Out and about – Ravels and Turnhout

Thursday 16 & Friday 17 April

My morning view from the hatch

A couple of days getting provisioned at Del Heiz in Ravels

A pretty Ravels garden

and internet link sorted out at Mobistar in Turnhout (very helpful people at the branch there), sanding and varnishing and once again vainly trying to find oxalic acid to clean up residual rust marks left on deck by the people who fitted the new fore hatch. Had a good lunch at the Stads Café; ‘croque bolognaise’ which was two slices of toasted cheese smothered in bolognaise sause – delicious.

Turnhout station on right

Turnhout city hall

The main city square - Stads Cafe at junction.

On Friday we rode the 10kms into Turnhout again and, apart from guzzling a huge portion of chips and mayonnaise (Note to self: Order the small portion next time!)

visited the only mildly interesting Playing Card Museum, the 12^th Century castle of the dukes of Brabant which is now a courthouse,

Castle of the Dukes of Brabant

Castle Courtyard

and the fascinating Begijnhof. A begijnhof was a community of women who did not want to marry and wanted to lead a Christian life without the strictures of entering a convent or being bound to a single religion.

Begijnhof entrance

The museum

Making ribbon lace.

From Wikipedia:

While a small beguinage usually constituted just one house where women lived together, a Low Countries Court Beguinage typically comprised one or more courtyards surrounded by houses, and also included a church, an infirmary complex, and a number of communal houses or 'convents'. From the twelfth century through the eighteenth, every city and large town in the Low Countries had at least one Court Beguinage (they shut down, one by one, in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries). They were encircled by walls and separated from the town proper by several gates which were closed at night. During the day the Beguines could come and go as they pleased. Beguines came from a wide range of social classes, though truly poor women were only admitted if they had a wealthy benefactor who pledged to provide for their needs.

Soup for supper and early to bed.