route.nl 139555

<p>This route takes you from South Limburg to Wallonia for a day. You make a trip through quiet forests and past many sights. And of course you can enjoy beautiful panoramas in this hilly region.</p><p><b>Castle Vaelsbroek</b><br>Even before you cross the border, you the Frankenhof mill. This overshot water mill dates from 1736 and is a reminder of the heyday of Vaals as the center of the textile industry. A little further on you will see Kasteel Vaelsbroek, a pleasure castle whose origins date back to the fifteenth century. The current U-shaped classicist mansion dates from 1761. Don't forget your camera, because the building is a picture. Just like the Vaalsbroeker mill from 1776.</p><p><b>Picturesque Wallonia</b><br>Just past Gemmenich you drive through the vast and wonderfully quiet Preuswald. In the village of Moresnet there are still houses built with local quarry stones. The beautiful Sint-Remigius church dates from 1673. Just like in Limburg, you regularly see chapels and monumental half-timbered houses in Belgium. Back in the Netherlands you pass Diependal and Plaat, two hamlets where time seems to have stood still.</p><p><b>Neutral Moresnet</b><br>In the Preuswald, between 1816 and 1920 a mini-state: Neutral Moresnet. In this former border area was a zinc mine that was claimed by the Netherlands and Germany. After the independence of Belgium, the mini-state suddenly bordered three countries. And the only four-country point that ever existed was created. At the current three-country point, the pavement in the pie slice that once belonged to Neutraal-Moresnet can still be seen.<br></p>