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Have Bag, Will Travel: Bouillon

  • Writer: belljohnson111
    belljohnson111
  • Dec 5, 2015
  • 3 min read

Bouillon is a charming town in southern Belgium. It's quaint and reminicisent of the little village that Belle, the Disney princess, calls primeval. While the town might fit the dictionary defintion, I loved it. Being able to escape the city for a day and enjoy hikes in the woods and falconry shows was much needed after a few weeks of hard work.

That being said, I went to Bouillon on a whim with two of my roommates while studying abroad in Brussels. Without the access to a car getting to Bouillon was difficult. A train, another train, and two buses later we finally made it to Bouillon.

First on the list was visiting Godfrey's castle. Imagine a dark, imposing structure of rock sitting high up on a hill casting the rest of the town in shadow. Godfrey's castle pretty much fufills the descreption. The namesake for the castle sold it to finance his travels to the Crusades. That dates it for you. I've been to my fair share of castles but this wasn't like anything I'd seen before. Dark, damp and archaic. It's worth seeing if not for the history but for the views. Fresh air blows through the mountains along the river and hits the castle.

While at the castle, we sawa falconry show. Worth it if you like birds of prey or have kids.

Later, my roommates and I visited the tourist center to get a map for the hiking trials. Maybe it was our poor French but we would find out much later how much got lost in translation. We checked the bus time and realized we would take the second to last bus out of Bouillon. As long as we made it up to the top of the mountain and back in two hous we'd be fine. Unfortunatly, things aren’t clearly marked in Belgium.

Without a clear trial to take up to the lookout point, we, on an impulse, started climbing what we thought was a trail only to find it was the marks left from runoff water down the mountain. So picture this: three girls, clawing and climbing their way up a muddy 80 degree angle incline. Comical to say the least. We could have just climbed down, but I was determined to find the pinnacle of the mountain even if it killed me. I wasn’t going to let a mountain get the better of me. Some laughs, tears and multiple falls later, we found the trail we were supposed to take. Covered in mud and mentally, emotionally, and physically defeated, we made it to the top. The view was worth it.

This brief soujourn cost us our planned bus ride. We waited three more hours to catch the last train out of dodge, but like I said earlier things in Belgium aren't marked clearly, and we almost missed that last bus too. After overcoming the shock of possibly having to spend the night in this random town and the tramau of the hiking expedition, we were very happy to crawl in our beds.

Bouillon is a fabulous little town, and I recommend it for people who want a break from the big cities. That being said though, take a lesson from my book and rent a car or have better French skills than me. It could save you the many headaches.


 
 
 

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