Visit to Walraversijde and the Atlantic Wall

A few weeks ago we had the opportunity to spend the day in Oostende with some friends. We visited Walraversijde and the Atlantic Wall. It was a beautiful day and we had a great time exploring with great friends! 

Walraversijde: 

Walraversijde is a little fishing village situated by the North Sea.  It was was built at the beginning of the 15th century, but destroyed several times by flooding and fire. The information below is taken from http://www.west-vlaanderen.be.

The missing fishermen's village is one of the most important archaeological sites in Flanders and one of the best studied medieval fishing communities in Europe. In the four reconstructed fishing houses you get to know the inhabitants of the medieval village. The buildings were rebuilt with original medieval bricks, which were unearthed during archaeological investigation of the site. In the archaeological museum you will see the basis of numerous and well preserved medieval objects as well as more about life in the village and archaeological research.

Reconstructed houses

Foundation of a house that was unearthed during reconstruction of the village

Watching videos about 15th century weaponry

After walking around Walraversijde, we ate a picnic lunch outside.

Atlantic Wall: (info below taken from http://www.visitoostende.be)

This open-air museum is a unique historical site of modern fortification. The around sixty German constructions from both World Wars – underground trenches, bunkers and remains of the German coastal batteries of Aachen (built in 1915) and Saltzwedel neu (from 1941), observation points and gun sites are among the best preserved along the Atlantic coast and are the showpiece of the museum. Some of the bunkers have been reconstructed in their original state and furnished with authentic objects. The atmosphere is definitely that of ‘The Longest Day’.

The Atlantic Wall originally stretched from Norway to the French-Spanish border and had a length of 5,300 km.

The boys loved running through the trenches and tunnels!

Walking to the Atlantic Wall

Torpedo

Great friends!

Hanging out in an escape tunnel

High-fiving a guard on our way out!

After walking through the Atlantic Wall, we decided to walk over to the North Sea to sit and enjoy the beautiful weather.

Beautiful day!

Geoffrey telling me how to get to England

 Of course the boys were exhausted from running around all day. They passed out about five minutes after we got in the car.

We had such a nice time exploring and learning more about the history of Belgium. It was a long day with a lot of walking, but it was great to spend time with awesome friends!