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The green, green, grass of Tessenderlo

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As a nature tourist you will certainly find something to your liking in Tessenderlo. The village is situated on the border of 3 Belgian Provinces. It is the ideal place to find beautiful cycling routes, short and long walking routes, quiet paths, an original Forest Museum and the VVV observation tower in the beautiful, extensive Gerhagen nature park. It is not without reason that Tessenderlo has been a Green Holiday Resort since 1976.Here you can still enjoy the silence, the beautiful birds that visit the breeding areas, the deer that still wander through the pine and deciduous forests. In the Forest Museum you can visit a permanent exhibition and get to know the birds of the region.From the 19-meter-high VVV tower you have a beautiful view over the forests and you can even see the restored mining shells of Beringen or the world-famous Abbey of Averbode or ever further the Basilica of Scherpenheuvel.
You can find the quiet paths, museum and the VVV observation tower at this address: Za…
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Cycling through the Trees

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In the Pijnven forest in Hechtel-Eksel, a village in the Belgian province of Limburg, you can literally cycle through the trees. It is an iconic bicycle bridge that allows you to cycle between the treetops in the Bosland nature reserve. With this innovative cycling experience, the makers want to put an extra experience on the Limburg cycling route network, Limburg's greatest tourist asset!The bicycle bridge has the shape of a double circle with a diameter of 100 meters and is no less than 700 meters long, it rises gradually (3-4%) to a height of 10 meters. By opening up the beautiful forest so spectacularly, visitors can experience this nature on a very special way. You see, feel and smell Bosland's natural beauty. From a bird's eye view!Access to the forest and the bridge is free, you can find it at this address: Kiefhoekstraat 16, Hechtel-Eksel.
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Hippolyte De Kempeneer pioneer of Belgian film making

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Hippolyte De Kempeneer was a Belgian film producer and film director. He is was one of the pioneers of Belgian cinema during the period of the silent movie. He was passionate about the moral and pedagogical aspects of the film industry, preferring documentaries to fiction.
In 1913 he founded the Ligue du Cinéma Moral and in 1914 his Cinéma des Familles saw the light of day. This was a small cinema dedicated to documentaries in which he also organized educational events for schools. During the war years he founded the Compagnie Belge des Films Instructifs.In 1919, La Belgique martyre was the first post war film production to be made in Belgium and the first patriotic war film in a series of no less than 11 productions. All of them were produced between 1919 and 1924 and bearing pathetic titles like Ame belge, Coeurs belges, La revanche belge or Jeune Belgique. The carrier of Hippolyte De Kempeneer ended when his studio cough fire and got completely burned down.
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The drunken well of Middelkerke

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"De Dronkenput" or the "Drunken Well" in the Belgian coastal town of Middelkerke attracts 5000 visitors every year: The very unique but odd tourist attraction was built in 1897 as a new water reservoir, it was proposed to provide the town with more water and purify it into potable drinking water. Unfortunately, the building subsided just after it was finished because groundwater pushed up the floors of the reservoir and it could never be used for its original purpose.

Until it was turned into an tourist attraction many years later and is now even a protected monument. "The walls, floors and stairs are skewed, so you feel like you're drunk, hence the name."
The "Drunken Well" is situated between two normal rows of houses in a quiet residential area in the town. You can visit the "Drunken Well" of Middelkerke every day in summer by appointment. Book in advance with the concierge on this telephone number +32485 86 09 03. Opening hours: …
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The one US dollar bill is a bit Belgian

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If you get your hands on a 1 US dollar bill and wonder why the feeling is so special, it may not only have to do with the iconic nature of the dollar, but also with the flax it contains. Flax that has been supplied to the US by the Belgian Vervaeke Fiber for many years.Vervaeke Fiber in Kuurne is the world's oldest flax company. The great-grandfather of current director Antoine Vervaeke founded it in 1892. Since the early 1960s, the company has been supplying the United States with flax that is used in the famous 1 dollar bills."In the early 1960s there was a demand from the US to supply flax, specifically for use in dollar bills", Antoine Vervaeke explains why. "A dollar bill consists of 25 percent flax, the other 75 percent cotton. Flax is supposed to make the bill stronger. In the past, old rags were used that were torn up."The "feel" of a euro bill, which consists of 100 percent cotton, and a dollar bill is noticeably different, says Vervaeke. &qu…
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The four sons of Aymon

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The Ros Bayard or Beiaard as the locals call it of the city Dendermonde is a folkloric horse, which originates from the legend of the The four sons of Aymon. It is the main character in a procession that goes around the city every ten-years, in a medieval times style. The Dendermonde Ros Beiaard has been on the Unesco's List of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity since 2005. You can find more information about the Ros Beiaard here

The story of The four sons of Aymon goes back to middle ages and goes like this:
The knight Aymon of Dordogne was a loyal feudal man of Charlemagne. He would have been married to Aye. She gave her husband four sons: Ritsaert, Writsaert, Adelaert and Reinout. Reinout was the strongest of the four. According to old tradition, the four sons each received a horse as a gift from their father. Reinout, however, was so strong that he accidentally killed his horse. Then a second horse was offered to him, but that horse also broke its loins…
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The atlas a Belgian invention

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450 years ago on May 20, 1570, the very first modern atlas was born in Antwerp, Belgium. The Antwerp cartographer "Abraham Ortelius" then launched his "Theatrum Orbis Terrarum", a unique new map concept. Ortelius was the first to compile a collection of maps without philosophical considerations. Previously, the world was mainly depicted on large wall maps. theater to put it side by side and admire the whole world. That is why Ortelius chose the title Theatrum Orbis Terrarum or the theater of the world for his book.


The book became a bestseller and was sold all over Europe. A popular book was then published on 500 to 800 copies. But Ortelius's work has been reprinted dozens of times. There were also smaller editions of the "Theatrum Oribis Terrarum" that were very successful. In his book, Ortelius also called on readers to submit additional maps. That way he could correct his own maps and add them to his newer book versions.
Abraham Ortelius lived in six…
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