I spent four wonderful days in Geel with Eddy and Ria, hosts extraordinaire. We visited local sites, traveled to some of the area's major attractions, and took a memorable ride along the coast of Holland. I don't have enough words or time to recount our days in much detail, but include an abundance of photos to mark and remember four glorious days in Belgium.
Tuesday, Aug 30
Today was a mostly relaxing day with a brief tour of Geel and a visit to the Church of Saint Dymphna, built to honor perhaps the most important figure in the history of Geel. The legend and history of Saint Dymphna is a tale of a mad king who wanted to marry his daughter, Dymphna. She escaped to Geel but was later tracked down and beheaded by her father when she refused to marry him. Recognizing the king was mad, the people of Geel gave him refuge and care in the local church.
Over the years, pilgrims came to Geel seeking help for psychiatric disorders, and though the church kept expanding it could not keep up with demand. As a solution, the local townspeople of Geel began taking psychiatric patients into their homes, treating them like members of their own family. The practice continues to this day, and Geel is a well-studied model for treatment of mental disorders. A few years ago, National Public Radio did a story on Geel, its mental health program and Saint Dymphna – you can follow the link here for more information
Out to see the highlights of Geel with Ria and Eddy
A memorial to the former mayor of Geel who was murdered by one of the mental patients at this site along a city alleyway - a crime that did not stop the town tradition of taking psychiatric patients into their homes
In the early stages of planning my trip to see Eddy and Ria, I intended to continue cycling west from Geel through some of the great cities of Belgium and then on to England, where I would meet up with my sister and her husband while on their own European vacation. For various reasons, those plans were canceled; however, Eddy knew of my interest in visiting the UNESCO World Heritage City. Ever the great host, Eddy had not given on my visiting Bruges, and so today we piled in the car and headed west.
I had few specific items on my Bruges wish list, other than walking through the streets and squares of the city. We decided to start with a 30 minute boat ride along the canals – it would give a nice overview and we could follow-up with things that piqued our interest. As hoped, the canal ride was a great success, long enough to cover much of the city but short enough to keep our interest. Afterwards, we visited The Church of Our Lady (Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk), followed by a wonderful meal on a quiet outdoor terrace at Cafedraal.
Our day in Bruges began with a coffee stop in the Markt, one the many large squares in Bruges
The interior of The Church of Our Lady, a church once described as "a monument to the wealth, sophistication, taste, and devotion of this most Catholic city" (wikipedia)
My tourist stamina being somewhat less robust than my cycling stamina, I was ready to quit Bruges by mid-afternoon. To avoid the Antwerp traffic on the way back to Geel, Eddy suggested we take a swing by the Belgium coast - either that or spend a couple of hours people watching while nursing a drink in the Markt Square. Beach! Beach! Beach!
The Belgium coast - lined with low-rise cabins and high-rise apartments
I was fascinated by the rows of small cabins that line the beach. People rent a whole or half-cabin, which are essentially storage lockers with room for a beach chair or two, and spend their beach-time sunning themselves on a small patch of sand along a row of similar cabins
Thursday, Sept 1 - Our bike ride in Zeeland, described in the previous post
Friday, Sept 2
My front brakes had felt a pretty squishy during yesterday's ride, and there was little braking power by the time we got back to the car. This was a big concern as I was scheduled to meet Suzanne Gibson in Germany in three days, and did not want to head off to the Black Forest with no front break. On the way home, Eddy called his neighbor Jan who managed a bike store in Geel. Jan wasn't working today, but said to bring Vivien George by and he'd take a look. Jan discovered that the front brake was leaking oil and there was as air in the brake line, so he bled the brake and added some more hydraulic fluid; however, he couldn't diagnose source of the leak. The braking seemed to be better, and so I hoped that the Black Forest trip would go on as planned.
Before the brake trouble surfaced, we had planned to go for a bike ride to the small village of Postel, home to the Sint-Niklaaskerk Abbey, locally known as the Postel Abbey. We were all disappointed to cancel one of Eddy and Ria' favorite local rides, so we decided to console ourselves with a car trip to Postel for Belgian waffles and a walk around the Abbey.
Our first stop on the way to Postel was Eddy's garden, still producing lots of pumpkins and other fall vegetables
The monks of Postel Abbey maintain a wonderful and diverse herb garden, with both culinary and medicinal herbs. The building in the rear was once the quarantine house
Tomorrow I head back to Paris for and a quick turn-around before joining Suzanne in Germany on Monday. I can't thank Eddy and Ria enough for the generous and gracious hospitality - it was a real treat.
Noppen and Noses - a desert in the finest Belgian tradition and a fitting way to cap off four wonderful days with Eddy and Ria
