Look out when you are in Namur for an old metal sign that reads Téleférique 50m.
Located on Place Chanoine Descamps, it points into the courtyard of a former industrial building in the heart of the old town. No, there isn’t any cable car. But you do find a solitary 1956 Swiss cable car cabin suspended above a restaurant terrace.
The last of the iconic red cabins known locally as “eggs,” it used to carry tourists up to the Namur citadel. The cable car closed in 1997 due to falling rocks and was destroyed by fire in 2002, leaving just this solitary relic, which was bought by the owner of the restaurant Exterieur Nuit and restored to working condition.
A brand new cable car service was launched in 2021 to take visitors from the heart of the old town to the citadel high above the River Meuse. The trip takes three minutes.
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.
