Saturday morning was bright, sunny and promising so we made a decision to get out of the house and explore Belgium. We had been shut in for the last 3 or 4 weekends due to rainy weather or chores such as income taxes. Of course, by the time we had breakfast and made it to the car, the sun was replaced by clouds. But we headed east anyway on E-40 towards Liege. A short distance past Liege we headed south on E-42 through Verviers and soon cut off on the small highway (N629) to the town of Spa, our first stop. We found the sun again, too, and the weather was milder than Brussels, maybe in the upper 50s.
Spa is the town from which all the other spas took their name. The waters of Spa were famous in Roman times and are used either by bathing or drinking for the treatment of cardiac, rheumatoid and respiratory disorders. Many famous people, royalty, statesmen and celebrities have taken the waters here. Its heyday was the late 1800s and early 1900s and it loses some of its glamour in today’s world.
We walked around town and into the bathhouse but could only see the entry hall with the source of the waters of the spa Reine. The casino didn’t open until 3:00 pm and was quite small – definitely not Las Vegas style. We walked around the pretty town and down one nice promenade in town lined with tall trees. Spa is a hikers delight, too, with several trails and promenades throughout the forests. We stopped at the visitor’s center and purchased some posters, which were reproductions of earlier days.
From Spa we headed south to Francorchamps and the home of Belgium’s Grand Prix auto race each year. We could see the track and grandstands from the highway. In fact, the highway (N62) is shut off the week of the race and becomes part of the racetrack.
By the time we arrived at the pretty, quaint town of Stavelot we were hungry for lunch. We consulted our Michelin red guide and came across the only recommended restaurant in town, the LeVal d’Ambleve. It was connected to a little country inn on the outskirts of town and didn’t look crowded. We pulled in and found out we were the only diners in the restaurant. It was about 1:00 pm and our meal, which turned out to be one of the best we’ve had in Belgium (or anywhere), lasted until about 3:30.
We both chose the gourmet menu of the day as everything sounded good to us. To keep us occupied, we were given fresh whole grain bread loaves hot from the oven with lots of creamy butter. The first course was a salad of mixed greens with pan fried shrimp and croutons with a very nice lemony, buttery dressing – sort of a beure blanc. Rita went through her guesses with the waiter on which herbs she thought were in the dressing and how it was prepared. He confirmed that and seemed to enjoy that we knew the herbs (and a little French). The chef served the next course! It was sliced roast veal in a Calvados sauce and lots of vegetables. There were little green beans, carrots, pureed potatoes deep-fried in an almond batter and roasted, buttery apple slices. It tasted great. Dessert was even better. It was a chocolate mousse cake served with a cinnamon-vanilla cream sauce and was yummy. We had an excellent bottle of white Burgundy called Montagny by Chateau Latour. After coffee and tea, which were served with little chocolates, we were ready for a nap.
Instead we drove into Stavelot, parked the car and walked around the pretty town. The main attraction is a 7th century abbey which we couldn’t tour as it is under renovations until October. The town has many half-timbered houses, making one think he was in Alsace Lorraine. Hanging from all the lampposts and many houses were masks of the Blancs-Moussis, characters with long red noses and enormous white hooded costumes. Just the previous Sunday, Stavelot celebrated its well-known carnival, a mid-Lent carnival on what is called Refreshment Sunday. We also looked into the pretty 18th century St. Sebastien church. Finally we decided to get back to the highway.
We took highways N66 and N633 through the pretty valley in the Ardennes forest with the Ambleve river flowing along side us and the occasional chateau or deserted castle in the distance. We drove through the towns of Trois Ponts, Coo, La Gleize, Stoumont, Nonceveux, Montjardin and finally Comblain-au-Pont where the Ambleve flows into the Ourthe River. Here we headed north towards Liege but we stopped in the pretty town of Poulseur and went to a butcher for some sliced, smoked Ardennes ham. We were reminded that we were not in Brussels and the people in these little towns don’t speak English. Rita navigated us through Liege and soon we were on the highway home after a nice day out and a great meal.
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