On the first on August, we took a road trip to La Roche, Belgium to visit a medieval festival at le Chateau Feodal (a medieval castle). The castle was built in the 9th century and is still in pretty good condition. It is amazing that something build so long ago still stands- it seems as though it was literally carved into the rock. The town of La Roche is very small and mainly known for the castle, so everything seems to revolve around castle themes- the lights decorating La Roche are shaped like the castle ghost; themed tourist shops offer “castle-esck” mementos; and costumed minstrels can be seen playing music in the cobblestone streets. The trek up to the castle was brutal, but we finally made it! Inside we saw sword fighting demonstrations, various authentic booths selling meats, cheeses, swords, shield, etc, falcon hunting demonstrations, singing minstrels, and lots of people dressed in medieval attire. The castle ruins were fascinating, but would have been a bit more meaningful if we had been able to understand what the guides were saying…everything was in French or Dutch, so we had to guess! We had too many cool pictures to post on the blog, so check out my facebook page for more castle pics if you are interested.
The Castle in the distance.
Harp player, hunchback (rough job- I wonder who drew the short stick??), and other medieval people- you can't see here, but they were drinking from authentic tankards- think Lord of the Rings
The falcon show.
A view of La Roche from the top of the castle.
Sword fighting demonstration...was really funny- at least everyone around us was laughing- we had no idea what was going on!
A knight in (if I can remember from my 6th grade medieval unit)
chainmail.
Singing minstrels.
The murder hole. We had to walk down a tiny, rather dangerous stone staircase to get here and it was basically a small room where they murdered people...yikes.
I caught one of the castle guards (right) sleeping...don't know if that was part of his act or if he was actually trying to nap! The townspeople really took their medieval roles seriously. For example: just inside the gate was a "crazy" man who was talking to a sheepskin and shaking his tin cup for donations. He was really impressive at being crazy- screaming, moaning, a shriek every now and again for good measure.
We were really just trying to get a picture of the medieval people coming down the steps...
A church at the foot of the castle- it's now an art museum.
Castle ghost lights light up La Roche at night (kind of like Christmas lights in the States, but this one if a picture of the ghosts- The festival of lights may want to consider and addition next year.)
You can see the castle in the distance.
Our french fry cup at the lunch restaurant. Fries are almost always served in cones. Ben ordered a tropical fruit juice drink and it arrived while I was in the bathroom. When I got back he said, "Taste this...it kinds tastes different." I declined and he kept drinking. At the end of the meal as Ben is uncomfortably rubbing his stomach he says- "hmmm, do you think that juice drink had alcohol in it?" I smelled his glass and reeled back- it had a
very strong alcohol smell. haha, Ben said, "Really?!? I can't smell anything!" This is actually the 2nd time that Ben had inadvertently ordered an alcoholic beverage, so we decided that if he thinks it tastes funny, pass it to me and I'll do the smell test to determine drinkability. It was pretty halarious.
La Roche plaza.
