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CHATEAU DE LA ROCHE-EN-ARDENNES
Castle Ghost at the Jewel of the Ourthe
The
southeast Belgian town of La Roche-en-Ardennes, between the steep banks
of the River
Ourthe which cuts in a wandering path through the
hills of the Ardennes forest has been a destination for tourists since
the 1ate 1800’s. The English came for the fly fishing.
The Dutch came for the bucolic mountains they didn’t possess in
their own flat fields. The town today is popular
for kayaking, biking, its cuisine Ardennais, and its castle of legends,
the Chateau de La
Roche. The Romans were the first to build a fort at a strategic curve
in the river. After the Germanic Franks 
replaced the retreating Romans,
King Pepin made the place a hunting getaway. A feudal castle was constructed
in the middle-ages of the 9th Century, expanded into large fortified
stonework in the high medieval 11th century, and eventually abandoned
by the 1700’s when unable to resist French artillery. The castle
is a very interesting ruin with the walls seeming to grow from the rocky
shale of the mountain on which it sits, still dark and ominous. From
a single battlement point, almost a full 300 degree view looks down on
the river approaches.
The
most famous resident of the Chateau de La Roche castle was the Countess
Berthe de la Roche,
daughter of count of the castle who in a very curious
story of medieval romance, power lust and murder-suicide, was killed
by the jealous betrothed of the Count de Montaigu. A great tournament
was held in which the winner would receive the hand of Berthe and therefore
the lands of her father. Montaigu was a powerful a knight and likely
to win the contest and the prize, even though he was already betrothed
to anther woman, the Countess Alix de Salm. The
mighty Montaigu was defeated and killed in the battle by a mysterious
small armored 
adversary, who
won the right to marry Berthe, but turned out was in truth the jilted
other woman who threw herself and Berthe out a castle window to the rocks
of the
Ourthe River below. Or since no blood or bodies were found, but only
a black spot and white spot, signifying the evil and good, perhaps
really eloped together in a medieval feminine pact. In any case, the
Ghost of Berthe La Roche still haunts the castle. She appears on the
battlement above the spot where she presumedly fell. Her ethereal ghost
form appears around 10 pm every night in summer, accompanied by a light
show, except if it’s raining. One might suspect that the ghost
of Berthe is as much a put-on as the disguising of a jilted lover in
a suit of armor, pulling off a marriage without anyone looking under
the helmet, but as entertaining. Entrance to the castle ruins is a 4
euro. The ghost show is free from below.
La Roche-en-Ardennes
was a major battle site in WWII and The Battle of the Ardennes Museum
takes up three floors of a storefront, filled
with memorabilia, weapons, uniforms and other
history of the war (see La
Roche Battle of the Ardennes Museum) Other
museums in town or nearby are a Milling Museum in a 19th Century waterwheel
mill, a Crockery Museum and a Wild Game Park and Arboretum reachable
by the Tourist Train which runs from the 1st of May to the end of September.
La Roche-en-Ardennes does not have direct rail service, but a regional
bus connects with area towns. © Bargain
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SEE ALSO:
DURBUY - PRETTY TOWN ON THE OURTHE RIVER
ORVAL
ABBEY MONASTERY BELGIAN TRAPPIST BEER
GODFEY'S
CRUSADER'S CASTLE BOUILLON
CASTLE FRANCHIMONT RUINS THEUX
GRAVENSTEEN - COUNT'S CASTLE - GHENT
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