Original subtitles

(wind blows)

(upbeat music)

(inspirational instrumental music)

(upbeat music)

- [Narrator] Our journey starts at Bouillon

on the southeast corner of Belgium.

Following Namur Valley through the Ardenne Forest,

we find the medieval town of Dinant,

home to a famous beer once brewed by monks.

The highest boat lift in the world

is near the great 19th century industrial town of Charleroi.

It's canal network extends north towards

one of the most important battlegrounds

in European history, Waterloo.

From here it's a short distance to Brussels,

the capital of Belgium and headquarters

of the European Union.

This is the wild and picturesque Ardenne region

in the southeast of Belgium,

a country with a population of around 10 million.

But despite it's rich heritage,

Belgium is actually one of the newer countries

in western Europe.

For hundreds of years, Belgium was part

of one country or another,

starting with the Romans in the first century B.C.

They named the region Belgika

after the Celtic tribes who inhabited the area.

Since then it's been used as a crossroads and battleground

for European powers.

(slow inspirational music)

Britain, France, Spain, Germany, Austria

and The Netherlands all held sway over this region

at various times.

But the centuries of turmoil have left a legacy

of division between the country's three languages,

Dutch, the official language of the north,

German in the east and French here in the south,

where our journey starts.

(upbeat music)

The Semois River winds it's way through the Ardenne Forest

famous for it's steep wooded hills and ridges.

With only the odd farmhouse or campsite,

the area is vastly populated

until you arrive at the small medieval town of Bouillon,

nestled on a happened bend of the river.

(slow instrumental music)

And sitting high over the town on a craggy ridge

is the earliest and best preserved example

of medieval feudal architecture in Belgium.

It was originally constructed by Godrey de Bouillon

in the 11th century over the remains

of an even older fortress.

After Godfrey de Bouillion, it was held by a succession

of four other powerful dukes,

also called Godfrey de Bouillon.

(slow dramatic music)

The castle was made famous when the fifth and last Godfrey

sold the fortress to raise money to lead the first crusade

to the Middle East.

And after his siege of the Holy City in 1099,

Godfrey was crowned first king of Jerusalem.

The castle is now a tourist attraction

with it's battlements, towers and dungeons.

(slow instrumental music)

Down below the town of Bouillon is a popular base

for those exploring the beauty of the Semois Valley.

In fact, there are over 90 walks beginning and ending

in or around Bouillon.

Following the national park west

along the border with France,

an exclusion zone prohibits aircraft from flying

any closer to these giant columns of steam.

They rise from the cooling towers

of the world's most powerful nuclear power station,

Chooz B.

As well as supplying electricity for France

and it's neighbors, a deep underground laboratory

studies the mysterious subatomic particles

emitted by the reactors.

These neutrinos as they're called

may give scientists a better understanding

of the origin of the universe.

The Semois flows into the Meuse,

one of the major rivers of Europe

and the Meuse villages nestle the rocky banks

but dominating the Meuse are these imposing cliffs,

the Freyr rocks, renowned

as the most important climbing area in Belgium.

(slow instrumental music)

The site counts seven main crags and eight secondary crags,

over 600 routes in all.

And on the opposite bank is another important part

of southern Belgium's heritage, Freyr Castle.

(regal music)

It was originally the site of a medieval fortress

which was destroyed and replaced in the 1600's

with a Renaissance-style country house and formal gardens.

In the 1800's it became the residence

to the Dukes of Beaufort-Spontin

whose descendants still live here today.

The castle and gardens with a 350 year old orange tree

are open to the public during the summer months.

(regal music)

Further along the Meuse Valley,

this picture postcard setting of Dinant

belies it's troubled past.

(slow instrumental music)

It's strategic location on the Meuse Valley

together with it's prosperity

has always exposed the town to battle and pillage

from Roman times right up to the two world wars.

One visible clue as to it's turbulent past

is the fortified Citadel that was built

to defend against invaders.

It's been here in one form or another

since the 11th century.

And what we see today was rebuilt by the Dutch in 1821

after it was destroyed by the French over 100 years earlier.

Today the Citadel is Dinant's biggest attraction,

though it's other landmark lies directly beneath it,

the Gothic Church of Notre Dame

topped with it's distinctive bulbous spire.

It had to be rebuilt in the 13th century

after the original Romanesque church was destroyed

by falling rocks from the Citadel's cliff.

(slow instrumental music)

Belgium is well-known for it's abbey beers

and a short distance along the river

is the iconic building that features

in one of it's most famous labels, Leffe Abbey.

Like many other monasteries in Belgium,

beer was brewed here as far back as the 13th century

as a way of sterilizing water.

