Gary Kirkpatrick

Artist and travel blogger.

So Inclined- Belgium’s lift technology

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From Tournai we made our way easterly, stopping for the night on a dock equipped for large barges just outside Ascenseur 4 – on the old Canal du Centre. There are four elevator locks on the old canal, replaced by the new canal and the Strepy-Thieu lock that bypasses the four locks, raising boats 73 meters/240 feet straight up in a single motion. This saves hours compared to the four old elevators.

Nearby our mooring there’s a store called Bella Sicilia. No choice, we just had to go there, even with rain threatening. The recommended route took us through a closed-off underpass along a muddy unused dirt road for a few hundred meters. Then it was a wooded country lane into town.

When we arrived there was a sign saying Bella Sicilia was permanently closed. Disappointed and about to leave, we saw that behind us stood Bella Sicilia reborn, open and doing business in a much bigger space. Inside it’s an instant journey to Palermo. Almost everything is Italian branded. There’s a huge deli counter, five employees serving the locals. You can choose among a huge variety of stuffed breads, and several arancini, the rice balls that are THE street food of Palermo. All this and more in a tiny country town in a very small country far from Italy.

I learned that almost all the employees speak Italian. I spoke with a woman who wanted to know where we were from and the like.

After two daysat the dock by the elevator lock we went to the Strépy-Thieu Boat Life. We were about to rise 73 meters straight up.

thieu lock in distance
The lift’s tower rises in the mist

Four hours later at the Viesville lock the lock keeper said it was closed for a week due to objects that had damaged the mechanism. Fortunately our batteries were full and there was plenty of water in the tank. We sailed back two hours to Menage, a tiny village with a brand new barge dock, directly across from Le Nautic Lodge, a restaurant we enjoyed several years back.

Manage has grocery stores, bars and bakeries, as well as a train station. The train to Brussels takes just a bit over an hour with one change. We visited the Victor Horta Museum, a house designed and lived in by the architect Victor Horta (1861-1949), before taking a self-guided walking tour to see a half dozen turn of the century Art Nouveau houses, some designed by him.

horta 1

After four days near Manage we again sailed away from our destination for about two hours to the WSV (abbreviation for a marina owned and run by members) at Ittre. We’d been there before and found the location to be pleasant even if barely adequate for a boat of our size. The people were very friendly and helpful on our last visit. Getting to town to make purchases requires ascending a long and very steep hill. A member drove us there to get a few things that time.

On the way to Ittre we passed through the Plan Incliné de Ronquières, the Inclined Plane, a lock that moves boats from one level to the next in a large basin that is moved along rails.

Plan Inclinee in Belgium
Plan Incliné de Ronquières
cheeese bella sicilia
Cheeses at Bella Sicilia
arancini
One of the first two arancini we tried. I biked back for 2 more.
thieu lock tower
After entering the lock the gate drops down, then the tub rises
Manage
One of the planks at the Nautic Lodge.

ittre club
Some of the friendly members in the club house

After sidling up to the visitors dock we helped a couple dock their boat. In turn they bought us a beer. There’s Chouffe on tap, one of Belgium’s best that is available nation-wide, exported as well. We spent the next few hours talking. Our story is unusual in many respects, being Americans deep in the Belgium countryside on our own boat after starting far away in Haarlem. In boat terms that is a good distance. Many boaters are confined to local travel due to time and budget constraints so are interested to learn more.

Afterwards we saw an email from Wallonie notifications. The blocked lock had been cleared. Tomorrow we have several hours to go before we get back on course, including another trip through the Plan Inclinee and several locks with 7 meter drops.

Our friendly neighbors for the night left at 9:30 the next morning. When we arrived at the lock at 11:30, they were still waiting. The backlog of commercial vessels was just clearing.

Tournai

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Tournai is an ancient city sitting on the banks of the river Schelde, which terminates in Antwerp and there subject to some mighty tides. Recently a large barge capsized, killing the captain. Here there is just a gentle current.

