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THE WALLOON TOUR - Southern Belgium
5
days / 4 nights - Monday to Friday
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we're really proud to be offering - Belgium's southern, French-speaking
provinces are a real undiscovered gem. Within an amazingly short
distance (Belgium is not much more than 200 kilometres from border
to border), we can visit scenic attractions that vary from gentle
undulating farmland to river valley and forests; we can see chateux
as sumptuous as those you'd see on the Loire; there are gardens
to rival any in the world; there are castles and forts, mediaeval
towns and the quaintest villages; there are major war sites from
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the Napoleonic,
First and Second World Wars, there are
museums and art galleries, there's fine shopping. To cap it
all, the food and wine is as you'd expect in a region with strong
Gaullic influences - the French tradition abounds - but with
the distinctly Belgium additions of beer and chocolate. To put
it succinctly, you're going to have to look very hard to find
a comparable five-day touring and at the end of it be planning
a speedy return!
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DEPARTURE DATES & PRICES FOR YEAR 2008
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Tour Code
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Depart
Lille
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Return
Lille
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WAL
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Monday
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Friday
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WAL
01
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23 Jun
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27 Jun
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WAL
02
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04 Aug
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08 Aug
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Price: GBP £695 pp twin share / GBP £755 single room
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What
your tour price includes
- Your accommodation for 4 nights while on the tour is included in your tour price, and this includes both Continental breakfasts and dinners
- Your price also includes all entrance fees to attractions, transportation, services of driver/guide-companion and all taxes and tips other than those you may wish to give your guide, return train fare London/Lille or road/ferry
- Airport transfers and accommodation pre and post tour are not included but can be reserved as required
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| TENTATIVE
ITINERARY |
NIGHTSTOP
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DAY
ONE - Monday
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Your tour begins at London's
Eurostar terminal (Waterloo) at 07.00, when you board your train
for Lille (it is possible to join in Lille if you are already
there).
A short drive from Lille brings
us to our first stop, Beloeil
Castle. This stately, fortified chateau, home to the Princes
of Ligne for hundreds of years, boasts a sumptuous interior
(with over twenty-thousand volumes!) and the largest garden
in the country. We'll lunch here before carrying on to Mons
this afternoon. Mons is mostly remembered as the point at which
the British Army first encountered the Germans in 1914, and
as the first Belgium town liberated by US forces in the Second
World War. There are several interesting monuments and museums
to be see. What the city is not instantly associates with is
the particularly fine contemporary arts museum, Grand-Hornu.
This remarkable design centre is set in a former 19th century
colliery, built as a village by the socialistically inclined
Henri De George (following the paternalistic tradition of early
entrepreneurs like Wedgewood, Lord Lever and Robert Owen). www.mac-s.be
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Walloon
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DAY
TWO - Tuesday
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Today
we explore the Valley of the River Meuse, beginning with the
pretty town of Dinant, with its citadel dominating the hilltop,
lovely church and traditional shopping street. One of our taste
treats of the day will be the Dinant biscuits. We guarantee
you'll have had nothing like these before! www.citadellededinant.be.
Also on today's itinerary will be another taste treat with a
tour of one of Belgium's famed small breweries. If you thought
you knew beer (or even that you don't like beer), prepare to
think again! www.bocq.be
Our day also includes a boat
cruise on the Meuse, a descent into one of the many cave complexes
that the region is famed for and, depending on time and group
interests, the gardens of Les
Jardins d'Annevoie.
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as
above
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DAY
THREE - Wednesday
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| The
Ardennes and province of Luxembourg provide today's focus. This
wild, rugged landscape of river valleys and deep, wooded canyons
is sublimely beautiful. In addition to wonderfully scenic touring
we also have three major towns of interest. Firstly, there's Bastogne,
remembered as the site of the Battle of the Bulge (and we'll visit
the memorial and museum), La Roche en Ardennes, one of the most
attractive towns of the region (also with its Battle of the Ardennes
museum), and St Hubert with its Italianate basillica. www.bastogne-tourism.be
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as
above
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DAY
FOUR - Thursday
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| More
time in the Ardennes, but today the northern region with stops
ate the impossibly pretty Durbuy - claimed to be the world's smallest
town - Namur and Huy. The ladies will love this day as we're going
to take a tour of the Guy Delforge
Parfumery, the only perfume house outside of France, while
in Nmaur. Our visit will include seeing how they are made and
a sampling. During our day, we're also going to be seeing an unusual
topiary and, if time permits, visit Modave Chateau. Our taste
treats for the day will be the lovely wild game sausages and regional
cheese. |
as above
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DAY FIVE
- Friday
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| Our
drive northward brings us to the ruins of the Villers Abbey. This
incredible ruined Cistercian abbey nestles in a lovely wooded
dell. It will remind all who have been to Wales' Tintern Abbey
of that, yet it's much larger and quite breathtakingly beautiful
in its setting. www.villers.be.
Next to refight the Battle of Waterloo! It was here on June 18th
1915 that the ambitions of Napoleon Bonaparte finally came to
an end. This is an impressive site with the Butte de Lion monuments,
an effective interpretation centre and the nearby HQ of Wellington.
www.waterloo-tourisme.be.
Our final highlight of our Walloon
and Southern Belgium tour is the mediaeval city of Tournai.
You could say we'd kept the best till last but that would be
doing a tremendous injustice to the fabulous and varies range
of attractions and sites we've visited. What we can say, however,
is that this fine, and under-explored city, certainly provided
a fitting climax. www.tournai.be
Our tour finishes in Lille where you either board the Eurostar
back to London, stay on to discover Lille itself, or join our
weekend battle field tours of Ypres and the Somme region of
France.
Whatever your choice, we can book any additional arrangements as required.
>> Go to tours departing from London
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Return London or Lille |
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