BRUGES ANTWERP 87 141 105 GHENT THE COAST 57 LIMBURG 177 9 BRUSSELS LIÈGE 197 MONS NAMUR 229 215 229 CHARLEROI 9 BRUSSELS THE ARDENNES GHENT 57 241 87 BRUGES 105 THE COAST 141 ANTWERP 177 LIMBURG 197 LIÈGE 215 NAMUR 229 CHARLEROI & MONS 241 THE ARDENNES Art Art tip Café and bookshop The Wiels café in the old brewing room, where three original brewing vats have been preserved, is an open area where you can discuss the exhibition you have just visited, meet friends for an organic breakfast or a healthy lunch, or read a newspaper while enjoying a cup of Buzzing art scene A new life for industrial heritage fairtrade coffee. The Wiels ≈ ≈ bookshop next to the café The visual arts are well represented in Brussels the most significant art of its time, and exploring More contemporary art works are to be admired 1930 for the Wielemans-Ceuppens brewery offers a fine selection of with two large annual art fairs, BRAFA and a history of culture 2.0. The permanent collection at Wiels. This isn’t a museum however, because (354 Avenue Van Volxem). It is a rare example of works on contemporary Art Brussels, and numerous exciting satellite holds works by artists like Daniel Johnston, there’s no permanent collection; it’s a centre for modernistic industrial architecture in Belgium. art, photography and events. Also the many galleries and the smaller Atelier Pica Pica, Barry McGee and Nicolas contemporary art where exhibitions are held of www.wiels.org architecture. You can museums, often privately owned, provide a Karakatsanis, and the museum also hosts much national and international artists: influential also find exhibition full programme throughout the year. For a talked-about temporary exhibitions. The founders names like Helena Almeida, Luc Tuymans and catalogues, artists’ long time the city lacked a museum of modern of MIMA see art as a medium to bring people Mike Kelley, but also the younger generation editions and various and contemporary art, but after years of fund- together, and they are praised for already having represented by Leigh Ledare or David Claerbout, magazines and fanzines. raising and renovations, MIMA (the Millennium brought back a little hope back to the ill-reputed among others. Wiels also has an artist-in- Iconoclast Museum of Art) finally opened its Molenbeek district. residence programme and organises lectures, doors in April 2016, in a converted brewery along www.mimamuseum.eu meetings and workshops. The centre is housed the Canal. MIMA’s mission is to be the defining in the beautifully restored Blomme building, museum of contemporary art, by presenting named after the architect who designed it in Brussels Brussels Ghent Ghent Bruges Bruges The Coast The Coast Antwerp Antwerp Limburg Limburg Liège Liège Namur Namur Charleroi & Mons Charleroi & Mons The Ardennes 24 25 The Ardennes Hotels and restaurants we love Sleep ① Au Sanglier des Ardennes ③ La Lisière Rue Comte Théodule Rue de la Forge, Durbuy d’Ursel, Durbuy www.lalisiere.be www.sanglier-des-ardennes.be ≈ ≈ This B&B with three rooms and This hotel-restaurant is famous a self-catering cottage benefits from tip in Durbuy and far beyond, the beautiful surroundings, but especially among people who have also from the passion of the owners, Sleeping in a taste for game. It is housed in a Bénédicte Burtin and Stéphane a bubble traditional natural-stone building, Cornet, who both love architecture in a wonderful setting: from the and meeting people. Here, charm In Erezée, you can have dining rooms, you look out on and authenticity go hand-in-hand the ultimate ‘glamping’ a medieval castle and the River with a sociable atmosphere, experience in a unique Ourthe flowing at the foot of the good taste and comfort. tent. It looks very similar hotel. In the restaurant, you can to a bubble, with a large expect gastronomic cuisine with translucent section so local products to make your mouth that you actually can sleep water. under the stars. The round tent has an original décor, ② Le Cor de Chasse designed as romantic 16-18 Rue des sleeping accommodation Combattants, Wéris for two people. ≈ The bathroom lies An exquisitely beautiful and high- ① outside the bubble, some quality hotel-restaurant in a castle 15 metres away. farmstead dating from 1681. In the www.ardennes-etape.be Along the River Ourthe open kitchen, chef Mario Elias ≈ and his team prepare refined and The Durbuy and La-Roche-en-Ardenne region is ‘the caves of a thousand and one nights’ due to contemporary cuisine, rewarded one of the more popular areas in the Ardennes, the magical atmosphere and the amazing cave with a Michelin star and offering particularly for those passionate about outdoor formations, as well as the range of colours of the excellent value for money. sports, for