Tongeren

Tongeren (French: Tongres, German: Tongern) is a city and municipality located in the province of Limburg in the Flemish region of Belgium. Its claim to be the "oldest town in Belgium", and its famous "Sunday antique and flea market" make the city a popular tourist attraction.

Understand
The city is the capital of both an administrative and a judicial district. The municipality has 31,000 inhabitants (2018) in an area of 87.56 km ². 17,000 people live in the old town. Tongeren is in the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium. French is also widely spoken as Wallonia including the big city of Liège is nearby. People generally speak at least basic English as well.

History
Archaeologists have found objects in the region dating from between 5300 and 4800 BC, and the oldest remains of buildings are from a Roman camp standing there from 30 BC, which was abandoned after a decade or so to be occupied by the Tungri tribe. It's unclear who the Tungri were; local tribes, Germans coming across the Rhine, or an alliance of these (tungri in Celtic means "companions"). The Romans then named the place Atuatuca Tungrorum - the fortress of the Tungri. In 69-70 AD, local tribes revolted against the Roman rule in an event known as the Revolt of the Batavi. The Romans put down the revolt and burned down the fortress.

With Romans controlling the region, the fortress and town was rebuilt. A road to Cassel (near Paris), an aqueduct, a temple and many commerces were constructed to make it the capital of civitas Tungrorum . Later ramparts and walls were built to protect the prospering city from attacks by Franks and Vandals. In the 4th century also Christianity arrived, and Saint Materne of Cologne set up a diocese seat in the town and converted the population. The diocese would soon be moved to Maastricht and finally to Liège which became the main city of the region and the capital of the Prince-Bishopric of Liège, part of the Holy Roman Empire. Tongeren still remained the second city of the principality, as officially declared in the 1316 Peace of Feixhe, a kind of Magna Carta. A few decades earlier, between 1241 and 1290 a new city wall with six gates and twelve fortified towers had been built.

In the 15th and 16th centuries, the region saw many wars between the states in the region despite the neutrality of Liège. The 17th century was marked by peace until the Franco-Dutch War when the French burned most of the city to the ground in 1677. This definitely meant the end of the grand days, and today Tongeren is definitely nothing like the second city in a country. In 1795 Tongeren became part of France, and its status was reduced to a locality in the department of Meuse-Inférieure. After the defeat of Napoleon, in 1815, the parts of France that make up present-day Belgium became part of the Limburg province of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Then, in 1839, the southern part of Limburg including Tongeren became part of the new Belgian kingdom and a local administration was set up here.

During the 20th century, Tongeren was occupied by Germans for several years during both world wars and was bombed with V1 bombs in 1944 after being liberated. After the war the city was developed into commercial centre, and with the merger of surrounding municipalities in the 1970s, the city grew both in population and size.

Get in
You can use the route planner at http://delijn.be for routes and schedules for all public transport in Belgium - both for getting to and around Tongeren

By plane
The nearest airports are in Liège and Maastricht. As of early 2023, the former is mostly a cargo airport with some charter flights, whereas the latter also has a few budget flights operated by Ryanair. Brussels airport has a much wider range of flights and destinations.

By car
East from Maastricht 18 km on N79.

South from Liège 31 km on E313 (exit 32) or N20.

North from Hasselt 29 km on E313 or N20.

West from Sint-Truiden 22 km on N79.

West from Brussels 89 km on E40 (exit 29) and N69

By train
Hourly trains from Liège Guillemins take 40 minutes to reach Tongeren. Trains also run hourly from Brussels, taking one hour 50 minutes.

By bus
There are buses from Hasselt (line 4), Liège (line 74), Maastricht (line 62) and Sint-Truiden (line 23a).

By bus
There are four city bus lines, one of which goes to the village of Herstappe. They run from Monday to Saturday. To travel on Sunday, you can call +32 11 850300 to order a bus. A single ticket costs €2.50, and a 24-hr ticket €7.50.

By car
Getting around by car is generally not a problem as there's little traffic and roads are in a good condition. In the old town, streets are narrow and parking are paid. There are three underground parkings in town.

Allego operates 27 charging stations (2-11 kW and 22 kW) for electric cars in Tongeren municipality.

By bike
In the city, one-way streets can be ridden by bike only when signposted by either of these signs:  or.



By foot
Tongeren is a relatively small and flat city, easy to navigate by foot to the major attractions (they're generally just a few hundred metres away from each other).

