A few days ago, we went on a daytrip to Namur, the capital city of the same called province of Namur. I searched around for a citywalk on the internet, and found one that looked short and interesting.  The distance was about 4 kilometers and I think we were away for two and a half hours, including lunch in Brasserie François near the end of the walk. There’s a map included in the download link of the external website.

The walk started and ended at the Citadel of Namur. They climbed the Citadel at the end of their walk, we started with it. When you go on top of the Citadel, you get an excellent view over the city and the confluence of the two rivers the Sambre (Samber) and the Meuse (Maas), which isn’t so spectacular, but still :-). The Meuse used to be an important defense mechanism, together with the huge citadel. However, both couldn’t prevent that the city would be taken over several times in history. Nowadays it’s an important touristic sight.

Other sightings we passed by were the Archeological Museum, The Place d’Armes and the Belfort, which is Unesco World Heritage. The Belfort was built for the first time in the 14th Century. The one you see nowadays was built in the 16th Century. The Place d’Armes used to be the “Grote Markt” were the City Hall was placed. But during the First World War it was ruined and rebuilt in another place (you pass it by during this walk as well). Not far from the Belfort lies the Théâtre Royal.
We also passed by the Provincial Museum of Old Arts, the City Hall and some churches, like the Église Saint-Loup, built in the 17th  Century by the Jesuits. The church is closed most of the times, but we were lucky. It’s a nice decorated church in baroque style. Another church you pass by is the Église St. Jean-Baptiste, the oldest church in Namur, and the Cathédrale Saint-Aubain. Next to the last one you can find the Palace of the Governor. The cathedral was closed however, so we couldn’t visit it. But the Brasserie we had lunch, was just next to it ;-).

After our lunch we walked back to our car via a pathway along the Sambre and with a nice view on the citadel.

View over the city
Inside the Église Saint-Loup
Searching for Utopia?
The confluence of the Sambre and the Meuse
The congres and the Belfort
The Cathedral
Walkinga long the Sambre

We found the city really nice and charming to walk around. It doesn’t have the atmosphere and the beauty of Bruges or Ghent, but still… A good city to spend some time and walk around.