Ronald
Active Member
Cities of Belgium
Pt. 1 - Brussels [1]
Pt. 1 - Brussels [2]
Pt. 2 - Louvain la Neuve, Newtown
Pt. 3 - Ghent
Pt. 4 - Flemish Cities/ Flemish Coast
Where all the cities are located:
So, this is the last part already!
I started with (what I think are) the most impressive cities of Belgium: Brussels, Ghent and Louvain la Neuve. The other side of the coin can be found in the former industrial towns in the country's french-speaking south.
I'll mostly let the pics speak for themselves. You won't be surprised, that this is infact one of the EU's very poorest regions, with a per-capita income equal to that of Poland.
Mons/B]
At the edge of the city's central square: trash on the streets, combined with a heavy stench: not a pleasant public space. We found that a lot of Mons was like this.
Local busses ride through this street.
Getting closer to the central railway station.
When construction on this church tower began, it was going to be over 150 meters tall. They dramatically lowered their ambitions at one point (very typical of the Belgian Frenchies!).
View of the city from a nearly 'terril'. A terril is a hill that was built from all the un-needed trash from the local mines.
Quaregnon, a small mining town near Mons.
The town was built along several main thoroughfares, the area in between consists of messy sprawl.
'Messy sprawl': unplanned expansion and rundown housing.
Efforts are being made to improve the city though!
This really does not look too bad
An old railway station. The tracks have been abandoned, and were turned into a bike trail.
A 'factory town', built by an entrepreneur. The town functions as a museum nowadays.
The home of the entrepreneur.
The homes of the workers.
One of the mills.
Another factory town. This one had really decent housing for the workers.
Not the nicest, most urban pictures to seclude this series...
Still, a strong contrast with what I've posted earlier. I think that what holds true for Belgium, holds true for a lot of countries: there are better-planned towns and unplanned towns, run-down cities and shining capitals.
Hope I could share a bit of our field trip with you this way! It was one of the best trips I've made.
I hardly got any sleep that week, we also explored Belgian nightlife... which was great, especally in Brussels and Bruges!
Pt. 1 - Brussels [1]
Pt. 1 - Brussels [2]
Pt. 2 - Louvain la Neuve, Newtown
Pt. 3 - Ghent
Pt. 4 - Flemish Cities/ Flemish Coast
Where all the cities are located:
So, this is the last part already!
I started with (what I think are) the most impressive cities of Belgium: Brussels, Ghent and Louvain la Neuve. The other side of the coin can be found in the former industrial towns in the country's french-speaking south.
I'll mostly let the pics speak for themselves. You won't be surprised, that this is infact one of the EU's very poorest regions, with a per-capita income equal to that of Poland.
Mons/B]
At the edge of the city's central square: trash on the streets, combined with a heavy stench: not a pleasant public space. We found that a lot of Mons was like this.
Local busses ride through this street.
Getting closer to the central railway station.
When construction on this church tower began, it was going to be over 150 meters tall. They dramatically lowered their ambitions at one point (very typical of the Belgian Frenchies!).
View of the city from a nearly 'terril'. A terril is a hill that was built from all the un-needed trash from the local mines.
Quaregnon, a small mining town near Mons.
The town was built along several main thoroughfares, the area in between consists of messy sprawl.
'Messy sprawl': unplanned expansion and rundown housing.
Efforts are being made to improve the city though!
This really does not look too bad
An old railway station. The tracks have been abandoned, and were turned into a bike trail.
A 'factory town', built by an entrepreneur. The town functions as a museum nowadays.
The home of the entrepreneur.
The homes of the workers.
One of the mills.
Another factory town. This one had really decent housing for the workers.
Not the nicest, most urban pictures to seclude this series...
Still, a strong contrast with what I've posted earlier. I think that what holds true for Belgium, holds true for a lot of countries: there are better-planned towns and unplanned towns, run-down cities and shining capitals.
Hope I could share a bit of our field trip with you this way!
It was one of the best trips I've made. I hardly got any sleep that week, we also explored Belgian nightlife... which was great, especally in Brussels and Bruges!
