At Summer Camp in Belgium

This is one of my first trips abroad and certainly the first without being accompanied by one of my family. I was 17 and I took part in the summer camp organised by my municipality, which at the time was twinned with Etterbeek, one of the 19 municipalities that make up the Brussels capital area. In fact, though, we didn't stay in Etterbeek but in a small village in the hills of the Ardennes, Faulx-les-Tombes, not far from Namur. In this pleasant village the municipality of Etterbeek had its own summer camp, and here we stayed together with the Belgian kids. The camp was a big country house located near a turreted castle used as a hotel. The two-week stay was very pleasant; we had a tennis court, a riding school and plenty of greenery at our disposal. The dining room was on a hill we had to reach on foot up a long flight of steps.

In that place, immersed in nature, we made pleasant acquaintances with our peers from Etterbeek. From Faulx-les-Tombes we set off by coach for interesting and instructive outings, and not only. Among them I remember the visit to the capital Brussels with the spectacular Grand Place surrounded by ancient noble houses, the little statue of the boy peeing and the Chinese Pavilion. We also climbed the Atomium, the city's symbolic monument. They also took us to Etterbeek to visit a large sports centre. Another interesting excursion took us to the beach at Ostend via Ghent, where we visited the austere Cathedral, and with a stop in Bruges. The latter I found truly enchanting, with its canals that we travelled by boat, the age-old houses facing them, the beguine convents and a romantic fountain with horses. On another occasion we visited the historic centre of Liège.

The most exciting outing for us kids, though, was the one to Dinant and Han. There we had the chance to visit a cave and tackle the descent of the river Lesse by canoe. Half rowing, half carried by the current, we even passed two small waterfalls. Namur, on the other hand, was an obligatory stop, since that's where we'd arrived by train from Italy and from there we set off again with great nostalgia.