Liège

Liège by night

Liège is the third biggest city in Belgium after Brussels, the capital city, and Antwerp, with 1,087,729 inhabitants in 2013. Liège is situated in Wallonia, the French-speaking part of Belgium, from which it's the economic and cultural capital. It is built on the Meuse River, that you can see on the picture. Liège used to be pretty much the economic center of Belgium, but that situation changed in the 1950's when the economic power went from Wallonia to Flanders. Throughout history, Liège has been the center of revolutionary movements, and has often rebelled against the religious power in place. But this is not what I'm going to talk about. I want to talk about it how it is now, so that my classmates know how I live my life everyday back in my country.

Yeah, you might already have heard about Liège, thanks to the Liège waffles (that are really good, by the way) but Liège has a lot of other things to offer. The city has an important artistic life as well as architectural heritage. The Prince-bishops' palace, built in the 10th century, is a must see. It houses both the provincial government and the law court. Religion has had a huge impact on the city, culturally but also on an architectural point of view. Even if the St Lambert's cathedral, the most impressive and popular one, was destroyed, many impressive churches and cathedrals still stand in Liège. The city also offers a lot of museums, mostly about the typical life or the culture Liégeois (as you probably figured out, the name of the inhabitants of Liège) used to have. You can also find art galleries and an aquarium. Liège also has a good university with many research programs and a nice campus.

Liège has also a lot to offer for teens. It has 3 movie theaters, 2 malls and a lot of street-opened stores. Actually, we could call the city itself a mall. You can find all kinds of stores for everybody, from clothes to designer shops and traditional cafes. It also has a very animated downtown center, with many bars opened to teens. There's always a park to hang out in, a party to go to, shops to go shopping in or just some typical events. For example, the Christmas market on the principal plaza has become with the years a very famous market in Belgium, with a lot of artisanal and original gifts for all your family. If you want to spend your Sunday as a true Liégeois, you're welcome to come to "La Batte", which is a huge market taking place along the river with a lot of cultural things to buy or to eat and a very typical ambiance.

Buses from all over the province end up in the center so it's a really easy city to get to. The train station, "Liège-Guillemins", which is pretty amazing too, connects Liège with every other big city in Belgium as well as with Paris, Maastricht, Amsterdam and so on. The station was built by Santiago Calatravo, a spanish architector and was officially inaugured on September 18th, 2009. Liège has also an airport (really small, I have to admit, but with flights mostly to the rest of Europe), located out of the city, in Bierset.