For our last three nights, we stay in a small village near Bertrix, Mortehan. Here we stay in the bed & breakfast La Cornue, of Annie and Michel. The bed & breakfast normally has three rooms available. In the high season, they can add an extra two rooms from their own residence when it is really necessary. This accommodation is perfect when you want to stay in a quiet area and like personal attention. The breakfast each morning is freshly made by Annie and for lunch and dinner you can make use of everything that is available in the kitchen. You have to bring your own ingredients though. There is also an outdoor area for guests where you find, among other things, a barbecue.

Before we can check in at our bed & breakfast, we have the whole morning to fill with other activities. We decide to visit the city of Bouillon, on our way to Mortehan. In this city you can find, again, a castle; Château fort de Bouillon. At the moment it is advised to make a reservation to visit in advance, but it is possible to also enter without one.

In almost the whole city of Bouillon, it is required to wear your mask. So this is also required in the castle. Normally, you can walk around freely, but with the corona they’ve made a route you need to follow and you cannot visit every room. Because this route brings you to very narrow hallways, so you have to wait till the people before you also moved on, before you can walk through yourself. There are some spots that you can pass them by, but these are mostly in the courtyards of the castle.

Luckily for us there aren’t that many people inside and the walking pace of the people in front of us is quite good. From different places in the castle you can enjoy the beautiful view of Bouillon and the surrounding area. The castle also offers a falconry show three times a day, very nice for children and people who love eagles. The falconer gives a lot of information and it truly is a show to see. It is getting crowded at the castle and we decide to go on our way to Mortehan.

During our four days in the Ardennes, we visited the area of Bouillon a second time; Parc animalier de Bouillon. Driving from Mortehan to this place was already an experience for me by following the navigation. First we drive through some very small mountain roads in the Ardennes, to turn left on a provincial road, to cross the other lanes while the traffic on the other side still rides with 120 km per hour!

Safely arrived at the zoo, we quickly enter the park. Inside the mouth masks are mandatory and needs to be worn through out the visit. Here, there is also a route that you must follow to be able to see the whole parc, without any oncoming foot traffic. We arrived early and the parc is still very quiet.

It’s a small zoo with many different kinds of animals. The set route helps us with getting through the parc without thinking about the actual way we have to follow, just follow the arrows! Some pens seem small, but there are then also a small number of animals inside. Next to that, there are also pens which held a number of different species within one pen. The parc looks cared for and finds its animal welfare very important. Under two hours we’ve covered the whole route and we are back at the entrance. In a very small amount of time, the parc is very busy with people. We decide to go back to our accommodation to enjoy a nice quiet afternoon in the sun.