Once in a Belgian Blue Moon

The city of Mechelen (population 80,000) is the tenth largest city of Belgium, located between Brussels and Antwerp. Exactly 175 years ago, this town harboured the first railway station on the European continent. Nowadays, Saturday afternoons could be spent at Mechelen’s Planckendael zoo or its historical market square. You can also find there the Saint Rumblod’s cathedral which is featured on the UNESCO World Heritage list. The nickname for the inhabitants of Mechelen, “the Maneblussers” traces back to the events on the night of 28 January 1687. The local people mistook the reflection of the full moon in the stained glass of the cathedral for a fire, and they frantically started to rush in all available extinguishing equipment, only to discover their silly mistake.