The syrup made from pears is well-known in this area and in the French-speaking area around the city of Liege. Tourists can buy little jars of this specialty to put on their bread in the morning. In the area of Borgloon it is more apples. Both are spreadable, not fluid like molasses (as slow as that can be).
Whereas the Netherlands has the cheese market in Alkmaar and the flower auction in other areas, this section of Belgium has its fruit market. It is in this area that the price is determined for how much a bushel of apples or a basket of strawberries, red berries or raspberries will cost. The major center of all of this sweet merchandizing is the city of Borgloon which hosts the largest fruit auction of Belgium.
Borgloon, which has now been combined with the city of Tongeren to Tongeren-Borgloon, has always been a smaller city, but steeped in rich history. Several Roman highways in this area show that the Romans were busy here from quite some time before others also settled here. In the 10th century Count Giselbert van Loon built a castle on the hill which now still looks out over the city. Even before the 13th century this little town gained city rights. Wars, witch trials and trade guilds continued to make this an important place throughout the centuries following.
More recently people might be more familiar with the see-through church (“Doorkijk kerk” or “Read-between-the-lines church”) which was erected in 2011 as part of a project to let people see the surrounding landscapes in a different way. Borgloon is about 30 minutes from where we live and just down the road from where the Ukrainian couple from church live in Tongeren.
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