Liège Day Trip

During my summer holiday, I found out that I have a lot of time on my own. My boyfriend is studying for an exam for his Masters program and I am not that selfish to force him to do things with me that much. I wanted to visit a proper Belgian city so I decided to choose the closest to Aachen and that was Liège. During my first visit in Germany, I've only crossed the borders (NL, BE, DE) from time to time. Only visited Maastricht, which is a Dutch town, and just step foot on Belgium when I was in the Three-Country Point (Dreiländereck in German). 

Me in three different countries all at once

Me in Maastricht

Back when I was planning for this trip, I was promised that we will visit Brussels on a different day (which didn't happen due to time contraints) so I guess Liège was fine for me. I booked my Liège trip via Flixbus (so affordable and convenient for a voracious traveller like me!) and then I was all set. It was cheap. I think I only paid 17 Euros back and forth. The town is only an hour away from Aachen so it's really a nice day trip tour.

So, after a 30mins delay from the bus (also the first time that I've experienced this on Flixbus), there I was in Liège. Not to be mean, but this is the dirtiest European city I’ve visited so far. It’s giving me Manila-vibes; with cigarette butts and wrappings everywhere. One has to be also alert because you might step on dog poops and you’ll be wary to stand in corners or walk on seemingly empty alleyways because it smells like pee. This is also the first time in this continent where I feel like I am not safe. There are a lot of seemingly shady people loitering in the area (I've even seen two peopel just casually sitting in front of a kiosk, with their black eyes and bleeding wounds on their faces besides a pool of blood) and men stare at you, as if they're checking you like some goods in the market. It was so weird because I haven't really experienced that in Germany or Sweden. 

The first thing that you'll see when you arrive by bus of train

Liège-Guillemins railway station

Most of the time, staffs won’t be friendly on you if you only speak English and not French. Interactions would be curt and sometimes impolite but of course, it might just be isolated cases. Hopefully.

Provincial Palace (Front)

Liege University - Main

Some French posters I've encountered while walking in the city

St. Paul's Cathedral in Liege

A memorable thing that happened for me though in Liège is when I was circling around the Provincial Palace (previously the Palace of the Prince Bishop) going to the Museum of Wallon Life was when I met a Moroccan guy. I asked him to take a photo of me on the side of the Provincial Palace because it really reminded me of France. We had a little talk then and when he found out that I came from the Philippines, he told me that he was saved by Filipino seamen when he was crossing the sea on his way to Europe. I was so confused at first why he was saved in the middle of the sea (or ocean because I think he was saved in the Atlantic Ocean?) but then he told me that he wanted to work in Europe so he did it. He was in the area as a matter of fact because he has a 13:00 appointment at the Palace of Justice which is behind the Provincial Palace. He's working on his papers to be a legal migrant in Belgium.

Photo taken by the Morrocan guy

After that encounter, I visited the Museum of Wallon Life (everything is in French inside the museum so you need to get an audioguide with you. It's free.) The entrance is 5 Euros and everything inside is about the life of the Wallons. I'm not gonna even try to explain what it is to you but to my best understanding, they are an ethnic group living in Belgium who predominantly speaks French. Maybe just read this Wikipedia article if you're interested. Photos from inside the museum can be found below. Sorry if I didn't took much. I was trying to understand what I was seeing in there.

After the museum, I  went to the Montagne de Bueren. It has a 374-steps staircase and online blogs will tell you that you'll have the best view of the city on top. I guess it's okay but I think there are some buildings blocking your view on top, so yeah. It was really exhausting to climb it that day because the sun was hitting the staircase directly.

According to Wikipedia, 

In 2013, Montagne de Bueren was ranked as #1 on The Huffington Post's list of Most Extreme Staircases.

Another fun fact from the Wikipedia Page is this:  

In July 2020, in response to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in Belgium, Belgian explorer and adventurer Louis-Philippe Loncke ascended and descended the staircase 135 times carrying a 15 kg backpack, simulating an ascent of Mount Everest. The 9000m climb, which took 65 hours 30 minutes, was meant to show that one could still "trouver des défis physiques près de chez soi" (find physical challenges close to home).

For the full article, click this for the link. 

Me before climbing

Somewhere up there

“Pedestrian is King” here though. I feel like a badass crossing streets because cars stop for you and Stop&Go traffic signs are only used on major highways and intersections.

They do have lovely pastries though. I've never tried the Belgian waffle in this town because I'm not really a fan of it. I just got the chocolate croissant and bought some sweet wine.

I've only visited a couple of spots because I was only there for 5 hours and that's a lot of walking. I was so tired.