Namur and the hills

We have made it to Namur and are stopping for a couple of days to have a look around the Capital of Wallonia, Belgium.  Its an ancient city dominated by a huge Citadel.  All very picturesque. Its at the confluence of the Meuse and Sambre rivers and has been inhabited and fought over for 100's of years.

We've moored on the river bank, just below the citadel, next to the Casino.  When we sold the last boat, most of the money was by bank transfer but we ended up with some €500 notes which are incredibly difficult or expensive to change into smaller denominations and no-one will take them.  However we've found that Casinos accept them with no problems at all.  So we went to Namur Casino last night and were charged €7 each to get in - but that included a free cocktail and €5 of free bets on their slot machines.  Changed a load of notes to smaller, spendable ones and then won €32 on the slot machines - not a bad exchange rate really - capped off with free coffee and sandwiches! (we are now bona-fide members of the Grand Casino Group and have our own named cards to prove it!)

We've decided to take the shallower hilly route into France via Dinant and across the border at Givet, so will let you know if we've got it wrong and end up back in Namur after running aground :)

Dave going to check out his area tomorrow

Cute street in Namur

Look what we found in the Namur supermarket!

View from the citadel - just see our boat moored between the trees.

That's where we're heading tomorrow

The  Citadel

I just love this 'statue', titled 'Looking for Utopia".  We thought it was probably a Pratchet turtle holding up the Disc World.

Just have to have a gaufre when in Belgium - my idea of Belgium is beer, chocolate and waffles.

You can just see our boat through the bridge archway.

Carole's Interesting Facts:

No 5.  You have to keep a close eye on one's boats arse when manoeuvring a centre cockpit boat.

No 6.  Black tyre fenders make for a very black marked hull when rafting alongside.