The first thing I did when I got there was go to a nice burger place. The place served me a very nice burger with fries. The fries, of course, had mayonnaise on the side. I also had a nice local beer. It all cost about 12 euros which I thought was great.
When I finished eating I went to Sint-Maartenskerk's church. The church was really nice and contained some artwork. I have included some pictures below.
A picture of an old organ in the church
A picture from inside
A picture from the outside
After the church, I went to the 1302 Museum. This museum was made to commemorate the Battle of the Golden Spurs. The battle was fought between the French army and militias from various parts of Flanders. It is interesting to note that some cities in Flanders did not participate, such as Gent. In the museum, it recounted the runup to the battle, the key players involved in the battle, and the misinformation about the battle as stories were told over and over about it. It was a very interesting museum that explained this part of Flemish history well.
I also saw the Belfort of Kortrijk. This Belfort was a bit disappointing to me since it is just a free-standing tower in the middle of the main square. I then read more about it and found out that there used to be cloth halls but they were torn down after bigger cloth halls were built elsewhere in the city.
The Belfort
One of the most iconic symbols of Kortrijk is the Broeltowers. There are really nice when looked at from the bridge across from them. In the area of the towers, there is a nice place where people can sit and enjoy the river. Below I have included a picture of it.
There is another well-known museum in Kortrijk about flax. The main point of this museum is about using flax fibre as a kind of yarn to make cloth and such. I did not know about this application before and it was interesting to see how many different ways people have used flax in history. The reason why this museum is located in Kortrijk is because flax and the textile industry used to be the main drivers of the economy of Kortrijk. If anyone is wondering most of the flax grown in Canada is grown for its oil, and not for the textile industry.
Some photos of flax products
During my time here I also found a nice bar that has below it another bar that has rock concerts every so often. There was a free concert the day I was there, but I did not go since I was tired. I may go again some other time.
This was a fun day trip and everything I found is located on this page https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Kortrijk. It was a great resource and I think I'll be using WikiVoyage in the future when I go explore cities.
Here are some photos of the Leie river.
One with the Broeltowers in the background
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