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Tuesday, August 1

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First, Hans made sure we had enough fuel to travel to the town of Han-sur-Lesse in the French part of Belgium. Hans and Anneke live in the Flemish part of Belgium.

The landscape in the French part has more hills, plus a different culture and language.

Hans and Anneke said this view makes them think of Pennsylvania.

Han-sur-Lesse is the town where we parked – then walked to Grottes de Han. (Cave of Han)

From the internet: Han-sur-Lesse was called Ham from 1139, Ham Han Sur Lesche, from 1266, Han Sur Lece from 1465 and Ham sur lez from 1528, by which time it had 14 families. The village then declined, with plague, epidemics and Franco-Spanish wars, but by 1766, there were 62 villagers. In 2021 the population was about 1,000. The place is famous for its cave complex carved under a hill by the river Lesse.

I was fascinated with the town’s beauty as we walked toward the cave and wild animal park where we were meeting Hans and Anneke’s married daughter, Kaat, her husband Sem and children Noah, Alma and Sienna.

I love the cobblestone sidewalks and streets but is not as comfortable for walking as a flat surface.

The entrance to the cave (Grottes) and animal park.

Hans and Cerwin visited as we waited for Sem and Kaat’s family.

I took pictures of flowers that were surrounding the entrance area.

I love watching pollinators at work.

Hans and Cerwin were still visiting when I finished looking at flowers and bees but had moved to a location where they could sit. Hans uses a cane for long walks. He has a prothesis for part of one leg ever since being in an awful accident when he was a young man. He and Anneke had only been married a few years. Kaat was a baby at the time.

Sem and Kaat’s family arrived within a short amount of time. This photo includes, Noah, Sem, Alma and Cerwin. Cerwin was pleased that she held his hand.

Hannah and Noah

Alma and Rebekka. The children love their aunts.

We noticed this old tractor as we began our walk to the buses that would take us through the wildlife park. (Does anyone know what make of tractor this is?)

We saw lots of sheep with brown faces. They look a bit like our black-faced Suffolk sheep, but I do not know this breed.

The double buses that took people through the animal park.

Kaat (holding Sienna), Alma, Sem and Noah.

Grandma Anneke talking to Sienna while Kaat looks on. Kaat is the one who contacted me about surprising her dad with a trip to our place in 2018.

Sweet Alma. She was still trying to figure out these English-speaking people.

Cerwin took this picture of us: Anneke, Kaat, Sienna, Alma, Sem, Noah, Hannah, Rebekka and me.

I turned the camera on Hans and Cerwin

There was a scout camping program happening in the meadow as we approached the animal park.

This farm girl always enjoys seeing cattle.

Our first viewing was wild pigs. It reminded Cerwin of wild pig hunting in Tennessee.

I kept this identity sign because the European Owl turned its head away from us.

There was a large variety of deer in the park.

I didn’t get a good view of any of the wolf packs. Sometimes I was on the wrong side of the bus or they were at a distance.

A pretty view of the valley. We were actually traveling over the large cave which was below us.

It was a cloudy day, and began raining as we approached these animals which look like antelope.

Five minutes later the sun was shining.

Hans and Anneka’s family

Vultures

This cat was difficult to capture due to the fencing. I think it is a lynx.

A field of horses. It appeared that they could roam freely through the park.

A herd of pretty deer on my side of the bus.

Elk

Bison

It was about this time that we saw the bear. They kind of hid behind a rock, so I never captured a photo of them.

Horses in the shade.

This looks like the herd we saw earlier. We weren’t sure if they traveled, or if the herd was grazing in separate fields.

The end of the tour.

Because of the rain there was a puddle that Alma could not resist.

Sienna, Anneka and Hans as we waited for lunch at a restaurant in the park.

Cerwin took a picture of the rest of us.

This quickly became my favorite Belgian fruit drink – kind of like a fruit soda.

My salad and Cerwin’s meal.

The bridge away from the restaurant.

Looking back at the restaurant.

Hans, Anneke, Cerwin and I stayed behind to relax and enjoy coffee while the young people walked through the cave.

This interesting cow was next to our table.

Later Rebekka and I went inside the gift shop – which you see behind the cow. We each bought what we thought was two pair of socks. It turned out to be one pair of mis-matched socks. 🙂 I also bought a coffee cup.

These are mine.

Rebekka’s matched a bit better. They were the same flower, but one was small flowers and the other was large flowers.

I found some rain-laden flowers before we left the park.

We walked over the pretty cobblestones as we approached Hans’ van.

Before heading home, we drove by the ruins of an old castle.

From the Internet: The first castle was built in 844 (approximately) by Adelard, Count of La Roche. After the death of Henri de la Roche in 1152, the countship passed to Henri the Blind Count of Namur, and upon his death in 1196, to his daughter Ermesinde of Luxembourg and thus to the line of the counts of Luxembourg.

The strategic importance of the castle did not escape Louis XIV. From 1681 to 1688, he had a student of Vauban reinforce the structures. However, these improvements did not benefit him much since the castle was taken by the winners of the War of Succession of Spain and they neglected it little by little.

The misfortunes of the castle continued in 1721, when it was badly damaged by a fire caused by lightning. Joseph II of Austria then dismantled it. It was the prey of vandals in the nineteenth century, and it also was damaged in the bombing of December 1944 during the Battle of the Bulge.

Our day of exploring took us to the southeastern part of Belgium – from their home just northwest of Brussels.