Tour of Hoeselt

Between the Belgian cities of Tongeren and Hasselt you will find an area of picturesque villages and unprecedented tranquility. You drive through a rolling landscape that offers you a mix of narrow and moist stream valleys, ridges, forests and castle parks. A lot of fruit is grown on the fertile soil. Some of that delicious fruit ends up in various types of Limburg pie. There are plenty of terraces along the route to taste this fresh delicacy.

In this region you will see many monumental buildings, such as beautiful old churches and square farms. The village of Gors-Opleeuw even enjoys a protected village view because of its well-preserved old village center. In front of the church on the village square is a square neo-Gothic village pump from 1845.

If you cross the Hasseltsesteenweg in Overrepen, you will see the tower of the parsonage nearby. This building was built in 1658 on the initiative of the then Commander of the Teutonic Order of Alden Biesen and is one of the oldest parsonages in Belgian Limburg.

It is not without reason that there are many castles in this area: over the centuries, the wealthy liked to stay here for a stroll through the picturesque landscape, but also for hunting. There are four castles in and around Gors-Opleeuw alone. You drive past Gors Castle, the core of which dates from the seventeenth century. The castle was completely renovated in 1820, the round tower was only built in 1923. Just outside the village you will pass Opleeuw Castle, a mansion from 1744 that has been renovated several times over the years. A little further away is the nineteenth-century Haagsmeer Castle, a hunting pavilion of Opleeuw Castle.