One of the strangest houses in Belgium is located at Loveren 2 in the village of Baarle-Hertog.
The border between Belgium and the Netherlands runs straight through the front door, so one half of the house lies in the Netherlands, at Loveren 19, while the other half sits on Belgian territory.
There’s a Belgian flag on one side of the door and a Dutch flag on the other, so you know where you stand.
It’s one of the odd situations in the double town of Baarle-Hertog/Baarle-Nassau where 22 tiny Belgian enclaves are located within the Netherlands, along with seven Dutch enclaves sitting inside the Belgian enclaves.
The result is a baffling place with two town halls, two post offices, two fire stations and two legal systems.
The reason for this crazy geographical anomaly takes a while to explain. The tourist office hands out a useful brochure for you to read, while you sit drinking a Trappist beer in Belgium, or hop across the border for some plump Dutch apple cake.
Derek Blyth’s hidden secret of the day: Derek Blyth is the author of the bestselling “The 500 Hidden Secrets of Belgium”. He picks out one of his favourite hidden secrets for The Brussels Times every day.