Using local and wild ingredients,

the recipe for the unique beer

was handed down for hundreds of years

until in 1952, Leffe Abbey licensed the beer

to be brewed commercially

which was said to be the first deal of it's kind.

Today the abbey continues to receive royalties

from the sales.

As hills and crags gradually give way to open farmland,

there are constant reminders of man's presence

throughout the ages.

Archeological excavations of caves

beneath this medieval ruin of Montaigle Castle

have revealed evidence of human habitation

dating back 35,000 years.

But it wasn't until the 1800's that this region

drew people in a way that had never been seen before

in mainland Europe.

This is Charleroi, once the greatest industrial city

in Belgium.

It was the center for glass and steel manufacturing

until the 1950's when it gradually fell into decline.

Today it has a population of around 200,000

making it the second largest here

in the French-speaking south.

It's also one of the poorest cities in Belgium

with unemployment running much higher

than the national average.

Though heavy industry continues,

it's far cry from it's heyday in the 19th century

when Charleroi became the first city outside Britain

to manufacture on a massive scale.

It was made possible by the sheer abundance of coal

in this region earning it's name Pays Noir,

meaning black country.

Now only a few disused pit towers remain.

But this one legacy of the industrial revolution

that's very much in evidence, the canals

that were once used to transport raw materials and goods.

This is the Canal du Centre a 21 kilometer waterway

linking two rivers, the Meuse and the Scheldt.

But to overcome the 100 meter hike difference

between the rivers, a series of four hydraulic lifts

were completed in 1917 to raise and lower the boats.

But with the revival of the waterways in the 1950's

and the need to meet European standards for boat traffic,

the Belgium parliament gave the go ahead

for the construction of one boat lift

that would do the job of it's four predecessors.

Opened in 2002, the Strepy-Thieu boat lift

is the tallest in the world at 73 meters.

But it's by no means the fastest lift.

It takes a full seven minutes to raise and lower boats.

The lift operates two giant tubs

called (speaks in foreign language)

which are balanced like scales on either side.

In the first five years of it's opening,

canal traffic increased almost 10-fold.

It's also proved popular with tourists

who come to marvel at this engineering wonder.

Another mega structure on this canal

completed the same year was the Sart Canal Bridge

almost 500 meters in length,

it's 28 concrete pillars support a staggering 80,000 tons

of water.

Although it's mainly pleasure craft that navigate

these waters now, 200 years ago

this was an industrial superhighway

connecting Charleroi with Brussels.

But the building of such a crucial waterway

was plagued with setbacks, most notably in 1794

when revolutionary French forces led by Napoleon Bonaparte

set out to conquer Europe

and it was finally here at Waterloo,

13 kilometers south of Brussels

that Napoleon fought his last battle

on the 18th of June 1815.

It was end two decades of European wars.

(slow instrumental music)

The fighting started here at Hougoumont

which was one of a line of 45 farm and country houses

just south of Waterloo.

The attack on the farm was ferocious.

1400 French troops in all against the 12,000 British

and allied soldiers who'd been ordered

by the British allied leader, the Duke of Wellington

to defend the post to the last extremity

and after nine hours of fighting,

they finally forced a French retreat.

Though the mansion was burned to the ground,

some of the original building survived

like the chapel in the center

that has a memorial to those who fell at the battle.

(slow dramatic music)

Overall 25,000 were killed or wounded on that one day.

9,000 French troops were captured.

At Waterloo, Napoleon's empire finally crumbled.

Two years after the victory over the French,

this great monument was constructed

to commemorate the fallen and the end of 23 years of war.

However, the Duke of Wellington is said to have remarked

that they have spoiled my battlefield.

390,000 cubic meters of soil

from the actual battle ground

was excavated to create it's mound.

It's topped with a 28 ton bronzed lion

symbolizing the courage of those how fought.

Legend has it that the lion was cast

from the bronze cannons abandoned by the French

on their final retreat.

It's an unlikely story since the lion

was actually cast from iron.

Today it's a popular visitor attraction

with 226 steps leading to a 43 meter high observation area

offering a vista of one of the most important battlefields

in European history.

(slow dramatic music)

Over the 200 years since, the monument

has witnessed the nearby town of Waterloo

grow from a small crossroads hamlet

on the main route between Brussels and France

to a town of almost 30,000, and near fifth are non-Belgium

making Waterloo a melting pot of languages and cultures

alongside the native French, Dutch and German.

It's the legacy of 2,000 years

of different races and cultures

inhabiting this land at one time or another.

