Today we travelled a little further north into Belgium and stopped in the quaint town of Dinant situated on the Meuse River, the birth place of, Adolphe Sax, the inventor of the saxophone, and the Abbey de Leffe beer! Our day started with a cooler outlook this morning with cloud cover and we even thought that there may be some rain, but not to be!
After taking on water etc, we drove on to Dinant, arriving shortly after midday. The roads and highways in Belgium have quite a way to go to meet the standards of the roads in Germany.
Our entrance to Dinant was through the rock outcrop, Rocher Bayard, with a breadth of 2.5 metres - a narrow squeeze for our van! The town is stretched along both sides of the Meuse, and protected on both sides by towering cliffs - perhaps a great place to build a citadel! We found a shady parking spot from where we could visit the town. We set out on our walk along the banks of the Meuse but were not that impressed with what we saw, not a lot of care had been taken within the town. The further we went however, and as we entered into the town proper, we quickly changed our minds. The surrounds became cleaner and tidier, and the scenic area of the town opened up.
And, surprise, surprise, there was a citadel! A very famous citadel, in fact. The strategic location of the town has been recognised over the centuries, with the citadel being built as the guardian of the Meuse Valley. Many battles have been fought over the centuries because of this position.
The Dinant’s other main attraction is the landmark Church of Notre Dame de Dinant. It was rebuilt in Gothic style on its old foundations after falling rocks from the cliff above partially destroyed the former Romanesque style church in 1227. Plans for a pair of towers on the west end were completed before the project was abandoned in favour of the present central tower with the famous onion dome.The large stained glass window was particularly impressive.
A walk across the bridge opened up a most delightful scenic view of Dinant. The Bridge was lined with colourful arty saxophones from all parts of the world.
The story of the invention/development of the saxophone by Adolphe Sax, a native of Dinant, was well told in a museum dedicated to his life and the development of the Saxophone. The issues he faced around this plagued him for the rest of his life, sadly dying a pauper in Paris in 1894!
A culinary tradition in Dinant is the couque de Dinant, Europe's hardest biscuit, made from equal amounts of wheat flour and honey that is pressed into a carved wooden mould before baking.
We later returned to the van just as the day started to warm up late in the afternoon. We decided not to move on to Givet but to stay the night in Divant.
Other things that caught our attention around Divant:
A simple but attractive home front.
A memorial for the victims of an atrocity in 1914.
The martyrs memorial.
The Battle of Dinant in 1914 saw Lt Charles de Gaulle wounded - now a statue of him stands on the Meuse in his honour.
What an interesting blog about Dinant, loved it. The stained glass in the church was awesome, and I thought all the lovely flower pots outside the house were also great, honesty must be alive and well in this place. So the sax began here, nice statue of Mr Sax, who's the bloke with him?? With not much space between the water and the cliffs, people still find room to build, its so quaint. xxxx
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