Charleroi has a reputation, unfairly earned or not, as one of the grittiest cities in Belgium, and its belfry is a fine reason to look again. Rising from the town hall on the Place Charles II, the belfry was built in the 1930s in an elegant Art Deco style, replacing an older tower, and it is one of the belfries of Belgium and France listed by UNESCO. Its slender shape, topped with a dome and carillon, is a symbol of the city's pride and resilience, and inside, the town hall has a sumptuous Art Deco interior.
Charleroi was the heart of the Pays Noir, the Black Country of Wallonia, where coal mines, steelworks and glassworks powered Belgium's industrial revolution. The landscape around is still marked by terrils, slag heaps now covered in trees, and the remains of mines and factories. The Bois du Cazier at Marcinelle, on the edge of the city, was the site of a mining disaster in 1956 that killed hundreds of miners, many of them Italian immigrants, and it is now a museum and memorial, part of the UNESCO listing of major mining sites of Wallonia. The city has been reinventing itself with street art, culture and urban renewal.
Riding in and around Charleroi is mostly urban and suburban, with busy roads, ring roads and industrial areas. Traffic can be heavy, and cobbles appear in some streets. Escape south and the landscape changes quickly: the Entre-Sambre-et-Meuse region, with its forests, rivers and villages, offers pleasant, winding roads, and further south, the Ardennes has some of the best riding in Belgium, with hills, valleys and forests. The weather is changeable, with frequent rain and wind.
There is no shortage of pumps or brasseries in Charleroi. Walloon cooking is generous: try boulettes, meatballs in a rich sauce, often served with fries, and a glass of local beer, perhaps a Trappist from Chimay, not far to the south. Climb the belfry for a view across the city and the terrils, and take time to explore the street art and the renewed city centre.