We can enjoy each others company, enjoy the atmosphere and watch the world go by

A previous post explains how we ended up staying in this hotel in Mechelan. I fell in love with the hotel

As luck would have it an email arrived from the Belgian hotel chain that we used when we stayed in Bruges. It gave us inspiration and I fell in love with one of the hotels in the chain. The Hotel is a converted Church! I researched the hotel’s town and found that it had many things of interest. The guidebooks describe it as a beautiful medieval town, with charm and outstanding architectural treasures.

I was also curious about the history of the church. I was happy to find that the hotel provided this information in the ‘useful information book’ which can be found in most hotel rooms.

The building which houses Martin’s Patershof dates from the late 19th century and formed part of the Franciscan monastery. Members of the Franciscan order, the Friars Minor shared their history with that of Mechelen from their arrival in 1231. They were expelled under the French revolution of the late 18th century, but Belgian independence and the state approval of the religious orders saw their re-establishment.

The construction of their new church, a neo-gothic building, started in the Hiehoek area 1867 area and was completed in 1873, followed by the completion of the cloisters.

At the end of the 1990s, the Franciscans left their monastery and put it up for sale. The gardens and part of the cloister were turned into a residential development called ‘Patershof’. In 1999, the building was deconsecrated and then sold to a private individual. Spring 2008 saw the beginnings of the metamorphosis of a heritage site in danger of extinction. Less than 14 months later, Martin’s Patershof opened its doors.

After a good nights sleep we ventured downstairs for breakfast. The breakfast room is quite stunning. It is situated in what was the choir of the church.

The breakfast buffet was one of the best I have ever seen. There was a decadent option of having a glass of Cava to put you in the mood for the day ahead. I chose not to indulge so early in the morning After the refreshing breakfast we ventured into to town to find the tourist information office. We failed and as it was raining we moved onto plan B.

We visited St Rumbold’s Cathedral with its wonderful architecture, artworks and stained glass windows. I found it a little sad to see that parts of it are crumbling and in need of a little TLC.

When we left the Cathedral the rain had stopped so we went for a stroll to find the Beguinages. We managed to miss the Beguinages too and ended up by the kazern Dossin museum and military barracks where Jews were held awaiting deportation during WW2. The museum was excellent and thought provoking. It invited the visitor to ask questions and look for answers.

After our visit to the museum we strolled back in the direction of the hotel and we managed to find the Beguinages that were being illusive earlier in the day. The Beguinage Church was shrouded in scaffolding rather spoiling the ambiance. Several other buildings in the city (including the Cathedral) are also currently subjected to portions of scaffolding.

After exploring the Beguinages we made our way back to the hotel to freshen up before venturing back out into the city for another excellent dinner. Our journey took us past the brewery.

After dinner we retired to the hotel for nightcap in the hotel bar.

The traffic to Stafford station  was heavier than expected.  This cut it a bit fine for getting to the station in time for printing off the tickets.  Luckily the ticket printing ran smoothly, which is not always the case.

Once on the train, we had a bacon buttie and cup of tea for breakfast.  Some things just have to be done  The train ran smoothly to Euston, where we hailed a cab to take us around the corner to  St Pancras station to catch the Eurostar to Brussels.  The journey ran smoothly apart from a slight hassle due the scanning machines refusing to register my ticket, meaning the automatic barriers didn’t open to let me through. This involved a bit of too and froing on my part before I was directed to the manual check in booth.

I found checking in at customs was much more relaxed that at an airport.  Travelling by Eurostar was very civilised and we were served with what was called a mid morning snack; yoghurts, bread, croissants and pastries with fruit juice, water, tea and coffee provided with top ups.  The connecting service from Brussels was easy to navigate and also ran smoothly.  On arrival at Mechelen station we caught a cab to the hotel and checked in. The hotel we had chosen to stay in was a converted church and our room had several architectural features and a stained glass window.

When we got to our room we quickly unpacked before setting off to explore the city. It was easy to see why the guidebooks describe Mechelen as ‘a medieval town with charm’, even though some of the buildings are currently shrouded with scaffolding.

We booked into a restaurant for an evening meal and returned to the hotel to freshen up before dinner.  There was a small problem with the room safe refusing to open, with our things locked inside…  A lady from the hotel reception was unable to fix it, but she was able to open it with an emergency key and booked a maintenance call for the next day.  We were offered the facility of the safe behind the reception area until it was fixed.  The evening meal was excellent and on the way back to the hotel we stopped off in a small bar that was full of locals.  Sixties, seventies and eighties music was playing in the background so it was a bit like stepping back in time.  After a small nightcap we returned to our room with a view…