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Lier, a city located between Antwerp and Mechelen. It is located in the country side and you can reach it from Antwerp in less then 30 minutes. It's a city unspoiled by the mass tourism. You can easily fill a half or a full day in this charming place. We did this during a VT-meeting and we discovered the nice places in this city with our lovely guide Dannie. Lier is located on the banks of the river Nete and got his city rights in 1212 from the Duke of Brabant. But the city missed it's change to become a very important center. When they had the chance to choose between an sheep market and a university, they choose for the sheep market. That was in those days more money, but that was off course a short term view. As you know Leuven got the Catholic Univeristy in 1425. And there the people of Lier got their nickname from this decision: Shape koppen or Sheepheads.
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Lier is famous for his Zimmer Tower on the Zimmerplein and the beguinhof with the St. Margaret Church. The Zimmer Tower was the former Cornelius Tower and it contains now the 1930 Jubilee clock of Louis Zimmer. The Beguinage is now rebuild into living area with lovely inner gardens. And as always a VT-meeting is about drinking a beer together with friends while we explore the sights.
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When we were there on a Sunday there was the famous pigeon market. A portrait photographer can make here great shots, all those faces of the older people who still play with the pigeons. There were many Dutch and German people that came from far to buy these pigeons.
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The Beguinage:
It dates back from the 13th century. Most medieval cities in Belgium and the Netherlands had their Beguinages at the time of the Crusades. You can see the Beguinage as a sort of a convent but then where the woman don't have to make a vow. The woman had to be unmarried and hade to make a vow of chastity.
The Beguinage consists of a group of small houses and they form together a little village within the city.
The beguinage is spread out over an area of two hectares and has a total of 162 houses, located in eleven streets.
The Saint Margaret Church dates back from the 18e century.
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I stayed in the Boomerang in Antwerp, 30 minutes by car from Lier. This is a nice cosy hostel with clean beds. The prices are low and the breakfast is very good.
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When you go for a walk, make sure you try the local beer Caves. It has a honey tast.
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Lier has many good restaurants, but when it's a Sunday and also a shopping day it can be very crowdy. There is very every taste a restaurant, you will find one for your liking.
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The Zimmer tower
This is a wonder of technic, not the tower itself, but the clock that was built buy the Lier clockmaker Louis Zimmer (1888-1970). He built this Jubilee clock for the world fair in 1939 at New York. You can see and visit this clock in the pavilion next to the tower.
It's almost inbeleavable what you can read on this clock, like off course the time and the time in different time zones, but also the tides, the seasons, the signs of the Zodiac and what to tell about the time of an comet that will return in 25.800 years (this is the slowest running clock in the whole world).
The pigeon market on a Sunday, make sure you don't miss that.
Make a walk to the Nete and enjoy the calm and quietness even you are only a few hundred metres from the city centre.
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Published on Sunday April 11th, 2004 by travelalain
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