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The High Point

The highest point in Belgium, Signal de Botrange, can be reached in just 45 minutes from the highest point in Luxembourg. It has its own dedicated parking lot with a restaurant (and toilets, if they’re open…they were temporarily closed when I was there, along with the restaurant). It was surprisingly windy here, so despite multiple attempts, I did not manage to get an adequate photo with the flag properly displayed. At least the AACR logo is visible on my shirt! 🙂 Also, please ignore my footwear selection…I’d be standing on a 3-country border with Germany later that day.

The observation tower (meteorological station) behind me in the first photo above is 24 meters (79 feet) tall, and it was built in 1934. 11 years earlier, in 1923, the stairs I’m standing on here were built. Why? Apparently, because the natural high point was officially 694 meters (2,277 ft). As Belgium is like most countries and uses the metric system, their love of logical, round numbers extended to wanting their highest point to sit at 700 meters. Americans will cringe here, because that puts it at 2,297 ft. If they’d made the stairs just 1 meter taller, it would be a nice and even 2,300 ft! 🙂

This area also is the most likely part of Belgium to have snow, as it’s the wettest and coldest part of the country, so there are plenty of cross-country skiing trails here in winter. This could make it a fun season to do the BeNeLux peaks with a combination of transportation modes (several have cycled and run parts or all of this!). Also, note that while I started in Luxembourg, it’s possible to do this loop from Brussels as well, for about the same total drive time of 5-6 hours.

After this stop, it was another 45-minute drive to Mount Vaalserberg, the highest point of the Netherlands.

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Liège

Mount Vaalserberg is less than an hour’s drive from Liège, where I’d found an affordable Airbnb for the night. I arrived after 9pm, when most kitchens were closed, but the hosts recommended a Lebanese place that was still open. It worked out perfectly – they made me a plate of different gluten-free foods! 🙂 I slept right after that, as it had been a pretty long day – I’d started it in London!

The next morning, I left the Airbnb fairly early for some exploring. It was a perfect spot to crash for a night, and it would have been nice for an even longer stay. It’s called the “Cool Cool Room“, but the whole apartment is so creatively designed, with a gorgeous terrace! It does have quite a few stairs, so I’d recommend traveling with a backpack here. It was located a very short walk from the Montagne de Bueren, which was part of the reason I’d wanted to spend some time in Liège to begin with. My logic was that since these high points didn’t require much effort, I should tack on the famous 30% incline, 374-step stairs.

These stairs were built in 1881 for the military, to allow a direct connection between the barracks and the citadel in the city center. There were a few runners out that day, putting my out-of-breath, I-should-still-be-sleeping effort to shame. I have a lot of respect for multi-lap Manitou Incline runners in Colorado Springs…those have 2,768 steps with an average incline of 45% (and a starting elevation of nearly 2,000 meters).

In any case, there were some beautiful views of the city from the top! As I still had Luxembourg City to explore later that day, I didn’t hang around too long. I descended and went on a quick tour around a few areas before grabbing a delicious breakfast from Kraime (great gluten-free options!). I then walked back along the Meuse River back to where I’d parked, to head back to Luxembourg.

The locations I stopped through in Liège are included in the map at the bottom of this post, and unfortunately I didn’t do a great job of taking photos along the way. I did take videos though, and those are included in the Belgium Instagram highlights!

My final recommendation would be to try a Liège waffle. The two main “waffle styles” in Belgium originate in Brussels and Liège, so it’s definitely worth trying if you’re not limited to gluten-free options 🙂 I unfortunately cannot be the judge. I can only say that Trader Joe’s has the best gluten-free buttermilk pancake mix that makes amazing Belgian-style waffles, with the right waffle maker.

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Pre-Challenge Belgium Trip

While I still haven’t been to the capital city of Belgium, Brussels (and I will update this blog post when I do), I had been in Belgium one time prior to this! It was actually the only BeNeLux country I’d previously been to, unless you count Aruba, a constituent country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. As with this trip, it was for a limited time. 4 friends and I had decided, last-minute, to pile into my very small car, drive to Dover, hop on a ferry to Calais, and drive to Bruges on the morning of New Year’s Eve. The weather was a bit wild, which made for a pretty entertaining ferry ride. Everyone was stumbling around more than they would be at the evening’s celebrations.

Taking a UK car across to mainland Europe means driving on the right side of the road with a right-side driver’s seat. That was my first time doing that, and while it wasn’t as bad as expected, it’s not something I’d enjoy doing again (; particularly when it means starting the day on one side of the road, ending on the other, then reversing the trip the next day.

When we arrived in Bruges, we checked into our hostel and explored the city for a bit. That evening, we headed to the still-open Christmas markets before continuing to the main square, where there was music and lyrics on projectors. At midnight, a light show began and (unofficial) fireworks went off around the square. It was an interesting music selection: everything from traditional folk music, to Bohemian Rhapsody, to the Friends theme song and Sweet Caroline. As usual, I was silent for the first minute of the year, devouring the “lucky grapes”. I’d dragged my friends down that path with me. (Side note, I have no idea how the “under the table” trend started – that’s never been how we’ve done the tradition!) We stayed out a big longer after midnight, joining in for line dances and conga lines.

The next day, we drove 45 minutes further into Belgium to visit Ghent. The Christmas markets were a bit of a ghost town on New Year’s Day, but it didn’t make the city any less beautiful to visit! We decided to squeeze in a boat tour, which was definitely a worthwhile way to see the city a bit quicker, then drove back to Calais to catch the ferry back to England. Less than 48 hours later and a bit sleep-deprived, but somehow alert through the massive storm along the drive, I made it back to London.

I’d definitely recommend this city for NYE celebrations. It wasn’t to difficult to get seats in bars, it was a good balance of full-but-not-too-crowded, and there are some nice traditional foods and drinks to try. The five of us took over a five-bed room in a hostel, so it was almost like having our own place. The whole trip was really affordable and fun! 🙂

THANK YOU ❤

Thanks for reading my fourth Crown of Cureope blog post. At the time I stood on the top of Belgium, we had raised $950!! I really appreciate your contributions- they’re all going directly to the American Association for Cancer Research to fund lifesaving discoveries.

Next up, the Netherlands! 🙂

Kristen 🙂

Map of this trip: