After finishing our drinks in Torgny, I suggested to my friends ‘hopping’ over to the other side of the valley, straight into rural France. And that’s exactly how it felt. I can’t explain it, but as soon as you’ve crossed the border, even for 50 meters, you notice differences. It’s less obvious when you’re taking the motorway, because the landscape only changes gradually, and apart from a few traffic sign, the scenery is northern France is not that different from what you see in Belgium. In the country, it’s different, though.
The road signs all of a sudden have black characters on a white background, whereas in Belgium they are white on a blue background. The official mailboxes are yellow in France and red in Belgium. And the postman’s little van or moped is yellow too, instead of red and white. The license plates on the cars are of another colour too: black characters on a white background, instead of burgundy red on a white background.
Seeing these small but familiar difference, added to the ‘Alice in Wonderland’ feeling. That and the fact that after 500 meters we were already lost … Pretty soon we were on the right track again and on our way to the basilica of Montmédy. I remembered driving past this huge structure that has been erected in the local iron ore stone, in the middle of nowhere. We dutifully followed the road signs ‘Montmédy’ but failed to see the basilica on the horizon. What we saw instead was a fortified city on top of one the French Lorraine hills. Two towers of a church – that had nothing in common with the aforementioned basilica - were clearly visible against the autumn sky.
Montmédy, sitting on the top of its fortified hill.
Photo from the backseat of a driving car.
Photo from the backseat of a driving car.
The ‘new’ town at the foot of the fortified old town didn’t have much to offer, so we drove straight up to the top of the hill. The ramparts where impressive and to our surprise we were allowed to drive all the way up and in, over the wooden drawbridge which rambled ominously when J.L. drove over it at very low speed. Inside the walls we were stopped by a red stop light.
The road leading up to wooden drawbridge.
Modern times had come to the historic town! We waited well over three minutes until the light finally switched to green. During our wait no car came down along the narrow tunnel leading to the heart of the fortress.
Looking down the tunnel.
When we were finally allowed to continue, we didn’t know what to expect … and then we saw this!
What happened here?
4 comments:
Looks like an interesting visit.
Doing it in reverse, I couldn't believe that the second that I crossed into Belgium, my French mobile instantly recognised that I was, "abroad".
SP
Either bombed or just collapsed from old age.
Gaynor, It was interesting, surpring and ... slightly weird.
SP, Our local mobile telephone operators are lurking in the bushes by the border spotting mobile telephone users :)
Bob, I guess it was old age - see today's entry. But I don't understand why they don't do anything about it, as there are several buildings in the village that are in the same sorry state.
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