Fodor's Essential Belgium by Fodor's Travel Guides

Author:Fodor's Travel Guides [Fodor’s Travel Guides]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Fodor's Travel
Published: 2022-08-23T00:00:00+00:00

Kortrijk

50 km (31 miles) from Geraardsbergen.

While Kortrijk (spelled “Courtrai” in French) lacks the medieval hustle of Bruges or Ghent, it does have Flemish history on its side. Just outside the city lies the site of the Battle of the Golden Spurs where, in 1302, townspeople from across Flanders banded together to defeat a troop of French knights sent by King Philip IV. There’s no story guaranteed to raise more of a smile in Flanders.

The city’s fortunes once revolved around the flax industry, grown and processed here to make linen and lace famed across Europe. However, postwar rebuilding and the economic fallout from Kortrijk’s faltering trade saw the city flounder in the late 20th century. Only in recent decades has it picked itself up. The riverside area has also been transformed, there’s fine dining, a historic brewery, magnificent churches, and a museum on flax that is far more entertaining than it has any right to be.

GETTING HERE AND AROUND

If traveling by car, Kortrijk is reached via the E17 from Ghent. Regular train services also link to Ghent via the Leiestreek villages, taking 30 minutes from St Pieters Station. If traveling from Brussels, trains connect to Kortrijk via Oudenaarde in just over one hour.

s Sights

HBegijnhof van Kortrijk (Kortrijk Beguinage)

HISTORIC HOME | Kortrijk’s 13th-century beguinage (“begijnhof” in Dutch) was home to a religious group of women known as “beguines” who weren’t bound by the Orders of nuns. Although they were cloistered away, many had to earn their stay in the community through teaching and handicrafts, and the story of the beguinage runs alongside that of the city. It was plundered by the French, along with the rest of Kortrijk, in the aftermath of the 1382 Battle of Westrozebeke, and later repurposed as a field hospital when Europe descended into acrimony at the end of the 18th century. It was even taken out of the hands of the beguines for a period, when inns and brothels moved in, much to the distaste of the Grand Mistress. By 2013, the final beguine in Belgium had died and an era ended. Only recently has the 35-year-long project to restore the cluster of whitewashed town houses and chapel that makes up the beguinage been completed, and it remains perhaps the finest example of its kind in Belgium. Visits are free; there is a new museum in the St. Anna room but this is largely in Dutch, so audio guides (€2) are well worth the small outlay. EBegijnhofstraat 2, Kortrijk wwww.toerismekortrijk.be AFree (€2 for audio guide).

Buda Island

ISLAND | Central to the recent revival of the city has been its renovation of the riverfront and Buda Island. This small scoop of land, between two branching arms of the Leie, is typically reached by Broel Bridge, guarded at either end by 14th-century twin towers built to control traffic on the Leie. They were part of the original city fortifications, but can only be entered with a guide these days. On the banks on either side of the river runs a stepped pedestrian and terrace area.

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