Hidden Belgium: Impasse de l’Ange

Liège might look ugly and neglected, but it has some beautiful hidden spots, like the old lanes off the ancient Hors-Château.

One of the most intriguing of these passages is the Impasse de l’Ange, which gets its name from the little statue of an angel on a house next to the alley.

The narrow alley leads past former workers’ houses into a hidden courtyard where residents have created a tiny urban garden filled with abandoned tricycles, rusting barbeque stands and piles of chopped logs.

Another lane called Impasse de la Couronne leads into the same courtyard. Someone has placed a bench in the alley with a fake street sign reading Place des Amoureux, the Square of the Lovers.

Not far away, the narrow alley Impasse Venta runs between high whitewashed walls into a tiny courtyard.