Dating to Roman times, fortified in the 3rd century. It was the capital of the empire of the Franks in the 5th century. The next capital was Paris.

I am in awe of Notre Dame de Tournai. What a magnificent structure and so old – construction began in the 12th century. Its five towers stun the observer with their beauty, soaring high, dominating the skyline. The square towers rise to 83 meters/272 ft. It is a World Heritage Site.

The building was hit by a strong tornado in August 1999, revealing underlying structural issues. Repairs and and archaeological work continue.

Tournai main square
The Gran Place

We revisited our favorite restaurant here. L’Imperatrice (The Empress) is traditional Belgian cuisine, heavy on the meats, also featuring rabbit and duck. Sauces and gravies are a big deal in the cuisine, and these they do superbly, as with the fries. The same waitress served us. She’s a pro, making sure we understood what was on offer this day. Peg did, and loved the duck with its rich dark sauce. I did not quite get it. They served a substantial amount of smoked salmon on my plate, with two stuffed tomatoes, their version of the diet plate. I liked it but it was not what I came here for, which in this case I believed was a sauteed salmon. I also failed to order one or more of their many Belgian beers on tap and in the bottle, opting for wine, good but not Belgium. But beer with fish? Maybe with deep fried, on the menu as Fish and Chips, but not salmon in any configuration.

l-imperatrice
L’Imperatrice in Tournai

Previous visit to Tournai

cathedral tournai
Notre Dame de Tournai from the Grand Place
mons jesus sculpt
Jesus giving the keys to Peter. The most effeminate Jesus I have ever seen.

Tippy canoe

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We entered the Oster (east) Schelde after a night in Willemstadt. The Oster Schelde leads to the North Sea. This means we are in a tidal zone, with significant tidal current at times. If the wind is against the current, or simply if it’s very windy, the water can get pretty rough. This can make us passengers pretty uncomfortable. Fortunately we did not have this issue despite the wind. However upon entering the harbor for the night we had to turn to face the wind to control the boat, otherwise the wind can push the back end of the boat away from the dock when you want the opposite to occur, of course.

Some friendly boaters helped with the lines, showed us where we were supposed to go, as we had first moored in order to find our assigned spot rather than taking the boat into more narrow spaces. Then they helped us moor at our assigned space, the one given to us by phone earlier in the day.

The next day at 6:45 a.m. we left for Terneuzen. We did not get far. Just outside the harbor the water was too rough for comfort so we returned to our mooring, having to pay the big bucks for the night. This zone is more expensive than most areas of the Netherlands. The next day promised to be sunny and calm and indeed it was. It is a route said to be traversed by many big ships. It was that as well. The small craft lock was closed for maintenance or repair, so after some confusion we found ourselves going into the huge lock with the big boys.

On the canal going south we were in some dense fog from time to time. It lifted by the time we arrived at the next lock, at Haanswert. After that huge lock you enter the Wester Schelde. Following it in the southeasterly direction takes you into Antwerp. As we head in the opposite direction, to Terneuzen, we were running with the low tide. We cruised at 7km per hour over our normal cruising speed of 10 kph. Going against the current would mean 7km under our cruising speed, about 3km per hour, so there’s a huge difference. had we gone to Antwerp at this time it would have been very slow going. Here you must pay attention to the tide tables, which we had not required to do since we took the U.S. Power Squadron course in the early 1990’s.

The last time we entered Belgium we went through Antwerp, going south from the Haaswert lock rather than angling to Terneuzen as we did today. By this route you enter the port of Antwerp, the largest or second in Europe. However AIS (Automatic Identification System) is now required. Something approaching $1000 is what you need to lay out for the purchase and installation of the equipment. This is the first time we have found it to be a requirement, so the expense is not justified.

So we were off to Terneuzen. We weren’t alone. We were with huge inland barges and gigantic seagoing vessels, but this is a large body of water so we were not at all concerned. For safety and to avoid the sometimes significant wakes, the harbor master told us to stay between the green and yellow markers, the small craft lane. The route is well marked so you avoid the shallow areas exposed by the tide. In fact we passed by several visible sand banks along the way. Most large vessels stayed out of the zone marked by the green and yellow buoys. Using it reduces the distance you need to travel. We were bounced around by wakes from time to time, but nothing above about .5 meters.

