9 Best Sights in Vlaamse Ardennen, Ghent and the Leie

Cycling is everything in this part of Flanders. It's here that the famous Tour of Flanders (known as "De Ronde") culminates, and the city even has its own museum dedicated to the race. Regardless of whether you get shivers at the sight Eddie Mercx's racing glove or care little about the sport, it draws you in nicely. Audio guides explain what you're seeing; there's even a virtual cycling machine to give you a taste of the Tour. It's not just about the race, either, and gives an interesting overview of the Flemish Ardennes, whose hills, history, and isolation made it the perfect playground for the Tour organizers. At the ticket desk, you can also organize bike hire and cycling tours of the area.

The dominant building on the market square is the Stadhuis (Town Hall), a fairy-tale-like medieval aldermen house. Its turrets once ran to street level, but various sieges and fires have taken their toll. It has been frequently redesigned, but gained its current neo-Gothic facade in 1891. The architect drew inspiration from a 17th-century engraving of the building and sought to give it back its medieval charm, sapped by endless renovations. Beside it you'll find a pair of replica fountains: the Mannekin Pis and the Marbol, the original of which dates back to 1392. 

Lying just north of town, this brewery has an enviable heritage. Liefmans has been going since 1679, and its dark beers are a staple of local bars. Outside of Oudenaarde, it's perhaps best known for its commercial fruit beers. Visits must be booked online, but make sure you get a peek at the magnificent Baudelot hall no matter what. Several beers are made here, including the dark Oud Bruin, the Goudenband, and the very sweet Kriek (cherry) and Frambozen (raspberry) beers.

Everyone knows the Manneken Pis. It's Brussels's famous peeing cherub, or is it? The modern version standing in the capital is actually a replica of a statue made by Jérôme Duquesnoy in 1619 to replace the original 15th-century fountain (then known as "Petit Julian") made in 1450. Around the same time, in 1452, Geraardsbergen was in the process of being destroyed by Ghentish forces. In rebuilding the city, they ordered a new lattoenen mannekin ("man in brass") from the Brussels fountain master Jan Van Der Schelden. By 1459, the peeing putto (cherub) was in place, and while a replica now stands in the square, the original can still be seen in a new visitor center beside the town hall. So, while Brussels's statue was made first, it is long since gone, and Geraardsbergen's is the older surviving example. If you arrive on the first Sunday of June, it gets even more curious, with the traditional "throwing" of a golden Manneken Pis from the steps of the Town Hall. And it gets stranger still: inside the visitor center, you can also see a selection of 300 special outfits gifted to the statue. 

Oudenaarde's town hall is a dazzling expression of just how wealthy the city was by the 16th century. Even today it takes the breath away, and once prompted the novelist Victor Hugo to declare: "There is not a single detail [of it] that is not worth looking at." The main building is adjoined by the city's UNESCO-listed Brabantine-Gothic belfry, etched in elaborate hunting scenes and flocks of angels. Within, you'll find tourist information and the city museum (MOU), the centerpiece of which is a collection of tapestries hanging in the adjoining 14th-century cloth hall. These were Oudenaarde's golden ticket. By the 1500s, the fame of its artisans had spread across Europe and their work fetched high prices. Audio tours circumvent the Dutch info plaques, elaborating the secrets stitched within the hangings and what made them so prized. Less successful is the rather disparate silver collection, though some fine examples of curiosity cabinets and the strange objects coveted by the wealthy make it worth your perusal.  

A popular local joke goes that there are only three famous walls: Berlin's, China's, and Geraardsbergen's. The Muur (or "Wall") is a cobbled street that runs up Vesten, Oudenbergstraat, and Kapelmuur, culminating at a pretty neo-Baroque chapel on the summit of Oudenberg Hill. It is here where the annual Karakelingen and Tonnekensbrand processions center each year in spring. The actual hill is only 360 feet high, but the steep cobbles are infamous among cyclists, and it is a regular section in the Tour of Flanders. The walk up is less than a mile, but it isn't too punishing. It takes around 25 minutes from the river and is worth it for the views.  

Built on the banks of the river from blue Tournai stone, the 13th-century Church of Our Lady of Pamele is a fine example of the Scheldt Gothic style. It lies across the river from the center in what was a separate town until the 1950s. To the rear of the church, you can see the tombs of the Lords of Oudenaarde, though these have been badly damaged. Entrance is only on weekends, but even if you can't venture inside, it's worth visiting as part of a stroll along the historic riverfront. To the north lies the stately Huis de Lailing, a 15th-century mansion that used to hold the town's tapestry collection until it was moved to the MOU. Further south is the rose-colored Maagdendale Abbey, founded in 1233 and now a school for the arts. 

Based in the adjoining village of Ename (a 10-minute bus ride from the center), this interactive museum narrates the last 1,000 years of history in the region. Its sites sprawl a village that once stood on the border between medieval France and Germany. Visits include the open-air museum of the archaeological park, where you'll find the first stone inklings of a Benedictine abbey and the foundations of the old city that once stood here. 

Much of the current church building was built in the 15th and 16th centuries. By the mid-1700s, though, it had received a Baroque makeover, with its impressive pulpit one of few surviving items from that era. Come the 19th century, the church acquired its current neo-Gothic interior and spectacular murals. Most prized of all are the relics of St. Bartholemew, which were moved here in 1515. Since then, a procession has taken place on the Sunday around his saint's day (August 24), where the relics are carried from the church and paraded around the city, followed by a folk festival on the main square.