Amersfoort in the Netherlands is a really ancient city. It has a canal running right through the old city center. Up on the northwest side of the old city, they managed to preserve this gate, partly from the Middle Ages, if I understand correctly. Yes, the weather is overcast and gray like this most of the year in the Benelux.
Outside of the big city of Heerlen, on the southwest side stands the tiny village of Imstenrade. These days it consists mostly of the old manor, referred to as “the Villa” around there. I seem to recall it has rooms to rent and a really fancy restaurant.
Any hiking around Malmedy, Belgium is lovely. The whole area is one big series of valleys and some fairly steep hills. It’s also an intensely Catholic region, as attested by this tiny prayer chapel standing at a crossroads near Comblain-au-Pont.
In the same region is the village of Hamoir. This was our view hiking into the village. The route turned up into the hills behind it, of course.
Some of you may know that Nijmegen was the scene of a major battle in WW2. Off to the southeast stands a rather high plateau where the small town of Groesbeek is situated. There are monuments and graveyards all around that town, but this one is particularly poignant, because it portrays the paratroopers as buried in the ground. Some were shot up by German forces before they hit the ground. It was late in the day when this photo was taken.
