Day in Durbuy

Durbuy bills itself as the smallest city in the world, having been given the title of a city in 1331. The sense of time in Europe is something that you cant help but think about. In the US, anything predating the revolutionary period is either a recreation or an archeological site. Here, you can step into buildings that have been in continuous use for a couple of hundred years before our archeological sites. A different perspective.

Durbuy is really a pretty little village city. It is touristy, but in a very Belgian sort of way. There are lots of cute little shops that may or may not be open and often with products that you may wonder what relationship to the medieval town they have.(case in point, Adam and Eve aprons.) The sidewalks are missing cobblestones making a severe ankle injury a constant threat, except when there is a dangerous blind corner, then there is no sidewalk and you have to walk in the street. And there are a number of restaurants.

We arrived fairly late in the morning and spent some time wandering around the city. There is a topiary park across the river from the Castle of the Counts of Ursel that opened for the season today, so we strolled around that for a little while. My guess is that the person responsible for tending the topiary is a bit of a perv, because a surprising number of the topiary were quite buxom. After a couple of hours of this we stopped at La Ferme Au Chene, a little restaurant and microbrewery which produces Marckloff a blonde ale.

The Marckloff arrived in a small tulip glass. It is a deep golden color with a very persistent head. It is quite hoppy with a crisp clean taste. It went quite well with the cheese and pate plate that I had for lunch. She who must be obeyed, critiqued it as , "this is the kind of beer I like". Which is probably why I am writing the beer blog. Four Drunk Monks!!!

We spent a little more time after lunch wandering the shops in town and found a shop with an excellent selection of beers that I have not previously tried. So I am fully stocked up for new blog fodder for this week. One of which, I opened for dinner.

The Barbar is a product of Lefebvre, the same brewery that makes Moeder Overste which I have reviewed previously. Barbar is a Special Blonde Ale which is made with honey. Surprisingly, it is not as sweet as I would have thought. The honey presents itself on the finish but up front there is quite a bit of hop and fruit. I think this beer would probably play better as an aperitif, but it was not bad with my pizza. Four Drunk Monks!!!