Travel

Maybe you like to fit as much variety into your travels as possible, taking in as many places are you can get to in the time you have available and then find yourself worn out and everything s a blur afterward. Or perhaps you re more of a meandering wanderer; either way, Micro Travel could be an interesting alternative to your usual itinerary.

The concept is simple: pick one place – it could be a country, a city, a region, a suburb – and explore it as thoroughly and deeply as possible.

Let s start with Belgium. that sometimes overlooked hub of Europe. It offers a surprising diversity of experiences and culture, has its own Mini-Europe. and because I haven t been to Luxembourg.

Although to be fair, neither of them makes the list of the top 10 smallest countries in the world – this honour goes from the Vatican City at 0.2 square miles, through Monaco, Nauru, Tuvalu, San Marino, Liechtenstein, Marshall Islands, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Seychelles, to the Maldives at 115 square miles.

I ve found myself in Belgium on various occasions in the past year, and in particular the Walloon region. Every time I go there is something else to experience in this fascinating country. Most of my trips have taken me outside Brussels. and now it s time to share with you some of the best of Wallonia in the first of our Micro-Travels series.

The city of Mons, an hour south of Brussels near the French border, is now confirmed as the European Capital of Culture in 2015, along with either PlzeA? or Ostrava from the Czech Republic .

I was first invited to Mons on a site visit for City Sonics. a festival of sound and related arts that takes place in venues all over town, some in hidden spaces like the inside of the water tower, and others in the halls of the Ateliers des FUCaM (Catholic University) and even a few secret chapels. The Institute of architecture hosted the Chant du Pont Volant in their chapel, a small vaulted room directly on the street, with beautiful minimalist lead-light windows above the altar.

Flying Bridge - School of Architecture Chapel, Mons during City Sonics 2015

In contrast, Alexander McSween transformed his highly decorated and kitsch space into the Chapel of Love, the stretched and transformed voices of popular love songs filling the space. The festival is organised yearly by Transcultures. an innovative cultural production incubator dedicated to nomadic art practices and supports the creation and transmission of interdisciplinary art through cultural networks in Mons, Montreal, France, Portugal, Tunisia and beyond.

During the festival thousands of people visit the sonic art installations in diverse locations, and of course all that listening can be thirsty work. We took a nightly dinner at the dark wood paneled restaurant in the Grand Place, where I learned to order one of the local beers – Maredsous – by remembering it as my red sue .

There is also a lively Greek restaurant La Grillade just around the corner (Rue des Clercs 22) next to a cocktail bar with which it shares the same backyard terrace, while the legendary Cubar on Rue de Nimy, 57c was much frequented for their wide variety of rum. The town itself is very old and beautiful, a muted grey stone the main building material and winding cobbled streets that take you up the steep hills and into another time. The Doudou festival is a 700 year old carnival event featuring the procession of the Golden Carriage and festive ritual slaying of a dragon, which has been recognized as oral and intangible heritage of humanity by UNESCO.

CitySonics 2015

The Modern Art Museum (MAC) is renovated in the former Grand-Hornu colliery, with a series of contemporary art exhibitions and extended cultural complex on the site, including Transcultures interdisciplinary production and workshop space. The collection includes paintings from the 14th to the 20th centuries, with a focus on the last 40 years including a recent show of popular work from Keith Haring. The site is planned to become a versatile cultural space in the coming years, featuring the Frigo as a venue for artist residencies, concerts, performances and workshops.

Mons is also famous for the Mundaneum Musuem. an intriguing archive dedicated to the works and utopian views of its two founders: bibliographer Paul Otlet and Henri Lafontaine winner of the Nobel prize for peace (1913), who in 1895 invented a hyperlinked filing card system for interlinking knowledge and finding information, that is said to be the earliest imaginary version of the internet.

In 1934, Otlet sketched out plans for a global network of computers (or electric telescopes, as he called them) that would allow people to search and browse through millions of interlinked documents, images, audio and video files. More than half a century before Tim Berners-Lee released the first Web browser in 1991, Otlet described a networked world where anyone in his armchair would be able to contemplate the whole of creation.

He described how people would use the devices to send messages to one another, share files and even congregate in online social networks. He called the whole thing a reseau. which might be translated as network — or arguably, web.

Since there was no such thing as electronic data storage in the 1920s, Otlet had to invent it. He started writing at length about the possibility of electronic media storage, culminating in a 1934 book, Monde, where he laid out his vision of a mechanical, collective brain that would house all the world s information, made readily accessible over a global telecommunications network. Otlet also saw the possibilities of social networks, of letting users participate, applaud, give ovations, sing in the chorus. in some of the more productive aspects of social networking — the ability to trade messages, participate in discussions and work together to collect and organize documents.

I have to confess that my experience of Liege is limited to the extraordinary Calatrava railway station. opened with a spectacular ceremony in 2015, however I plan to return and explore as soon as I can. Recent cultural events include a lecture by a favourite philosopher, Michel Serres.

The Museum of Walloon Life invites visitors to discover a young, intricate, multidimensional and constantly changing land, and cultural variety renowned for its amazing hospitality, highlighting the positive outlook of the Walloon character: unity in diversity. Here you can discover the life in Wallonia through a variety of scenes to awaken the senses, revive its history and share the region s legendary festive spirit. State-of-the-art museography and scenography offers an eloquent History of Wallonia divided into 5 parts: Wallonias, Technical (R)evolutions, Living Together, Day by Day, Life of Spirit.

Walloon s economic epoch is punctuated by old techniques (r) evolutions, crises and (re) deployments, from earthen trails to airways. From carrier pigeon to satellites, Wallonia is involved in the major changes affecting the global transport and communication systems. The deeply entrenched Walloon Catholicism is also present, tinged with magic and superstition, as local life is marked by festivals and recreational activities, building social bridges.

The task of rounding off the path of discovery in the museum was assigned to Liege artist Jacques Charlier and astrophysicist JaA«l Naze from the University of Liege for a universalist and cosmic swerve, suggesting an existential reflection on a possible extrasolar planet!

The Gourmet Museum and Library (Bibliotheque et musee de la Gourmandise) is dedicated to the history of gastronomy and holds one of the most important collections of gastronomic books and objects in Europe. Located in the vaulted rooms of the 17th century fortified castle Hermalle-sous-Huy, province of Liege with original paintings, furniture, masterpieces, curios and of course the magnificent collection of antique books on food, tobacco and the arts of the table. Guided visits and walks in the area show you the local gastronomic heritage and edible wild plants, while the museum tavern offers regional dishes prepared according to traditional recipes from the library.

Wallonia has everything from ancient ritual, gourmet tastes and dragons, to modern technology and transcultural festivals with a little steampunk in between!