Liège
Outremeuse's rakish resident, Tchantchès, appeared one day between two stones in 760, in Charlemagne's reign. This folklore hero and city mascot refused to drink his mother's milk at birth, instead screaming for pékèt (local gin). Despite his age he's still working, starring in puppet theatres (albeit not in the heat of summer).
By appointment, or for free on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, aficionados can visit the 'museum' of his costumes and other paraphernalia, which surround the stage.
23.96 MILES
It’s impossible to overestimate the significance of Aachen’s magnificent cathedral. The burial place of Charlemagne, it’s where more than 30 German kings…
15.22 MILES
Built above and around the shrine of St Servaas (Servatius), the first bishop of Maastricht, the basilica presents an architectural pastiche whose…
7 MILES
For one of the best industrial-experience tours you'll find anywhere, don a hard hat, jump in the cage lift and descend through a pitch-black moment into…
12.22 MILES
Playing a 21st-century Willy Wonka, one of Belgium’s foremost chocolatiers has turned his modern factory into a superb interactive museum experience. Walk…
0.56 MILES
Splendid Grand Curtius unites four disparate museum collections in the former mansion-warehouse of a 16th-century Liège arms dealer. The building's red…
23.92 MILES
Aachen's cathedral treasury is a veritable mother lode of gold, silver and jewels. Of particular importance are the silver-and-gold bust of Charlemagne…
23.68 MILES
One of Europe’s largest open-air museums, Bokrijk Openluchtmuseum offers a nostalgic look at Flanders’ past, with over 100 old buildings originally…
0.54 MILES
Arguably Liège's most fascinating church, this architectural hotchpotch was founded in 1015 and retains a heavily patched-up 1170 west end whose…
0.13 MILES
Across the River Meuse from the city centre is the gritty urban island of Outremeuse, whose working-class residents consider it a ‘Free Republic’. Their…
0.14 MILES
Built in 1888, this palatial building has a deep-eyed bust of Darwin on its central pediment, best spotted from the river-ferry as it approaches the Pôle…
0.44 MILES
Off the closed-in cloister of Cathédrale St-Paul, the slickly presented three-level Trésor guards many artworks, vestments and chalices rescued from St…
0.44 MILES
Cathédrale St-Paul's highlights include a big 19th-century painting depicting the legend of St-Lambert's assassination, and the saint's ornate silver…
0.49 MILES
At night the 1719 city hall glows lugubriously in its blood-red spotlights. By day it commands Liège’s charming, if modestly sized, original main square,…
0.53 MILES
Less a museum than a magnificently furnished 1755 Regency mansion with original stucco ceilings and some gilded leather ‘wallpaper’. Its highlights…
0.54 MILES
Beside the St-Lambert bus stops is this cartoonesque figure piloting a little metal aeroplane: Liège’s mascot and oldest ‘citizen’, the big-nosed wooden…
0.54 MILES
Arguably Liège's most fascinating church, this architectural hotchpotch was founded in 1015 and retains a heavily patched-up 1170 west end whose…