This past Thursday, we took a half-day trip with four other families to a beautiful wooded trail in Oud (Old) Heverlee.
With 10 children in tow, we all walked the trail to the seculded Chapel of Our Lady of Steenbergen, which was originally built in the 1600s. Although details are scarce, apparently several miracles happened on the site and it’s now a national protected monument.
Just a short walk away is Zoet Water, a collection of ponds that were excavated in the 17th century by the Duke of Arenberg (if you follow the blog you’ll notice we went to his castle last week!). Beside one of the ponds is Minne Bron (Friendly Source), a spring with delicious, fresh, sweet water pouring forth. Many locals come here with dozens of bottles to collect their water for the week (we waited in line to fill our water bottle). The water was worth the wait.
After we got our fill of Zoet Water, we walked over to an enormous park to eat lunch and let the kids run around.
We had a great day and left feeling extremely grateful for the friends we’ve made in Leuven.
More to come soon…