There is not one but two huge locks at Terneuzen. The lock “meester” directed us to the one to starboard, and to go in behind a particular huge ship, one with lots of pipes and things on it making it look like a floating oil refinery. We were tied to the huge ship splinter-laden moorings for over an hour as more lumbering giants entered. Finally about a half dozen monster commercial ships emerged from the open door. Then in went the big boys waiting with us, followed by us and one other small boat, once the lock meester told us it was our turn. It took over an hour to this point and we still had the lock to go. Huge ships struggle to get going, so once the door was open it was at least another 20 minutes before we were out and into the canal, the concerns about the crossing behind us.

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Giant lock at Haanswert, two huge barges at the front.
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One of the huge ships staying in their lane
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In the lock at Terneuzen
The gigantic gates at the Terneuzen lock- I am holding the boat in place while shooting this thus the shakiness.

Ships pass in the night

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With good weather upon us we sidled into a mooring on the Gouwe River in Waddinxveen next to the lifting bridge. Along the way we passed a huge lot filled with containers used to transfer goods on container ships. The barges that load and unload there passed by our mooring over the next few days, day and night, as we snuggled behind the huge pylons.

After completing the chores we had been unable to complete due to the weather, we moved down the river to Gouda. Gouda is an ancient town, founded by the Goude family circa 11th century, near where the city hall is now, in what was then a peat zone. Peat was harvested for fuel for centuries.

The 13th century castle was destroyed in the 16th century. In the 19th century the city walls were removed. However the city is still divided by many canals.

As we were coming into the central harbor we had to wait for a bridge to open. We blinked our eyes trying to interpret what we were seeing. A large barge was backing up through a narrow bridge.

After passing the lock and the next bridge, and had been moored for a few minutes, the friendly havenmeister (harbor master) came by, recommending we move to the other side where there was electricity and water. The price was the same where we were, while lacking those amenities.

We walked through old neighborhoods to the old harbor. There are a dozen or so turn of the century barges converted for their live-aboard occupants. There’s a very charming small restaurant by the lock with its what I half jokingly call guillotine style gates, as I cower beneath their sharp looking down facing blade when we enter.

Gouda’s city hall is world famous, for good reason. Today the huge plaza is filled with the Thursday cheese market

Gouda cheese market
Photo by Peg

Gouda is indeed the home of the cheese of the same name, in case you were wondering. It is the world’s oldest cheese produced with the same recipe, first mentioned in 1184. It is wrapped in wax to retain moisture. Here, unlike in most countries, there are many versions of the cheese, varying by the degree of aging, from one to twenty months. The latter is termed ‘oude Gouda.” I have tried some that are as hard as a well aged Parmesan.

Traditional barge in the old harbor in Gouda
Turn of the century barge in the old harbor

Laying in Leiden

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After a cold and wet week in Haarlem we traversed the town’s bridges as we navigated south, getting a bit lost for a few minutes when we were uncertain about interpreting our new navigation software. The day had turned partly sunny, a rarity to date. We found our way into the municipal harbor in the historical city of Leiden, welcomed by the friendly and helpful harbormaster and his assistant. They were waiting at the two available spots, then had us turn around to face into the wind, as high winds were expected the following day.

Leiden is an ancient city at the junction of Oude Rijn (Old Rhine) and the Nieuwe Rijn, with earliest written reference dating to the 9th century. It is home to the famous Leiden University (1575), where the likes of Rembrandt and John Quincy Adams studied, along with 13 Nobel Prize winners. As we walked about students filled the streets visiting their favorite hang outs, shops and cafes, along with a substantial portion of the city’s population 125,000, with another 100,000 or so in the immediate area.

leiden city hall

It is late spring so as in Haarlem there’s a fest, with a live band playing on a stage along one the many canals.