In 1830, the Belgiums revolted against the Dutch occupiers

forming the independent state of Belgium.

But it wasn't enough to eradicate deep ethnic divisions.

It led to the unique formation of language regions

with their own governments.

Waterloo lies in the French region, Walonreye

but it's close to the border

with the official Dutch language area, Flanders.

And once across the border, the Dutch connection

becomes more evident in the characteristic red brick

and architecture of The Netherlands.

This 14th century fortress is Beersel Castle

built as a first line of defense against an attack

on the nearby capital city, Brussels.

And being situated on this flat valley

demanded exceptionally high towers and walls

to spot an approaching enemy

as well as a vast moat to discourage attempts

to breach this formidable stronghold.

And it's seems as if it did the job.

Having been attacked on numerous occasions

over the centuries it was only overtaken once in the 1500's

during an uprising against the Austrian ruler

at the time.

Ironically, the attackers were troops

from the very city it was built to defend, Brussels,

the capital city of Belgium.

(upbeat music)

From it's origins as a walled city in the 10th century,

it rapidly grew as a cosmopolitan center

on a key trade route.

And today Brussels has developed

into one of the greatest multicultural cities in the world

hosting over 2,000 international associations.

NATO, the alliance military powers based itself here

after the Second World War

but Brussels is now best known as the headquarters

of the European Union,

where it hosts the European Commission and Council.

(upbeat music)

Known locally as the European Quarter,

this complex houses the parliament building

that employs over 10,000 civil servants.

In turn a great many international companies

have moved to Brussels drawn by the European Union.

And with this international presence,

it's not surprising that over a quarter

of the one million population is non-Belgium.

When Brussels became the capital city of a new country

in the 19th century, the old town was destroyed

to make way for the brand new ministries, schools,

army barracks and office buildings.

Sadly, not much of the original architecture remains,

and only a few blocks in the city center was spared.

(instrumental music)

At the heart of this old quarter

is one of the best preserved Gothic baroque squares

in Europe the Grand-Place.

Once the busy central marketplace for meat, bread and cloth,

it now attracts locals and tourists in their droves.

In 1998, it was awarded the UNESCO status

of world heritage site.

Every two years in August, an enormous flower carpet

is set up in the Grand-Place for a few days.

A million begonias are arranged in patterns

across the square.

The Grand-Place is dominated

by the magnificent 15th century town hall

with it's spire standing at almost 100 meters

and it's topped with a statue of Saint Michael

slaying a demon.

And it's the same archangel who is one of the patron saints

of the city's Roman Catholic Cathedral

of St. Michael and St. Gudula.

Renovated in the Gothic style in the 13th century,

the elaborate facade was completed 200 years later.

(regal music)

This is Sainte-Catherine Park, created in 1880

as the centerpiece for a world expedition

celebrating Belgium's 50th anniversary of it's independence.

The aim was to present to the world the idea

of a flourishing and prosperous new nation

worthy of a place alongside the great European powers.

(regal music)

The Triomphe Lodge was also planned

to symbolize Belgium's glorious past

but this imposing monument was only completed

in time for it's 75th anniversary.

As part of the same celebration, the first stone was laid

for one of the largest Catholic churches in the world,

the Basilica of the Sacred Heart.

Built of brick and reinforced concrete,

this massive structure has a 90 meter high dome

that dominates the northwestern skyline of Brussels.

It was built on the orders of King Leopold the Second

who was so taken by the the Sacre-Coeur in Paris

he decided to have one just like it here in Brussels.

But owing to spiraling costs and delays

it wasn't completed until 1969

having undergone major changes to the original design.

The result was a unique fusion of neo-Gothic design

with Art Deco.

Given it's size, it's not just church services

that take place, it also houses a restaurant,

a Catholic radio station, a theater and two museums.

And from the dome's viewing area,

visitors can enjoy a spectacular panoramic view

of Brussels including it's most distinctive landmark.

As Paris has the Eiffel Tower,

New York the Statue of Liberty,

Brussels has the Atomium.

(slow instrumental music)

Originally created for the 1958 World Fair,

this 102 meter high monument has nine steel spheres

connected so that the hole forms the shape

of an iron crystal magnified 165 billion times.

The tubes enclose escalators connecting the spheres

that are 18 meters in diameter,

large enough to fit exhibition halls

and other public spaces with the top sphere

providing an unrivaled view of Brussels.

The monument was originally planned to stand for six months

but it soon became a symbol not only of the World's Fair

but of modern architecture and the city of Brussels

and of Belgium.

The Atomium is one of the most visited attractions

in Brussels today and a perfect place to end this journey.

(slow instrumental music)