Route knugget of the week:
Explosion, oldest station of Europe, textile and art-nouveau?
The links between these items come together in the Belgian town of Ronse. In the 19th century, there was an explosion in the trainstation of Bruge. Because the station was already too small for Bruge, and badly destroyed, they wanted to get rid of it. They sold it to Ronse. The building blocks were transported from Bruge to Ronse, and the station was rebuilt. The inaugaration took place in 1881. It is now the oldest station in Europe, still standing!
Ronse became big due to its textile-industry in the last century. A great example of the richness of the city is the art-nouveau architecture. A nice example is the Carpentier house, built by Victor Horta.
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