We stopped for fries at a friets haus (house). Note the clever add-on sauce cups in the photo. In one there’s mayo, in the other a peanut sauce, termed ‘satay’ here. The use the Indonesian term, a remnant of the days of the Dutch East India company that exploited that island nation.

friets

The Pilgrims lived in Leiden before some of them left for the “New” (to them) World, some remaining behind to eventually blend in with the locals. They resided in the area surrounding Pieterskerk. FDR, the Bushes and Obama trace their heritage to this location.

Pieterskerk is a magnificent former church with ceiling soaring high above. Its long central isle has a large organ at one end. There was a chapel here circa 1100, while construction of the current building began in 1390. It became a Protestant church in 1572, The church’s artwork was destroyed during that period, as is common in the Netherlands. The church was deconsecrated in 1971. It isnow is rented out for events. Where the altar once was there now sits a bar with tables.

Beginning with the siege of 1574, there was an annual meal giving thanks for the liberation of the city and the arrival of supplies. This might be the origin of the American Thanksgiving celebration.

st pieter2
Pieterskerk

Small houses snuggle against the towering walls. A pulpit seems to hang mid-air.

st pieter pulpit
A short walk through the old and former church

Leiden University is both impressive and comprehensive in its offerings. Its library contains some 5 million volumes and numerous collections. Affiliated with the Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies, the University houses the Leiden Observatory (1633), the Natural History Museum, the National Museum of Antiquities, a museum of Dutch antiquities, three ethnographic museums, as well as geology and mineralogy museums. The botanical garden is one of the oldest in the world, going back more than four centuries. The large university has no central campus, it’s buildings scattered about. This makes for lots of bike and foot traffic, adding to the dynamic feel. I imagine that living here would be a culturally enriching.

As the weather improved so we had several extensive walks on the busy streets along the canals, and the quieter narrow streets in residential areas. The architecture is typical Dutch, laid out along canals, alleys and a few main streets with little traffic to be found in the center areas.

Pérouges, watercolor painting

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Plaza in Perouges, France, watercolor
Perouges, watercolor, 21 x 29 cm/8.3 x 11.7″ Canson 300 gram paper
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Not far from Lyon is the medieval, walled village of Pérouges. It’s name is derived from Perugia, Italy, a mountain town dating back to the Etruscans. Legend has it that French visitors to Perugia returned to France and then founded the town at least 1000 years ago. It is recognized as one of the most beautiful French villages, see Les Plus Beaux Villages de France. Human presence dates at least to 1500. For more see my entry at One of the most picturesque villages.

Eating the Lyon

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Cuisine Capital of France: that is Lyon. We are here again, curious to find out more about what holding this title means. What do people eat and how much do they pay in the markets, the bars and restaurants? I have anecdotally added to my sense of what’s happening.

We rented an apartment on a busy street near the center of town. Next door as well as across the street are very popular local bars. Beer is the alcoholic beverage of choice in these bars, not wine, so if you think France is a strictly or even predominantly wine culture you should take pause. The French love to eat, but take pause again. In the bars very few people have something to eat, not even peanuts or some such, as they nurse their beer for hours while blathering to friends and lovers.

Also on our street, practically next door, is a bakery, labeled ‘artisan.’ Aside from the mighty French baguette, there’s the even better ‘tradition,’ produced the old fashioned way, yielding a crustier bread and better text for many 10 or 20 cents more. The French have bread making down to an art – the ones more ‘scientifically produced are termed ‘pain industrial’ and do not compare to the real thing, excelling only in shelf life.

bakery
You pay by weight for some breads.

