Except for the Palais des Prince-Eveques, Palace of the Prince-Bishops, this center square Place St. Lambert isn’t ancient. That doesn’t keep away folks from all over Europe when the Batte Markt, largest and oldest street market in Europe, is set up all day Sundays across the lower side of the sloping square and for a mile on down the River Meuse. There isn’t much to tour right on the square, as the palace isn’t open to the public, except for the gardens accessible through the open arch. Busy browsing at craft stalls, the crowd wasn’t looking for antiquity. This was an honest slice of local life, common working folks strolling around town in December looking for a moveable wooden toy for the toddler in the stroller.
Vendors had more than wooden toys: household items, beaded jewelry, hand-knit sweaters, candles, soap, waffles, exquisite tarts, chocolates, fish, rotisserie meats, and more. Determined to dine on local specialties, we had to squeeze through crowds at food booths and settled for a pork barbecue and some sweets--delicious! Feeling "guilty" for neglecting a salad or some fruit, I was reminded that in this frigid weather, I would burn those calories fast--so I went back for a whole bag of waffles! This was fun! It was like a fair--and the locals were 15% thinner than average Americans, like diet books claim. Perhaps they frequently stay out all day in weather like this!
Place St. Lambert is huge, and it has its charm. First, the land is enchanting as it slopes down to the Meuse and a footbridge to the Outremeuse or far side of the river. (This is where the craft stalls end and vans of flea-market vendors begin.) On this corner of the square, the grey-wrapped foothills of the Ardennes are visible, and at the opposite corner, the land rises to a hill, an ancient fortress. The vast space in between is our square, an open, pleasing place gently sloping with a few steps up to the palace at the highest point on the square. The palace, now the Court of Justice, though not open, is worth a close look, as it is the largest secular Gothic building in Europe. Accordingly huge in front of it, the size of the square made us forget we were in the middle of a city of over 180,000. Nature seemed close and abundant.
The square has other delights. I’m amused by modern art. Representative statuary, such as numerous identical columns rising up from open plazas to suggest an army or some virtues--these always make me smile. On Place St. Lambert, art ranges from the serious representation to the capricious with the little green airplane and its "dashing" pilot. I chuckled! Art was in trees--a guitar? Like Brussels, the city is dotted with outdoor surprises, modern and antique.
We walked until darkness and cold suggested we head for Gare Guillemans, the central train station. Buses 1-4 were circling the square.