Astrid was the one who first spied this on Facebook and, after researching it, we both said "Let's go!" It's one of those things/places you want to experience yourself, up close and personal.
Borgloon, Belgium, is 221 miles round-trip from where we live in Gorinchem, NL, which means it's perfectly doable for a day trip. When we discovered last Tuesday would be a sunny day, it was a no-brainer.
One path getting to the Doorkijkkerk is through an apple and pear fruit orchard
owned by Bel'Export, a company generating $35M/year at this location, with only 10 employees.
Of course, many paid pickers are hired during harvest season.
It was a 25-minute walk through the orchard before we saw the Doorkijkkerk.
(The Sint Odulphus church in Borgloon is in the background, top-right).
People give necessary scale to this artistic structure called "Reading Between the Lines,"
built by 2 young Belgian guys, an architect and a sculptor, in 2011.
Lucky for us, we met a nice couple,
with whom we took turns taking each other's photos.
[credit: Astrid's images in my collage]
It was time for lunch, which meant heading to town, towards the landmark church.
See what a gorgeous day it was!
They're Bradford pear trees, like the ones that blossom first every spring in Atlanta!
It was a 45-minute walk from the Doorkijkkerk to where we ate lunch,
And look at the mistletoe that was everywhere!
[credit: the 2 closeups are Astrid's]
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so you can imagine how good this all looked to us.
We rarely find spaghetti carbonara available in a non-Italian café,
and it's only the 2nd time we've had it served with a raw egg in an eggshell on top. OMG!
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Our café was across the street from the Sint Odulphus church, mentioned as early as 1027.
Though we weren't there for this church, it was a no-brainer to visit it.
Belgium, btw, is a Roman Catholic country.
Because of my preacher dad, the pulpit is always important to me...
as is the organ, because of my musician mother, whose name is also Barbara!
The choir also reminds me of my musician mom, who also directed Dad's church choirs,
in which I sang during my youth.
I'm such a fan of this kind of interior architecture and design.
[credit: Astrid's images are the top and bottom-left images]
It was then time to walk Borgloon's central street back to our car for our 2-hour trip home.
[credit: Astrid]
Totally worth a day trip!
In fact, we've decided to do it more often, now that COVID restrictions are lifted.
