Oudenaarde, Flanders, Belgium
East Flanders is the province that surrounds Ghent in
western Belgium. It’s similar to West Flanders except that being farther from
the coast there are some areas of rolling terrain that isn’t completely pancake
flat. East Flanders is better known for
its variety of festivals like Carnival in Aalst and Ros Baierd in Dendermonde
than for particularly historic or attractive towns.
One exception is Oudenaarde, an old town south of Ghent with
an especially attractive Stadhuis in the Brabant Gothic style at the head of a
huge market square. Oudenaarde isn’t all that far from my mother’s hometown of
Waregem, actually the most significant town heading east towards Brussels only
about 10 to 15 miles away. It’s appealing enough that I considered possibly
going to Oudenaarde on a daytrip during my 2002 trip to Belgium.
I happened to his Oudenaarde on Thursday, which is
apparently market day in the town, the flea market, food trucks, and food
stalls spilling out of the market square into some of the surrounding streets.
I’m always amazed at how these daily markets in Europe which fill an entire
square with commercial bustle quickly end around noon and everything is taken
down and cleaned up three hours later. By the time I left town around 2:30 in
the afternoon there was no sign the morning market had ever taken place.
Other than the market square and surroundings there really isn’t
that much to see in Oudenaarde. The town has four breweries including Liefman’s,
but tourist information told me they aren’t open to the public except by
appointment. The main attraction of the museum in the town hall building is a large
collection of tapestries for which Oudenaarde was famous for producing back in
the Middle Ages. The town also has a small Beguinage, two big medieval
churches, a park with a nineteenth century castle, and a nice promenade along
the Scheldt River.
My rental car was due back at the airport by 6:00 P.M. so I
thought I’d spend a few hours checking out two of the castles on the outskirts
of Ghent – Ooidonk and Laarne. Ooidonk
is one of those perfect neo-Gothic Flemish castles. Most are only open for
visits on weekends and one afternoon during the week, so I was only able to
walk around its grounds. Like any perfect castle, it’s surrounded by a channel
of the Leie River which makes for a nice moat to be crossed by a drawbridge and
reflecting pool. I programmed my car’s GPS for Kasteel Laarne but somehow
missed the exit from the expressway so decided to head directly back to
Zaventem without that last stop. All went smoothly with 9 days of rental car,
and I was soon on a train from the airport back to Ghent to spend about 10
carless days in urban Belgium.
2025-05-22