before returning to our car, which obviously had turned into a hot oven by now. 

With the airconditioning on full blast, we started the bumpy ride down the winding, pot-holed road leading us to the bottom of Mont Cassel, towards Poperinge and our lovely little cottage. 



But that didn't mean the excitement was over for the day!

I was just stepping out of the shower that evening, when Jos told me to hurry up and have a look outside. Apparently, a hot air balloon had only just avoided having to make an emergency landing in the field beyond the lake!


34 comments:

  1. Sometimes no plan is the the best plan, especially when one is on a vacation. How lovely you decided to drive to France. Since the French border was only a few kilometres from the cottage you rented, it would have been a shame to miss the opportunity. This French town with a Flamish name looks lovely. It is good you were already familiar with it so you remembered where to park. The St. Peter church looks quite unique and beautiful. It sounds like it has had quite a turbulent history.
    Stylish outfits from both of you. I like your green and yellow styling. The yellow blouse is lovely and the green maxi skirt with yellow zig zag stripes in it is great. Jos' outfit is nice too and his London bag is very stylish!
    Wow, that must have been quite a sight- a hot air balloon making an emergency landing. An exciting day, altogether.

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    1. Thank you Ivana! That hot air balloon was quite spectacular so close by! xxx

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  2. How nice you got to go to France and revisit an old walk you enjoyed before! I really like your chevron print skirt with the yellow top, such a colourful outfit for a really busy and nice day! :)

    We don't have enough vaccines yet for vaccines passports to be a thing but they are talking about doing it - it will be interesting to see if it happens, I think it will make things a lot safer!

    Hope you had a great weekend :) We had so much fun at the Lego exhibition at the museum yesterday.

    Away From The Blue

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    1. Thank you Mica! We've got enough vaccines here, in fact most people have been vaccinated twice by now. I think these passports make things a lot safer, but it still isn't a general thing here in Belgium either ... xxx

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  3. Yellow and the zigzag skirt, you look gorgeous Ann. Cassel is a very charming little town. Thank you so much for many amazing pictures and this day out with you.
    with a very huge hug Tina

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    1. Thank you Tina! Have you been to Cassel? I know you've been to Bergues which isn't too far from Cassel ... xxx

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  4. What an immersive post! Great photos! I really love the Jesuit chapel and the creepy cemetery (you wouldn't have got me out of there if I'd had my camera). Those vintage Citroen vans are stunning aren't they? Sounds like you had a wonderful time, topped off by that hot air balloon sighting. xxx

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    1. Thank you Claire! I know, it was hard tearing myself away from that cemetery. And I'm not surprised you loved that Citroën van ;-) xxx

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  5. wonderful day - perfect weather, picturesque town and you in a fun zigzag skirt!!
    thanx for taking me with you :-D
    hugsies! xxxx

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  6. What an interesting day full of quirky buildings and oddities! And you had great weather. Loved your outfit; the skirt was fab. I bet you've never been that close to a hot air balloon before!
    xxx

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    1. Thank you Vronni! When I was living in the centre of Antwerp, a hot air balloon almost landed at the back of our house. If I stood on our balcony, I could have shaken hands with the rather scared looking people inside the basket! xxx

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  7. Wow, you were able to just drive over the French/Belgian border? Borders here are a Big Deal (we can't even cross to the US without an interrogation!). I love you pictures (as always), and loved the Banksy-esque balloon trailing from the hand of...something??...in the window.

    Lovely outfit - I recognized that skirt immediately - and so glad the weather's been good for your adventures!

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    1. Thank you Sheila! Yes, we can just drive over the French/Belgian border. There are no longer any borders controls between EU countries! xxx

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  8. I love it when border crossings are so simple!
    The achitecture and the faded grandeur is utterly breathtaking and I adore the Citroën H Van - they're often to be seen at festivals selling everything from coffee to cheese on toast!
    You both look fabulous, your zig zag skirt is gorgeous and I'd have been most dispointed if you hadn't got lost at least once on your travails!
    How wonderful to see that hot air balloon.
    I'm glad to hear that the vax pasports are easy to negotiate, hopefully it'll be the same for us! xxx

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    1. I know, isn't it wonderful? Such a shame it will now be even more complicated between the UK and the EU. I hope using the vax passports is easy for you in Greece! xxx

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  9. J'aime la France. Haven't been there for a long time.

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  10. Oh that hot air balloon is close to the lake! Its always intriguing to see them isn't it. That skirt looks amazing on you, I love that print. We have been thinking about going to France for a holiday, my sister always does. I love the history of places like you and Jos went.

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    1. France is a wonderful country, it seems, but I still prefer the UK :-) xxx

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  11. Your photos are always so beautiful-better than any travel book. Glad to hear the fly paper was gone!
    American border crossings going to Canada or Mexico are such a hassle. Glad it is easier between France and Belgium.

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    1. Thank you so much Goody! I couldn't wait to check out whether the fly paper was still there :-) xxx

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  12. Oh wow, looks like you guys had a nice day! And I absolutely love all the photos, and you look incredible in our outfit. Loving that print of your skirt as well <3

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  13. This post was (is) such a welcome, delightful entry filled with some of the pleasures that speak to many a travel lover's heart immediately.

    Thank you so much for letting us tag on with you and Jos. It is sincerely appreciated.

    Autumn Zenith 🎃 Witchcrafted Life

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  14. That looks like a lovely day - those towns went through a lot in the 20th century, so it's nice to see them looking tranquil now.

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    1. Thank you Mim, it really was a wonderful day. The North of France is quite often overlooked, but there are a couple of small towns which are well worth visiting! xxx

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  15. Ann I'm quite jealous it all looks so gorgeous and tranquil.

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    1. Thank you Gisela, we're still not confident enough to face crowded places, which we aren't fans of anyway. xxx

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  16. Fabulous photos, Anne, so beautiful details!, thanks for taking us for a (vicarious) walk into this town and its amazing atmosphere.
    Love your zigzag skirt and yellow top, so delightful colours!
    besos

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    1. Thank you Monica, you're always welcome to tag along! xxx

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