epicureans who enjoy a plentiful rocks, from pure white through soft pink and The emphasis is on seasonal serving of local specialties, and for families. orange to bright pink. regional products. The family hotel A popular destination is the Labyrinth of ≈ offers nine rooms in various price Durbuy-Barvaux, a gigantic corn labyrinth Durbuy itself has a beautiful historic centre categories, each with a modern laid out in a different pattern every year. with medieval alleyways and a number of design that blends in harmoniously Also fascinating for both children and adults splendid buildings with charming façades. with the character of the building. alike is a visit to Wéris, another of the most It’s a touristy but amazingly enjoyable town beautiful villages in the Walloon region, but with attractive shops and appetizing restaurants above all home to a number of prehistoric that are open all year round and are run by dolmens (large oblong tombs) and menhirs. friendly people. Still more impressive ancient beauty, although www.lelabyrinthe.be this time created by nature, can be admired in www.weris-info.be the Caves of Hotton. They became known as www.grottesdehotton.be Brussels Ghent Bruges The Coast Antwerp Limburg Liège Namur Charleroi & Mons The Ardennes 248 249 Culture Culture tip Théâtre de Liège This theatre programs prestigious international productions and has quite an impressive modern repertoire Cultural hotspot Wallonia’s music capital of its own. It’s housed ≈ ≈ in L’Émulation, Liège has undergone quite a change in recent preserved, as well as the tiled edges and the stairs. From grand opera to innovative hard rock in have spawned successful alternative ‘do it a neo-classical building years, holding on to the ambition to finish some Below the former Olympic pool a 260-seat theatre underground bars, Liège is the place to be for yourself’ pop/rock bands like My Little Cheap from 1939 which prestigious architectural projects to boost the was installed, with a roof made out of black tiles on music lovers in Wallonia. There’s the Théâtre Dictaphone or Malibu Stacy. Another place to was transformed city’s metamorphosis from a raw and industrial- what used to be the water level. That level is now an Royal on Place de l’Opéra: a neo-classicist be is L’Escalier (on Rue Saint-Jean-en-Isle 26), by architects Pierre feeling place to a fresh and interesting destination, exhibition space. structure (built in 1820) with plush seats, a nightclub-café-turned-concert venue, Hebbelinck and Pierre ready to face the future. One of those projects is ≈ a giant chandelier, gilded woodwork and founded by Fabrice Lamproye in 1992. de Wit in 2012. They the new use of a former swimming pool, Les Bains The Cité Miroir is the heart of the cultural hotspot ceiling paintings (dating back to 1903). It has Lamproye is also the mastermind behind used a lot of wood, de la Sauvenière. It was built in Art Deco ocean of Liège, the Place Xavier Neujean. It’s where not lost any of its 19th-century splendour, Les Ardentes. First held in 2006, this Liège concrete and glass to liner style around 1938 and was quite impressive you’ll also find Cinéma Sauvenière, a cool, however, the building has kept up with pop/rock festival can boast A-list names like create a space of 7,800 at the time, with (among other things) a pool hall beautiful, alternative cinema housed in a quirky, modern times: following extensive Pavement, 50 Cent, Patti Smith and Morrissey, square metres with of 80 metres long and more than 10 metres high! contemporary building with four screens. The bar/ renovation in 2012, the roof now features a as well as successful Belgian artists like dEUS, a stripped-down but And impressive it still is, now that it has been brasserie with its courtyard terrace is the perfect giant, state-of-the-art cube, allowing large- Trixie Whitley and Arno. The annual event warm atmosphere. transformed into one of the most beautiful cultural place for a drink and serves as a cultural meeting scale operas to be staged. takes place in the first half of July at Parc Astrid www.theatredeliege.be spaces in the country. La Cité Miroir (‘Mirror City’ point. Also on the Place Xavier Neujean you’ll find ≈ (Coronmeuse) and welcomes 60,000 festival- in English) is a place for education, debate and a concert venue (Reflektor) and a bookshop (Livre It takes a little longer to find the best rock and goers. Liège welcomes festival-goers that are culture, with theatre, music, conferences and two aux Trésors). pop: for that, you will either have to go into jazz as well by the way, namely during the permanent exhibitions, all against the backdrop www.citemiroir.be to small bars with young patrons, or to annual international jazz festival in May.