In the country of the spiders

 Last weekend, I was travelling through Belgium to attend the baptism of my godchild Leandro in Mechelen. As I am living in Frankfurt, there were no planes involved in this trip, something which I certainly liked.

So, the trip took me first from Frankfurt to Liège by train. Then I took a second train to Charleroi and from there a bus to Mechelen. In total I think it is a trip of less than 200 kilometres but which gave me a good overview of Belgium.

Liége, and the cities which I saw on the train to Charleroi, has the air of an old and dark city. The train station, designed by Santiago Calatrava, does not change the opinion of the traveller when arriving there. It is a nice building, full of light, but when you look beyond, you only see old brick houses, derelict industrial areas and grey sky. The same may be applied to Charleroi, but multiplied by five (at least). Uff, one feel there that this is an industrial city, where coal and steel have been the drivers of it in the past 200 years.

One positive aspect of this part of the trip was to see the huge river Mose, which I have never heard of, and which is certainly impressive. Being a Spaniard not used to big rivers, it seems I am easily seduced by any big river I see.

Mechelen, on the contrary, a city I know quite well and where we spent three days, has the atmosphere of a quiet and interesting town. This time I have discovered important aspects of its history, like the "beguinage" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beguinage) or its past history as capital of the Low Countries. The city centre has been recently renovated and it is delightful to walk there.

Finally, what most surprised me in the trip was the amount of spiders I have seen in three days. Everywhere, in every corner of Belgium, there was a spider web, with the spider hanging around it. I am not particularly scared of spiders (this honor is for snakes) but I cannot understand it: in Spain spiders are not so common and spider webs are quickly cleaned out when found in the streets or in houses. It seems that Belgium is a more "spider-friendly" country...