When it comes to French-speaking Belgium, we immediately think of the Ardennes. Canoeing, mountain biking, abbey beer, spring water, and enjoying fantastic regional cuisine, especially during the game season. But that doesn’t do justice to Wallonia. The region is larger, more diverse, and more interesting if you, like me, love unpolished beauty.

Cities like Charleroi and Mons are not everyone’s cup of tea. You have to make more of an effort to get to know them. A new generation of Carolo (inhabitants of Charleroi) and Monsois are happy to help with that. They are no longer ashamed of the industrial past but embrace the history as part of their identity. The beautiful and the ugly sides.

Thanks to that positive energy and fresh perspective, the cities are growing into quirky counterparts to the love-at-first-sight tourist hotspots. In a backdrop of sometimes painful decay, there’s free rein for modern architecture and art. Both of high international standard.

In the countryside too, unvarnished reality reigns. It makes the region extra beautiful to me. Villages sometimes look like fifty years ago with their natural stone houses and farms as monuments of simplicity. And damn, you can eat and drink uncomplicated delicious food there.

Not distracted by complicated hip, I sat in Lompret eating escavèche with fries. Trout that is pickled according to an age-old recipe in a combination of natural vinegar and herbs, among other things. It turned into one of those rare evenings that was completely right. The robust wooden tables, the full plates, the large bottles of local beer, the buzz, the vapors wafting from the kitchen through the restaurant.

It was grand enjoyment without pretensions. Heavenly!