Kortrijk, Belgium

Why Kortrijk? The little town in west Flanders seemed a like a good point for riding bikes, jumping on over to Lille, France and visiting some of the smaller breweries in the region (coming soon). A common sight you'll see around town are golden spurs in reference to The Battle of Golden Spurs in 1302. Kortrijk was also a battleground during both world wars and nearly bombed out of existence by the allies in 1944 though a few medieval structures remain. Our accommodations were at someone's home turned bed and breakfast. As an added bonus, the carnival was in town. 

A Tour of Flanders racing team camping out in front of Kortrijk's train station.

Old apartments coming down.

Memorial near our house.

Your guess is as good as mine.

A different kind of trampoline at  Groeningebridge and Albertpark. There is even a skate bowl if you want to bring your board and do so some shredding.

Catching some air.

The strangest carnival attraction we didn't take a photo of was where you can climb into a giant bubble and bump into others while in a pool of water. 

The carnival artwork was pretty sweet, like this mural that has people breaking into the apartment and a woman's lover (or a John skipping on his bill) leaving via a fire escape. 

Parrots and boobs.

Frolicking in the water and the unhappy banana vendor.

Fun House

The city on the Leie.

Lille, France was a short 30-minute train ride and seeing the Depeche Mode poster was Ana's favorite part.

French artist Jean-François Fourtou's installation Tombée du Ciel (Fallen from the sky) might be the best sight in Lille

Lille center.

Paul's Boutique is Kortrijk's punk rock burger stop. Yes, that is a vegan burger with real bacon on it.

Gravenkapel (The Court's Chapel)

St. Elisabeth Beguinage

Jack'it Seriously Hot Potatoes. Just jack it! seriously. 

The space in/and around Hansbeke and Nevele, Belgium

Hansbeke, Belgium, ever heard of it? We hadn't either. We booked a room at b&b De Meetjes just a five minute walk from the town's train station. Their website advertised it as a bike stay, which fit our bill. You can say we were like celebrities when we arrived; meaning we got the type of attention we do in Egypt. If you could translate stares it would sound like, "you ain't from around here, are you?" 

After we checked in, we rented bikes and made our way out to the towns of  Nevele, Sint Martens Leerne, and places in-between.

Sint Martens Leerne in de Kasteeldreef-thank God for google earth. 

Gate to Kasteel van Ooidonk

Click here to read more about Kasteel van Ooidonk

As fate would have it, our friend Goedroen in Gent has roots in Hansbeke. Her father still resides there and she jotted down a couple of bars where we might run into him. We didn't have a chance to meet him, but everyone knew who he was. 

While we were having a drinks at cafe D'haenens, the town drunk in the making came up to our seats and asked how we ended up in Hansbeke. I asked if he knew Goedroen or her father. He made a comment about Goedroen's "poisonous blue eyes"...I guess someone made an impression. The history of cafe D'haenens was that it was a former butcher shop. When the men were sent by their wives to buy meat, their husbands would either come back home toasted or the wives would have to go fetch them. The cafe still sells aged pork but only if you are willing to wait a couple of months. 

BBQ time in the garden. Hilde, the owner De Meetjes thought it was a bit strange that I wanted to use her grill. 

The garden at b&b De Meetjes

Dinner.

The rain poured that evening for a short while and Hilde brought us a couple of beers to our room. That was very thoughtful of her. 

Building being taken over in Hansbeke.

Marc Hoet owner of De Verloren Hoet insisted on buying me a beer 

and taking the glass home. His food alone is worth the trip to Hansbeke.

Outside of De Verloren Hoet

Central Hansbeke

Hansbeke train station at 11:30 pm.

Love the blue glow and shadows from the sky.

The back yard of b&b De Meetjes

Ana was pretty beat from several days of riding, I was greedy and wanted more. I got more plus a brutal headwind as a bonus.

While we waited for our train to Gent we stopped at Cafe De Pesvelijn for a beverage and lottery tickets. The owner (who also knew Goedroen's father) told us a little about the history and comeback of Buffalo Bitter Beer (say that 10 times fast), I don't remember the entire story but it involved the circus!