Liege and Madame Maigret’s cookbook
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With his trademark trilby, raincoat and pipe, Inspector Maigret was the Morse of the sixties. Millions followed the exploits of the unflappable Parisian policeman on fuzzy black and white TVs. For the over 40s, his name still ranks alongside Holmes, Poirot and Morse as one of the greatest screen sleuths of all time.
Less well-known in this country, however, is the man who created our favourite fictional Frenchman. Prolific, colourful author Georges Simenon was born in the bustling Belgian city of Liege. Although the 80 Maigret books were set in Paris, it’s Liege makes the most fuss about this literary great.
Perhaps that’s because Paris hardly needs any more publicity to attract visitors – while Liege is largely undiscovered by tourists. It’s a city the size of Bristol, deep in the French-speaking southern part of Belgium, straddling the wide and busy River Meuse. It’s a major centre of gun-making and Europe’s second largest river port – neither of which make it an immediately appealing prospect. With the fascinating cities of Bruges and Brussels as closer to Britain, today’s Liege clearly needs something extra to attract visitors.
The city’s tourist officials started making the most of Simenon during ‘celebrations’ of his 100th anniversary in 2003. That’s when I first visited - for the grand opening of ‘Simenon Year’. It was a chance to see what Liege has to offer, whether you’re a fan of Simenon or not.
It was pretty easy to get there. Eurostar whisked me to Brussels from London. Then there was a simple connection to Belgian railways for a ride through wide-open panoramas of mid-Belgian countryside. I was in Liege within three hours.
As soon as I started walking round the murky streets I found clues to the great crime-writer’s time in the city. There is a Place du Maigret, a Simenon Youth Hostel and even a bust of their favourite author in the middle of a major roundabout.
I took a walking tour with a knowledgeable local guide from the tourist office, Andrea, whose pronunciation of ‘baroque’ as ‘barrack’ left me wondering if all the churches used to be army bases.
Andrea took me on the two-hour ‘Simenon walk’ that leads to Outremeuse, an island suburb in the Meuse, taking in ‘sights’ like various terrace houses where Simenon was born and lived, his school, a chapel where he was a choirboy and the pokey garret known as “La Caque” where he met his bohemian artist friends.
Liege is renowned for the quality and quantity of its restaurants – with 370 of them at the last count. Some offer dishes supposedly from ‘Madame Maigret’s recipe book. In Simenon’s books the long-suffering wife of the great inspector is always hovering about in the background of the stories preparing his dinner while he lights a pipe and ponders his clues.
By Belgian gourmet standards her menus are considered plain homely fare. At a smart city centre restaurant called L’Officine I was served a Maigret menu of beef bourginone and cheese soufflé by a waitress who looked down her nose at the proffered plate as if it was pie and chips.
Generally the food in Liege is superb – in some ways the French-speaking part of Belgium is more French than France. My favourite Liege delicacy is a huge tasty meatball the size of a melon – and Belgian beer is, of course, among the best in the world. So if you’re not interested in Simenon you could still spend a happy couple of days eating and drinking your way round Liege. But what is there to do between meals?
Two world wars tramped through the city so what’s left is hardly Paris – but there’s still plenty of things to see within walking distance. I spent a day exploring the grand Prince Bishop’s Palace, the totally unbarrack-like St Paul’s Cathedral and the precarious medieval footpaths weaving among the hilly gardens and vineyards beneath the citadel on the north bank of the Meuse.
Among half timbered houses and narrow cobbled streets in the old quarter are plenty of museums and galleries, and only some of them mention Simenon. I suspect however that one of Liege’s main attractions to visitors will be its massive range of shops. The grid of streets in the Le Carré district are particularly interesting. Look out especially for handmade chocolate, expensive leather goods and fine glassware.
As a fan of any sort of detective fiction I enjoyed my visit to Simenon’s Liege but wonder how popular it will be with British travellers more familiar with ‘The Bill’ and ‘Morse’ than dear old Inspector Maigret. Unfortunately over here a whole generation have grown up since the early sixties when Rupert Davies’ performances as Inspector Maigret so captured the nation. Davies was voted the country’s top actor in 1961 and Simenon famously said: “At last I have found the perfect Maigret.” Attempts to revive Maigret in the eighties with Richard Harris and in the nineties with Michael Gambon were never as successful. Before I left Britain I tried three bookshops for Maigret books… and none had even heard of him.
Useful links
Belgian Tourist Office website
Book Belgian rail travel on Rail Europe
Eurostar website
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