Liège is a hard-working Walloon city on the Meuse, where steelworks once glowed along the river and the people have a reputation for warmth and bluntness. It has none of the polished prettiness of Bruges, and that is part of its appeal. The old centre is a tangle of lanes and courtyards under the hill called the Citadelle, with the grand Palace of the Prince-Bishops standing on a vast square, a reminder that this was an independent church state for nearly eight centuries.
You see the city's character in small things. On Sunday mornings the Batte market runs for a kilometre along the river, selling everything from cheese to clothes to live chickens. The Montagne de Bueren, a staircase of 374 steps, climbs up from the old town to the hillside, and people run it for training. The Liège waffle, dense and chewy with pearl sugar caramelised in the dough, is sold from every corner, and the writer Georges Simenon, creator of Inspector Maigret, was born here in 1903. The sleek white station at Guillemins, designed by Santiago Calatrava, opened in 2009 and looks like a ship's keel, tying the city to the modern rail network.
As a starting point for the Ardennes, Liège is ideal. Within half an hour of leaving town you are in rolling forest, following the Ourthe or Amblève valleys, with their long bends and stone villages. Further on lie Spa and the motor racing circuit at Francorchamps, then the high moors of the Hautes Fagnes, where the road crosses peat and heather. The Ardennes were the scene of the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944, and war museums, memorials and tanks by the roadside tell that story in Stavelot, La Gleize and elsewhere. Roads are well surfaced but speed cameras are common, and fog or ice can appear quickly in the cooler months.
Liège has fuel at every turn and a range of hotels. The Saint-Nicolas area nearby is also well served. Try boulets, meatballs in a sweet and sour sauce, with chips, and a local beer in one of the city's cafes. Autumn colour in the Ardennes is a highlight, so plan a loop in October.