Religious buildings






Castles
All castles are private property, but they can be admired from the outside. They've usually been modified over the centuries, meaning they have a different appearance depending on which direction you look at it from.



Other houses






Statues and monuments




Walls and ramparts






Museums






Do



 * Geocaching - there are 157 caches of different sizes in the municipality, four of which are accessible to mobility impaired people.







De Motten municipal park


The following activities are available:
 * , with 18 holes.
 * , can be done with quardicycle, bicycle or kick scooter.
 * , to get around on the pond
 * in the two ponds (from the shore), buy a fishing permit from the Koninklijke Tongerse Lijnvissers desk in the café. It's also valid for fishing at the pond next to the Herenelderen castle, a bit outside town
 * on six outdoor clay courts
 * on two basket courts
 * - cafeteria with a terrace on the pond and another on the playground.
 * on two basket courts
 * - cafeteria with a terrace on the pond and another on the playground.

Events
Visit the antique and flea market on Sunday morning. It is the largest antique market of the Benelux. The market is open from 06:00 until 13:00. Go there as early as possible to increase your chance obtaining unique stuff. See the Buy section below.



Buy
If you visit the town during a weekend, don't forget to visit the Antique and flea market. If not, don't panic as there are plenty antique and brocante shops in Tongeren. You will find some around the Leopoldswal.





Interestingly, the tourist office (see Understand above) sells a large selection of local craft beers.

Tongeren is famous for a brand of luxury men's shoes Ambiorix, manufactured here since 1895. They're sold shoe shops in a few countries (and on the company's website), one of which is in Tongeren:

Local specialties
In addition to what the Belgian cuisine has to offer, Tongeren is known for different cookies:


 * Caëderkoek, also called ’t caëderkükske, is a coconut-flavored cookie
 * Tongerse Moppen a cookie with anise, honey and candy sugar, traditionally eaten at New Years celebration and Mardi Gras.
 * Spéculoos Ambiorix, a speculoos (a type of Belgian cookie) with cinnamon and in the shape of national hero Ambiorix.

Budget






Self catering
If you want to prepare your own food, there are grocery stores and a market every Thursday.



Mid-range




Local specialties

 * Ambiorix - Top-fermented brown beer that's refermented in the bottle. Made since 1985 and has an alcohol content of 7.5%


 * Cress - Top-fermented blonde beer flavored with watercress, refermented in the bottle and an alcohol content of 6.5%.


 * Dagelyckx - Triple brewed organic beer after a recipe by Beguines from 1644, with an alcohol content of 8%. It's only sold in the Beguinage museum and at the tourist office.


 * Ambiorixgin - Gin flavored with mugwort, blue fenugreek, nettle, garlic, wild garlic and lovage, has an alcohol content of 40%.


 * Caesaar'ke- Barley and rye malt genever with an alcohol content of 35%.


 * Advocaat Ruttermolen - A local brand of artisanal organic advocaat.

Places


With a terrace almost 250 m in length, the Grote Markt and Stadhuisplein is the place to head for a drink. About twenty establishments next to each other have outdoor patios, often heated in the winter. Many offer snacks and even complete food menus. Veemarkt at the northeastern corner of the city center also has several drinking establishments with covered outdoor seating.















Mid-range




Post offices


In addition the following newspaper shops sell stamps and have sending and reception service of letters and parcels.



Phones and Internet
There's 3G and 4G coverage all over town, 5G coverage in the north and south. Some cafés, restaurants and hotels offer theur customers free Wi-Fi, and the municipality also has a free Wi-Fi network along the commercial streets.

Cope
The town has bank offices and ATMs, with some of banking services available in the post office also.



There are just Catholic places of worship in Tongeren. The nearest Calvinist churches are in Herstal and Maastricht, whereas Evangelic and Anglican churches can be found in Liège and Maastrict. The nearest Orthodox churches and synagogue are in Liège, and the nearest mosques in Visé, Bilzen and Maastricht.

Stay healthy
For medical issues there's a hospital, a couple of general practices, dentists, veterinaries, opticians and several pharmacies.



Stay safe
As elsewhere in Europe, call 112 for emergencies (where police, ambulance or firefighters are required).



Go next
The Ardennes are close if you're looking for rest and beautiful nature. Liège, 30 km south, is the main regional city and Belgium's third largest metropolis, after Brussels and Antwerp.