Step through the gate of the Groot Begijnhof in Leuven and the city noise drops away. Cobbled lanes, small brick houses with white window frames and stepped gables, little bridges over the arms of the river Dijle, and a Gothic church in the middle: this is one of the largest béguinages in the Low Countries, part of the Flemish Béguinages group listed by UNESCO in 1998.
Béguines were women who lived devout lives in community without taking the permanent vows of nuns. They could own property, work, and leave if they chose, which in the Middle Ages was a rare form of independence. From the thirteenth century they built enclosed little towns like this one across Flanders. Leuven's béguinage was home to hundreds at its height, and the last béguines died in the twentieth century. In the 1960s the Catholic University of Leuven bought the whole complex and restored it, and today it is housing for students and visiting academics, which keeps it alive rather than turning it into a museum.
Leuven itself is a university city through and through. The university was founded in 1425 and its students fill the bars of the Oude Markt, a square lined almost entirely with cafés. The Gothic town hall is a stone lacework of statues, and the city is home to one of the world's largest brewing companies, so beer is not hard to find.
Riding inside the city is slow going, with cobbles, cyclists in great numbers, buses and a ring road that can be confusing. Park near the béguinage and walk. South of the city, though, things get more interesting: the Meerdaal and Heverlee forests offer shaded roads through beech and oak, and the Dijle valley towards Wavre and the Brabant countryside has gentle hills, sunken lanes and small villages that make good riding on a weekday morning. Belgium's roads can switch from smooth to rough without warning, and cobbled stretches are common in villages.
Leuven has everything practical: fuel on the ring and outskirts, bakeries, supermarkets, and endless places for food. Try the local fries from a proper frituur, or a Flemish stew made with dark beer, and then take a slow walk along the béguinage's little canals before you head out of town.