Tournai: walking around in the historic city center. (part 1)
Right after my work trip to France I repacked my suitcase and drove off to Tournai/ Doornik, near the French border. Together with 2 friends, we had rented an apartment for the weekend and we'd do some citytripping in Belgium.
The first evening we were too lazy and too much catching up in the comfortable sofa to get out in the city much more than the obligatory hunt for some food ...where we ended out of ease in a decent but not spectacular bistro on the big market square. Other than that we enjoyed the sofa in the apartment and our own appetizers and being together.
In order to reach the appartment on 2nd floor, you had to climb a very asymmetric wooden staircase with crooked steps that lean randomly to another side. Pretty scary the first times!
I knew that Doornik is known for its huge cathedral which is unique in Belgium because partially still roman ...which is earlier and rare compared to most medieval cities in Belgium and then partially gothic with 5 great towers. I've visited this cathedral once in high school Other than the cathedral I had not much knowledge about the city but we trusted there'd be enough around to keep us busy for more than 24 hours.
And indeed we walked all over the place on Saturday, combining the many little inacurately describe little theme walks that we received from the tourist info desk . It's handy to have little theme walks (medieval highlights, art nouveau, textile industry, ...) but combining them in one longer walk that covers it all would be more practical. Because we weren't going to cross the same squares multiple times , each time looking for a different theme. And now the maps were very abstracted that made the walks a bit of guess work. But we did and ended up covering a great distance in the rather small city, blessed by the weather where the sun managed to chase the initial grey clouds.
Orienting in Doornik is easy: the great cathedral dominates the heart of the city and can be spotted most of the time. Unfortunately the gothic half is under renovation, hiding behind scaffolding and inside a big image cloth hangs in the middle of the church. So you can only see and visit the Roman part, which only shows you half of the size of the cathedral. This church is in fact greater than the Notre Dame in Paris and I remember the huge light difference between both sections when you can observe the church in its entirity. Too bad, we'll have to come back in x years.
And indeed we walked all over the place on Saturday, combining the many little inacurately describe little theme walks that we received from the tourist info desk . It's handy to have little theme walks (medieval highlights, art nouveau, textile industry, ...) but combining them in one longer walk that covers it all would be more practical. Because we weren't going to cross the same squares multiple times , each time looking for a different theme. And now the maps were very abstracted that made the walks a bit of guess work. But we did and ended up covering a great distance in the rather small city, blessed by the weather where the sun managed to chase the initial grey clouds.
Orienting in Doornik is easy: the great cathedral dominates the heart of the city and can be spotted most of the time. Unfortunately the gothic half is under renovation, hiding behind scaffolding and inside a big image cloth hangs in the middle of the church. So you can only see and visit the Roman part, which only shows you half of the size of the cathedral. This church is in fact greater than the Notre Dame in Paris and I remember the huge light difference between both sections when you can observe the church in its entirity. Too bad, we'll have to come back in x years.
The big market with its typical Flemish craft guilt houses and the oldest belfry tower of Belgium.
The city hall is housed in an old abbey site and now holds some impressive tapistry in its public entry hall staircase.
The concentration of (early) gothic churches in the small city center was remarkable. Some of them were funded by rich textile merchants, showing off the richness and importance the city had during the early Flemish Burgundian rule. But there were already excavations showing the existence of Roman basilica.
The many churches seemed like a good option to hide out for the chilly drizzle outside in the morning but in the end all these churches in typical grey Tournai limestone (as many churches along the river Scheldt, also in my hometown Deinze) were so freezing cold that we quickly returned outside to warm up. Because of the renovations in the cathedral making the stained glass windows invisible, we admired those in the other churches.
The many churches seemed like a good option to hide out for the chilly drizzle outside in the morning but in the end all these churches in typical grey Tournai limestone (as many churches along the river Scheldt, also in my hometown Deinze) were so freezing cold that we quickly returned outside to warm up. Because of the renovations in the cathedral making the stained glass windows invisible, we admired those in the other churches.
Tournai is an important place along the northern Compostella pelgrimage routes
Old fortifications
The old fortified bridge was very impressive. It had been partially rebuilt in recent years with a much higher archway than the historic predecessor to allow greater shipping traffic to pass by.
One of the 2 priest seminars in the city center
Tournai seems to have a special link as well with the famous Martine/Tiny child books. One of them has an edition of Martine in Tournai. She has a sculpture in the city center.
By the end of the afternoon, we had covered probably all we could cover in the city centre, but we were delighted to give our feet some rest and chill after the really nice discovery of this historic but rather unknown city.
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