Not far away is a patisserie, a pastry shop that may also sell chocolate. The red pastries you see below, called pralines, are a Lyon specialty, made with almond paste and red dye. It is super sweet pastry. There is also a wide, no, an immense variety of other desserts, from the wonderful eclair to the Napoleon, short like him, but otherwise tasty.

pastis
Patisserie, watercolor painting

Many bakeries offer a lunch special, a baguette, a beverage and a dessert for €7-9. By comparison, most sit down restaurants offer a first, an ‘entree,’ (meaning the first course), a ‘plat’ (main course) and sometimes either a dessert or coffee for around €20, an amount most people can not afford to do too often. The minimum wage is about €18,000 a year.

chocolate
An extra fancy chocolate shop

Here’s what’s on offer at this place (see below) for €18.50. You get an entree + plat or plat + dessert, pay €4 more to get all three. For firsts there is a ravioli with a cheese sauce made with St Marcelin cheese, or onions gratinee, or eggs muerette (a red wine sauce cooked with bacon, onions, shallots, mushrooms and various spices). For seconds there is a steak, a foix gras dish, or a pork filet. For dessert its a praline tart with whipped cream, a fromage blanc (a not sour, sour cream like cheese) dish, a cheese spread with herbs or a sorbet.

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Beaujolais wine is produced just a bit north of Lyon. The low tannin Gamay grape is primary in the area. Among the famous wines are Nouveau Beaujolais, a fresh wine that comes out with great fanfare in early November each year. Since the region is so close I expected wine tasting to be a big part of the local scene. Indeed, there are about 16 wine bars, nothing compared to the number of regular bars, but I think far more than one would find elsewhere in France, let alone other wine producing countries.

We went to two wine bars during our ten days. A glass of mid range wines runs between €6 and €9 at each. The second one we went to is called La Bouteillerie. We had two glasses each, delivered with extensive commentary from the host, whereas at the first our host barely said a word. We talked extensively about the aromas and flavors, as well as the viscosity (‘legs’) of the wines. We were among the first there at 6 pm so he had more time than he might when full, taking about ten minutes with us. It’s not a large place, just three tables inside and three out, so I bet he does a lot of talking regardless. At the very least he discusses the clients’ preferences, coming up with a recommendation if they want one, as we observed as the place filled. He was so communicative that when he learned we were going to his home town of Annecy he gave us restaurant recommendations without us asking. Of course you would want to know where to eat.

We ordered a cheese and meat plate to go along with the wine. The plate was so covered in salad that at first I thought he’d forgotten the cheese and sausage. However there were several very good, very room temperature soft cheeses – this is the way you are supposed to serve cheeses like Camembert as you get the most flavor that way. There was some rosette. A rosette is a Lyon version of salami, rosey in color, thus the name. There were several terrines, ground meat formed into a loaf. One had pistachios, each was spiced and flavored somehow or another. This delightful experience ran us about €60. He only served us €6 wines, not by our request but his recommendations based on what kinds of wines we each like.

Bouchon Les Lyonaisse, another member of the Bouchon Association of restaurants , is at the bottom of a steep hill, about 250 leg aching, next day painful steps down from the L’Antiquaille. Lyon’s excellent early Christianity museum housed in a now closed hospital founded by nuns centuries ago. A bouchon is an old style of restaurant originally serving the canuts, silk workers, specializing in hearty but inexpensive food. They do not seem to be that inexpensive to me, but it is indeed hearty and tasty cuisine. You can avoid the tripe and other innards if you like.

Bouchon Les Lyonnais
A look at the interior of Les Lyonnais.

This is the second bouchon for us. This time it was a lentil dish for an entree and a ravioli for the main. The lentils were in a vinaigrette, the ravioli in an Ementhal cheese sauce, and a lot of it. Both were super, served with some of the best bread ever, by friendly staff. Being friendly is part of being a bouchon.

Salade de Lentilles Vertes au Cervelas
Salade de Lentilles Vertes au Cervelas (a sausage found in several EU countries)
Gratin de ravioles du Dauphiné Label Rouge
Gratin de ravioles du Dauphiné Label Rouge

This lovely lunch ran about €70. Not exactly cheap, is it. If you want cheap yet still good, go to the bakeries or the kebab shops. In the latter a kebab meal, sandwich, fries and beverage run from €9-13.

Wherever you go, you will enjoy!