On Sunday, Thomas and I joined up with an English-speaking group to do some hiking in a small town called Asse. It wasn’t too far – just a 30 minute train ride from Brussels. Though the morning looked like rain, the day was gorgeous with clear blue skies.
The group was very diverse – we had people from Belgium, Germany, Canada, Malta, Wales, Spain, China and Romania. Thomas and I were the only Americans. I really enjoy these multi-national groups because I’m meeting people from places I know nothing about. It’s fascinating.
The walk was through the countryside, so we passed a lot farms. We figured out that they were growing corn, but it was all cut down. We also saw lots of farm animals – some I’ve never seen before, like black sheep (from the nursery rhyme!) and tiny horses (about the side of a large dog). The goats and the sheep were my favorite.
Our hike went around the perimeter of a few castles, but they didn’t quite look like the castles I imagined – with stone towers and moats. They were more like the outrageously-priced, huge mansions in the US, just with more land surrounding them.
We also saw these little chapels all around. You couldn’t go in the little huts, but they had benches in front of them and religious statues behind a window. It was odd seeing them out between farms, but someone suggested that they might have just been a place for farmers to pray on their way to the fields.
When we were done, we were all exhausted. We walked about 15 kilometers, a little over 9 miles, in about 5 hours. We walked back to the main part of town, passing one more Carnival parade, and had a drink at a cafe. It was a great trip, and I hope to meet up with this group another time.
Because we were expecting rain, I took my little pocket-sized Panasonic Lumix on this trip. I think it did a pretty good job. The rest of the photos are on Flickr:
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That looks like a great trip indeed!
That goat looks HUGE!
:D
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You know, if you read the title of this blog real quick, it just doesn’t read well. Thank goodness there’s an E at the end of it. :P
Love the pics, keep blogging!
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Brabant has a lot to see it seems. We’ve mostly stayed in East Flanders and Antwerp when it comes to sight seeing. Maybe this summer we’ll check out the southern part of the country.
Beautiful photos. It looks like a fun hike. Grandpa’s stepfather was born on the Island of Malta (Grandpa Inglott). I think it is a common name there.