Damme, Belgium

For our final full day in Belgium, we visited the small village of Damme (pronounced DUH-muh) in the extreme northwest corner of the country. For this trip, we drove very close to the border with the Netherlands and just a few miles from the North Sea.

First, I had to mesh my limited Dutch vocabulary with a gas station attendant’s English to help convince the pump to play nice with my credit card. You have to love global financial networks.

Eventually, we successfully filled up and were on our way. The landscape turned flat and green as we neared Damme. We soon crossed a deep canal cutting inland from the coast. We were impressed with the precise lines of towering trees shading bike and walking paths along each side.

One smaller canal cut up from the city of Bruges to the village of Damme.

We had to get out of the car again and admire a fine old windmill near the edge of town. With the steady breeze coming off the sea, it’s no wonder these found plenty of work. They’re much bigger in person than I expected.

Damme is a beautiful medieval town. We wandered along the cobbled main street and admired the handsome buildings surrounding the main square.

This far north, the sun doesn’t get very high in the sky. The low angle creates striking colors and shadows. There’s a warm glow across the landscape here, especially in the afternoon.

In a place this small and quiet, we had ample opportunity to absorb the details.

I hiked to the end of Damme’s main street and took this photo of an old farm from the small bridge leaving town. It was obvious canals were an integral part of life here.

It was after lunch hour but we found a nice restaurant still serving. Of course we had to sample the seafood. We struck up a conversation with a nice couple sitting across from us and they helped us with the menu. We learned they’d lived in Virginia for 12 years. As they were departing the restaurant, they thanked us for visiting Belgium.

When we went to pay, the waitress surprised us with a little jar of candies the couple had bought from the restaurant and left for us. Without a doubt, the people of Belgium have been some of the most welcoming we’ve encountered.

Back in Oudenaarde, we made a last visit to De Carillon and then took a final stroll around the town square. This has been a great home base for us.

It’s Thanksgiving tomorrow. We’ll be making our way north across the border to the Netherlands but we’ll be thinking of family and friends back home.

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