The sprawling Atlantikwal Raversijde museum in the coastal dunes near Ostend includes an impressive section of Hitler’s Atlantic Wall.
Huge anti-aircraft guns are turned to the sky while well-preserved trenches and underground tunnels lie concealed in the dunes.
This astonishing complex includes historic photographs, furnished German bunkers and an accordion left behind by Rommel when he inspected the site in 1943.
It also incorporates a German military complex built in the First World War known as the Aachen Battery. Recently restored by aNNo Architects, it won a Europa Nostra award for its sensitive ecological restoration of an exceptional site.
The Aachen Battery features reconstructed soldiers quarters where visitors can lie in a military hammock while listening to soldiers’ stories of the war.
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.
