Grotte de Han

My sister booked a supercombined ticket for 22.50 Euro per person (Nephew was able to enjoy everything for free because he is below 4 years old) that allows us to enjoy caves of Han, wildlife reserve, subterranean world and speleogame all in one location: Le Domaine des Grottes de Han which is a few minutes drive from La Roche, Ardennes.

Of all these activities, I love the caves of han the most even though as usual, I don’t understand what the guide was saying as there were only two guides to choose from: Netherlands and French speaking guide. It was just very nice seeing the stalactites and stalagmites which took a century just to grow by a few centimeters. Plus, there’s a symphony of lights inside the cave too with the stalactites and stalagmites as the main actors and actresses. HongKong’s symphony of light can’t beat the natural beauty found inside this cave.

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han2Speleogame is Belgium’s first interactive theatre where you get to play a game on a 3D screen. Unfortunately, I don’t like it because we don’t get to choose the game we wanted to play ourselves. It’s like the game for that day was becoming a detective so about 50 people went inside this theatre, put on our individual’s headset to listen to the instruction and players are represented by a number. Imagine finding 39 (my number) among so many numbers moving around the screen just to be able to get on with the game. Still, it was an experience that not many people could brag about so I was happy for the opportunity.

The subterranean world is a museum actually which showcased stages of civilization from Neolithic age to Roman era and the present times. It was interesting to be able to see old stuff but well you know, I’m not a museum person so the place was like a blur to me now.

After the caves of han, a ride through the wild animal reserve covering 250 hectares is my next favorite. I was happy to be able to see animals with my own eyes that I never thought I would be able to like bear, fox, wolf, reindeers, lynx, and so much more with carabao, goat and pigs as my favorite. Nyahaha. My sister joked that I went all the way to Belgium just to see a pig yet again.

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han7All in all, I had a great time at the Han and it was nice that the place comes with a playground too where we all get to play together for a few minutes. I find the slide a bit scary so my sister had to nag me first to try that out. And between my sister and the slide, I thought that the slide is less scarier so slide I did while screaming all the way. :P

My sister didn’t make me pay for the 22.50 Euro ticket which made me worried because it was expensive to be able to enjoy everything for free so I’m glad that she allowed me to spend money to buy toys for nephew instead.

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Feudal Castle at La Roche, Ardennes

Mind the schedule!

My sister as I said has this itinerary that Fre loved to joke about because for him, it’s not a holiday if everything you do is still on schedule. And since a trip in La Roche, Ardennes will not be complete if you didn’t check out it’s main tourist attraction, so off we went to the ruins of a Feudal Castle that’s been around as early as 9th century.

Entrance fee is 5 Euro where you get to walk around the castle, witness some medieval activities, try archery and watch falconry.

kasteel5In my opinion, the people is trying to promote this story of a ghost just so they have pictures to put on souvenir items. If you want to know details of this ghost story, click on pinayscribbles because this castle has night shows during summer about the ghost of Berthe, daughter of one of the Lords who used to occupy this castle and since narration was in Dutch, I don’t really understand a single thing. The fireworks was a nice touch but I have more fun watching my 3 year old nephew because he wore a helmet to protect himself from the ghost. :)

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Floreal at La Roche En Ardennes

My sister doesn’t like to take half-measures so if she’s going on a vacation, she really splurge and make sure that nothing is missed. For this summer, she decided on Ardennes where she booked a 2-Bedroom apartment at Floreal for 4Nights which cost more than 100 Euro per night.

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The nice thing about Floreal’s apartment is that not only the place is clean and can accommodate up to 5 people but kitchen is fully-equipped too so we get to cook our own meal if we wanted to. This means we could enjoy Fre’s special spaghetti still. Yippee!

My sister has an itinerary planned for all the days spent in Ardennes but I’m glad they decided to forego on the train that will take you all over the town because I don’t mind walking and we get to save money too.

I love La Roche because temperature gets as high as 29C at mid day so I could walk around comfortably in a dress. Speaking of walking around, I find it confusing at first why Fre would stop at meat shops and then tadang… STARE at the meat. And then after a while, I saw lots of men stopping by and doing some staring too. Nyahaha. Fre explained that La roche offers delicious meat from wild varken (pig) that is not available in Roeselare. I was able to taste this meat and although it was a bit salty but it sure was tasty.

Below are pictures of the town with the old medieval castle as its primary tourist attraction.

Floreal Club
http://www.florealclub.be/
Avenue de Villez, 6
6980 La Roche-en-Ardenne.
Tel.: 084 / 21.94.11
Fax.:084 / 21.94.45
la.roche@florealclub.be

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