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Leopold II Statue
Most of the beachfront is overshadowed with 10-storey concrete buildings, but beside the very ‘50s Thermae Palace Hotel theres some respite where a neoclassical arcade is topped by a striking equestrian statue of Léopold II. Below him stands a fawning gaggle of European and African
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Muur
For cycle-racing enthusiasts the name Geraardsbergen is inextricably linked with the Muur (Mur de Grammont in French), a steep cobbled rise that until 2011 formed a major highlight of the Tour of Flanders race. Its well signposted from behind the Markt and topped by the Oudenberg c
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Mode Museum
Fashion followers must start with Antwerps mode museum, MoMu. Its located in the much-celebrated ModeNatie complex, home also to both the Flanders Fashion Institute and the fashion department of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. Sticking firmly to avant-garde, MoMu changes its exhibi
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Fort de Huy
The centre of Huy is overshadowed by this indomitable stone fortress, an oppressively dour structure that dates from 1818 and was used by German forces in WWII as an interrogation centre. Its reached via a zigzag path starting on the riverside beyond the church. Dont expect views i
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Dernier Quartier Général de Napoléon
The farmhouse complex where Napoleon breakfasted the morning of the battle now forms a small museum, accessible on the combined Memorial 1815 ticket. It’s 4km south of the Hameau du Lion on the Waterloo–Genappe road, accessible by hourly Charleroi-bound bus 365a (the bus runs every
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Arentshuis
With your Groeningemuseum ticket, admission is free to this stately 18th-century patrician house displaying the powerful paintings and dark-hued etchings of Frank Brangwyn (1867–1956), a Bruges-born artist of Welsh parentage. His images of WWI – he was an official war artist – are
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Wiels
It’s well off the usual tourist track in a run-down inner-city commune , but this converted brewery building located towards Bruxelles-Midi houses the capital’s new centre for contemporary art and photography exhibitions. In the downstairs cafe the old tiled walls and vast copper v
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Underpant Museum
One of the citys weirder offerings, located upstairs from the Dolle Mol café . Not a museum in any real sense, it displays collages created by filmmaker and artist Jan Bucquoy, incorporating the underpants of Belgian celebs. The entrance fee gets you a postcard featuring your pant
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Musée Royal de l’Armée et d’Histoire Militaire
One for military buffs, this museum houses an extensive array of weaponry, uniforms, vehicles, warships, paintings and documentation dating from the Middle Ages through to Belgian independence and the mid-20th century. You can climb to the top of the arch or take the lift for sweep
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Abbaye de Scourmont
Chimay’s world-famous Trappist beers are brewed in this austere 1850 abbey 9km south of Chimay. The brewery doesn’t allow visitors, but you can enter the abbey church or stroll in the fragrant coniferous-forest park opposite. Theres also retreat-style accommodation. For beer, visit
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Broelmuseum
Highlights of this fine art museum include Roelandt Savery’s 1604 masterpiece Plundering of a Village and Emmanuel Viérin’s semi-impressionist scenes of the Begijnhof. It occupies a classical river-facing 1785 mansion retaining Louis XVI gilt interiors and a notable orangery near t
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Château de Wiltz
The château hosts a helpful tourist office as well as three museums: a tannery, an exhibition on the Battle of the Ardennes, and, best of the three, a brewing museum, with an attractive oversized bottle collection, an authentic if relocated classic bar and a working minibrewery (ta
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Diamondland
If diamonds are beyond your budget, you can watch them being cut and set during daily shows at 11:00 at this vast 1000-sq-metre diamond-showroom. If theyre not, this is one of the verified sales points of the Antwerp Diamond Jewellers Association (ADJA; www.adja.be), which oversees
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National Hopmuseum
Once the municipal hops weighing- and storehouse, the 19th-century Stadsschaal now houses the distinctive smelling museum, where you’ll learn more about hops than you’d ever want to know. The simple attached café serves several local brews and was once home to Dirk Frimout, Belgium
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Texture
The Texture museum is located in an 1902 flax factory, and tells the story of the towns flax and linen industry; youll also see a lovely collection of damasks and laces. The history of flax is told through individual accounts, and is surprisingly absorbing: you can touch and smell
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Château Féodal
La Roche’s picture-postcard 11th-century ruins look especially memorable floodlit on a foggy night and viewed from the Hotton road. Theres not a great deal inside but the site makes for pleasant, steep strolls, and in July and August you could spot a ghost. At 10pm sharp! Sometimes
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Musée Antoine Wiertz
If youre into the shocking or nasty, this museum may appeal. Antoine Wiertz (1806–65) was a Brussels artist bent on painting giant religious canvases depicting hell and other frenzied subjects. The building was Wiertz home and studio and was also once the residence of noted Flemish
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Josephine Baker Mural
In one of the most distinctive Marolles murals, slinky chanteuse Josephine, with a leopard on a lead, shakes hands with a rotund monk. Behind, both in the mural and in real life, is the looming dome of the Palais de Justice. Baker performed in Brussels in the 1920s and 30s, and fam
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Bourse
The Bourse is Belgium’s 1873 stock-exchange building. Its closed to visitors, but you can enjoy its grandiose neoclassical facade, brilliantly festooned with friezes and sculptures, reclining nudes, lunging horses and a multitude of allegorical figures. Some of the work is by Rodin
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Abdij St
Mythical Westvleteren Trappist beer comes from the isolated Abdij Sint-Sixtus, reached via a web of tiny lanes. The architecturally unremarkable abbey is closed to visitors but the abbey café, In de Vrede is the only place in the world where you can be (virtually) sure of tasting t
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