15 October 2015 - Visit to Orval Abbey

It isn't getting warmer or brighter here in the mornings - just saying....  Tim, Annika and I braved the fresh morning and walked a circuit to Pin, our nearby town and back to Izel.  It seems we scored the bakery in Izel and Pin scored the pharmacy.  I know which shop I'd prefer 200 metres from my front door!  And yes, we did stop at the bakery on the way back!  As my sister says: "Without ze bread, ze French are dead" and as we are close to the border, this also applies to the Belgians.

Orval Abbey

 School conquered for the day and lunch eaten we drove 15 minutes or so to Orval.  Orval , meaning Valley of Gold was so named because of the legend of Countess Mathilde of Tuscany who  in 1076 dropped her wedding ring, given to her by her deceased husband Godfrey the Hunchback (!) into a spring.  She went to pray and came back to find a trout emerging from the water with her ring!  She apparently cried:" Here is the golden ring I was looking for. Blessed be the valley that returned it to me.  I shall henceforth and for always call it "aurea vallis" or golden vale.  The spring, Mathilde's Spring, still provides water for the abbey.  The sign for Orval is a trout with a golden ring.

White fantail doves

Entrance courtyard

Autumn at the abbey

A quiet tranquil life

Gymnast strikes again

Accomodation

Lovely display of manuscripts

Orval Abbey was founded in 1070.  The remains of the original abbey still stand although much of it was destroyed in the French Revolution but there is a new building (1928) built in accordance with a traditional Cistercian plan which still functions as a monastery.  I am always slightly awed thinking about the many people who have walked the paths over the past 800 or so years.  In this case, one of these was Aelred, a 12th Century monk who said: "When you pray, bring together the whole world in the depth of your love".

Passing the fish pond which was used to keep fish for eating.

Guest  accommodation

17th Century tiles

Pharmacy museum

 One of the most interesting parts of the abbey was the medicinal garden, made to replicate the Medieval garden pharmacy.  The pharmacy museum was full of shelves of jars and mortars and pestles.

Medicinal plants

Herbal remedies for respiratory problems

The old abbey

Lots of lovely arches

Walking through the old cloisters

1616!

Prince Wencelaus' tomb.  He died in 1383 - son of John the Blind, first Duke of Belgium.

Looking at the Notre Dame  Church- remains of

Beer label for beer made by the Trappist Monks of Orval - note trout and gold ring

Brother Abraham Gilson, an 18th Century monk was a keen artist and some of his work is displayed in the museum there.   The abbey also has made beer since 1931 and cheese since 1928 and the smell of hops lingered in the still air as we wandered around.

St Benedict - by Brother Abraham

Moses by Brother Abraham

 The monks who reside at Orval Abbey belong to the Cistercian Order of Trappist Monks.  Trappists, famous for their beer, follow St Benedict and take vows of stability, fidelity to monastic life and obedience.  Although they don't take a vow of silence, they only speak when necessary and meals are usually taken in silence.

On the way back we took a forest road to Chiny, thinking we might find a supermarket there but didn't!  We did find the river and a pretty town but didn't stop as it was so cold and we needed to get to the shops and get back for dinner.

Belgian waffles for dessert! Annika's plate before the first bite!

Tim prepared some sensational waffles for dessert!  Delicious!  He said we HAD to have then before leaving Belgium! He was right!