Kortrijk; Saturday, 06 June, 2026

I had a quick breakfast in the hotel and then checked-out before heading the short distance to Lille Flandres station, the local and regional station, not to be confused with the nearby Lille Europe station that I’d arrived in the previous evening. I grabbed some water from the Carrefour by the side of the station and then wandered through the spectacular station building with its grand arched roof to the small lean-to add-on station at the side of the main trainshed where Belgium trains are relegated to.

It was a smooth and quick journey over to Kortrijk with the train arriving on time less than 40 minutes after leaving Lille. As my bag was pretty light I decided that there wasn’t much point in trying to unpack bits of it to leave at the hotel, as I was pretty certain my room wouldn’t be ready at 10:45, so instead I kept it with me as I went for a wander around the city centre.

After a wander past the square in front of the City Theatre I headed over to the Sint-Maartenskerk, one of the largest churches in the city, and the one with the tallest tower. Normally you can climb up the 246 steps to the top of the tower for views out over the city, but each year between March and June it’s closed to visitors as Peregrine Falcons use the tower as a nesting spot. It’s normally open by the beginning of June, but the chicks were late fledging this year, so on the 6th June the tower was still closed, so instead I just had a look around the church.

From the church I had a wander through the oddly shaped Grote Markt, which almost looks like two different squares have been linked together. Behind the Grote Markt is the Beginjnhof – a closed housing area that would previously have been occupied by women who lived like nuns, but without having taken sacred vows. The last of these had left the complex in the early 2010s. The site is still lived in, but is now open for tourists to explore – though most of the buildings are closed off as they are still peoples homes.

At the rear of the site is the Church of our Lady or the Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk, this traces it’s history back to being the chapel of the castle of the Counts of Flanders – of which there are small traces of the ruins of the castle in the grounds of the church. Today the church is also home to Kortrijk 1302, the museum dedicated to the battle of 1302 where the Flemmish population rose up and defeated the French King’s army. The exhibition includes an 18 minute animated film about the history of the battle, as well as many exhibits exploring the battle itself.

By the time I’d looked around the museum the weather had started to deteriorate and it was past the opening of check-in time for the hotel so I headed back over there to check-in, drop off my bags and sit out the hefty shower that I managed to avoid. A little later I headed back out of the hotel down to the Abby, a former religious institution which is now a gallery. I had intended on having a look around that, but on checking ticket prices it was €14 to visit today, or free on the first Sunday of the month. Given that was tomorrow I decided to hold off the visit for now and instead went for a bit more of a wander, taking in the Broeltorens and Broelbrug – one of the symbols of the city – a bridge across the River Leie flanked on either side by the round towers.

I spent a bit of time looking around the area before starting to wander back into town. I was quite glad of my timing as it meant I was by all the cafés and bars in the Grote Markt when the first heavy drops of rain started falling from the sky, I quickly diverted into the Café Mozart and ordered a beer and some snacks with the torrential downpour arriving a couple of minutes later and lasting for a good 20 minutes of complete soaking rain that unless you were under full cover would have gotten you very wet.

When the rain finally cleared I finished off my drink and went for a bit more of a wander around the city centre before heading back to the hotel to freshen up and then head back out for dinner. From dinner I had a bit more of a walk around the city, this time heading over to the Plein area, the city park, the Groeningepoort or Groeninge Gate and the Groeninge Monument, erected for the 600th anniversary of the 1302 battle.

From there it was a short walk over to Buda Island, formed by the two channels of the Leie river. The small island has changed shape a lot over the centuries with the northern channel being widened to make it able to take larger ships, and the resultant extracted earth being used to enlarge the island itself. I had a wander around pretty much the whole edge of the island, starting close to the Broeltorens and finishing back near them again, taking in both the northern and southern tips of the island. By the time I got back to the Broeltorens the floodlights had been switched on so I was able to get some nighttime photos of the towers and bridge.

I had a wander back through town, taking a few more nighttime photos of the Grote Markt and Sint-Maartenskerk before heading back to the hotel for a quick night cap and then to bed.