Villages and abbeys in the Flemish Westhoek

This route through the open landscape of the Westhoek takes you through small villages and past historic sights. Enjoy the splendor of ancient abbeys and the vast openness of the spacious landscape.  This route takes you close to the French border, through the De Westhoek area. The landscape in this region in Belgium and France is very varied. The area has wooded ridges, polders, fertile fields, historic towns and friendly villages. The Belgian part of the Westhoek between the river Yser and the coast is called Bachten de Kupe. Saint Sixtus Abbey, or Sint Sixtus Abbey, originated in 1814 when Jan-Baptist Victoor settled as a hermit in the woods of Sint-Sixtus, in a place where monastic communities had lived for centuries. Today, the abbey is home to a community of Cistercian monks, or Trappists. They originally brew the Trappist beer Westvleteren here. Next to the abbey you will find a freely accessible Lourdes grotto in the forest. You cycle past The Old Abbey or the Old Abbey in Lo-Reninge. The abbey has been renovated and now houses a hotel. In 1093, the Augustinian monastic order settled here in the local St. Peter's Abbey. The fathers built a dovecote there in 1710, which you can still admire there. The tower has 1132 boxes at the top where pigeons were kept. Other animals were kept at the bottom of the tower. Mout- en Brouwhuis de Snoek is dedicated to'the beer-cultural\\\' past of Flanders. The Belgian beer Snoek is brewed on behalf of this'museum of thirst\\\'. Your route also takes you past Open Air Museum Bachten de Kupe Vzw. The museum is a reconstructed small farming village and gives a picture of 17th century life in the Westhoek. You can view no less than 46 old and completely authentic buildings in the open-air museum.