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434 Route 53. TONGEREN. From Litge
It then skirts the hills enclosing the Meuse, but at some distance
from the river, as far as —
41/o M. Herstal, almost a suburb of Liége, said to be the birth-
place of Pepin ‘of Heristal’, the major-domo, or chief officer of the
king, and practically the regent of the great Frankish empire, as the
power of the Merovingian monarchs had begun to decline. Herstal
also contests with Aix-la-Chapelle the glory of being the birthplace
of Charlemagne. Visitors are not admitted to the large arms and
bicycle factory.
The train now quits the valley of the Meuse. — 7!/oM. Milmort.
From (91/5 M.) Liers a branch-line runs to Rocour and Ans (p. 238).
4141/5 M. Glons (steam-tramway to Maastricht, see p. 268); 101/o M.
Nederheim.
18 M. Tongeren, French Tongres (345 ft.; Hét. du Casque, in
the market-place, with café-restaurant, 20 R. at 2-3, D. 2 fr.), the
Roman Aduatuca Tungrorum, is a town with 10,000 inhabitants. At
the beginning of the 4th cent. it was the seat of a bishop, whose
residence, however, was removed to Maastricht in 382 to secure the
protection of the latter’s fortifications, and was transferred to Liége
about 720. The handsome Gothic Church of Notre Dame, completed
in 1240, with choir and tower of the 15th cent., possesses a painted
wooden statue of the Virgin (‘Notre-Dame de Tongres’; 12-13thcent.),
a carved wooden high-altar-piece (Life of the Virgin; 45th cent.),
a valuable *Collection of sacred vessels (adm. 1 fr.), and Roman-
esque cloisters (40th cent.?) with fine sculptures. In the market-
place is a bronze statue of Ambiorix, chief of the Eburones, who
rebelled against the Romans in 64 B.0. and was defeated by Ozsar.
On the N.W. side is an old town-gate.
Branch-railway to St. Trond and Tirlemont, see p. 238. — Steam-tram-
ways run to (11 M.) Ferhe-le-Haut-Clocher (p. 238); to Maastricht (p. 264);
to (441/2M.) Lanaeken (p. 209); and to Cortessem (p. 209).
23 M. Hoesselt; 24M. Bilsen. — 27'/)M. Beverst, 30M. Diepen-
beek, both stations on the line from Maastricht to Aerschot (p. 209).
— 34 M. Hasselt, where the line unites with the Antwerp, Maast-
richt, and Aix-la-Chapelle railway (see p. 209).
Scenery uninteresting, but the bridges over the arms of the
Meuse and Rhine towards the end of the journey are worthy of notice.
381/5 M. Zonhoven; 44 M. Helchteren; 49 M. Wychmael- Beverloo
(junction of the steam-tramway from Bourg-Léopold to Maeseyck,
p. 209); 541/, M. Bael. — 56 M. Neerpelt (Hét. Neuf, at the
station), the junction for the Gladbach and Antwerp line (p. 212),
is situated in the Campine Limbourgeoise, a former moor converted
by irrigation into a fertile plain and connected with Antwerp by
the Canal de la Campine. — 591/g M. Achel, the last station in
Belgium; 65 M. Valkenswaard, the first station in Holland, a place
celebrated since time immemorial for its falcons (Walken) ; 674/) M.
Aalst-Waalre; 71 M. Eindhoven (p. 454, junction of the Venlo |
