2 Best Sights in Deinze, Leiestreek Villages

Of the 3,000 or so castles found in Belgium, Ooidonk still numbers among the most eye-catching. It stands on the site of a 13th-century fortress that was destroyed when Ghent rose up against the Habsburg ruler Maximilian I. It was, again, razed during the social upheavals of the 1500s, before its transformation into a residential estate by the wealthy Antwerp merchant Martin della Faille. In doing so, its Hispanic-French architecture broke away from the “murder holes” and pragmatism of the early Middle Ages, adding Renaissance flourishes like its “onion” towers. It has been in the family of owners Count and Countess t'Kint de Roodenbeke since 1864, and they still live in residence. For part of the year, the castle interior can be visited on guided tours (April–October), revealing magnificent tapestries, antiques, and artworks; the rest of the time you can only visit the park and gardens, though these are sufficiently grand to make the trek worthwhile. The best way to reach the castle is to walk, or cycle, the 6 km (4-mile) riverside trail from Deinze.  

The star of this museum is its collection of regional artworks from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including two masterpieces: Emile Claus's Beets Harvest (1890), which fills an entire wall of the gallery, and Gustave Van de Woestyne's The Wilful Blind and the Lame Who Wants to Teach a Child How to Walk. It's probably the most rounded collection in the area, with works by the De Cocks, Servaes, De Smet, Raveel, and others scattering the walls. The second floor is given over to the city’s industrial history and its heroes, such as 1926 Tour de France winner Lucien Buysse, but with little in the way of English translation.