After a few days in Luxembourg we took the train across the border into Belgium to explore some cities there. We started with the one that a guidebook described as, “visually stunning” with the bonus of being the hometown of the inventor of the saxophone—an instrument that I played (badly) a long time ago. How could we resist? But with this being Belgium there were bound to be other temptations too such as chocolate, beer, waffles, and fries and we went in search of a local speciality—Couque de Dinant.

To get to the citadel high above the city, you have the choice of climbing up 408 steps, later followed by trudging down those same steps or taking a cable car round trip. That seems like an easy 13€ per person decision since it includes the transportation plus entrance into the Citadel of Dinant. From there you have a commanding view of the city below from the spot where some type of fortification has existed since at least 1050. The current structure was built by the Dutch in 1821 and still includes the dungeons, workshops, kitchens, and arms collection plus an immersive recreation of a WWI trench and shelter. 

Back down at river level, the cable car conveniently drops you right beside the 13th century Church of Notre Dame. While it’s been destroyed and rebuilt many times since then, the distinctive bulbous spire remains a trademark of the town.

Not far from the church, on the street aptly named rue Adolphe Sax sits the house where the inventor of the saxophone was born in 1814. Despite the eventual popularity of this musical instrument, especially with the arrival of jazz, Sax died penniless in Paris in 1894 never knowing of his achievement. 

With bottles of Leffe beer in our refrigerator back home, our last stop was inevitable. The Abbaye Notre-Dame de Leffe was founded in 1152 and they began brewing beer there in 1240 with the initial goal of avoiding typhus and other waterborne diseases. While this building continues to serve its religious purpose, the brewing operation has been moved to the chapel of a former convent across the river. The museum there illustrates the beer-making process and allows you to taste some of the 11 choices that I counted on their menu. Entrance fee: 15€.

So, we’d found the beer, we’d walked by two chocolate shops, and at least a dozen restaurants featuring waffles including one called “Mimi La Frite” where I’d expect to find both fries and waffles. For that local specialty, Couque de Dinant, traditionally made with only honey and flour, there was a bakery that’s been making these cookies since 1860. Then I read that these, “are baked until they become incredibly hard and dry, and have historically been given to teething babies.” So, we bought chocolates on the way back to the train station.😁