First published: 12/04/19.

Peter Alleblas

Le Tronçon Bavay-Tongres De La Chaussée Romaine Bo

Le tronçon Bavay-Tongres de la chaussée romaine Bo (On tentative list)

Le tronçon Bavay-Tongres de la chaussée romaine Bo by Peter Alleblas

From the 16 TWHS in Belgium I had only 1 left to visit. The name of that TWHS is: Le tronçon Bavay-Tongres de la chaussée romaine Boulogne-Cologne situe sur le territoire de la Région wallonne. With the translator I understood it a little bit more:  The Bavay-Tongeren section of the Boulogne-Cologne Roman road lies on the territory of the Walloon Region.

OK it is a part of a road between Bavay and Tongeren. I know there are more Tentative sites where I asked myself: How can I visit this site and what is there to see ?   And this is also a strange site. After reading more about the road I saw that the road still exist. It is de N69 (high)way (Chaussée Romaine).

It seems the best to concentrate me on Tongeren, the oldest town of Belgium. Maybe there was something left of the old road ? And yes it was, but not so much. So I decided to visit Tongeren and not only some stones or a part of the N69.  There is more in Tongeren (Belfries and one of the Flemish Béguinages) and I tried to make my visit so good as posible. Like almost always I parked my car on a parking of a supermarket and from there I walked to the Cesarlaan. And indeed there are remains of the old road or is it the old wall or both ? Nevertheless I did what I could.

After 50 meters walking on the Cesarlaan I saw a stair and went up. It is the way to visit a Roman Temple which is almost hidden in Tongeren, but it is also part of the milestone route through Tongeren. They rebuilt the temple (ruins) and it is unbelievable such a temple in that place, a very quiet part of Tongeren.

Slowly I walked to the center of Tongeren in only 10 minuts. I walked along the statue of Ambiorix, along the Belfries to the Gallo – Roman Museum. I was surprised of the size of the museum and the modern building. I bought only a ticket for the Roman exhibition, and I needed almost 1.5 hour to see the 3 floors from the permanent exhibition. It is so much to read all from 500.000 years ago till the end of the Roman time in Tongeren and surroundings. It is really a beautiful and interesting collection what they have in the museum.

After the museum visit I walked through the Flemish Béguinages to the Moerenpoort (citygate). The daytrip to Tongeren was worth it. There is so much more to see then some stones from the old Roman Road !

On my way back home I stopped at the The Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial in Margraten. From the website of Magraten: The cementery is lying near the famous Cologne-Boulogne highway built by the Romans and used by Caesar during his campaign in that area.

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