Mons

Mons stands on a hill in Hainaut with a baroque belfry of 1662 on the top, the only one of its kind in Belgium and listed among the belfries, and the collegiate church of Saint Waltrude below it, a large late-Gothic building that was never given the tower it was designed for. In the church stands the Car d'Or, the gilded processional wagon used once a year. On Trinity Sunday the Doudou takes place: the reliquary of Saint Waltrude is paraded on the wagon, which must be pulled up the cobbled slope in one go for the year to go well, and then Saint George fights a dragon in the main square in front of a very large crowd, a combat listed by UNESCO among the giants and dragons processions. Van Gogh lived nearby in the Borinage.

What you actually see

• The baroque belfry - the only one of its kind in Belgium, on the hilltop.
• The Doudou dragon fight - Saint George and the dragon in the square on Trinity Sunday.
• The Car d'Or - the gilded processional wagon in Saint Waltrude.
• A towerless collegiate church - the tower it was designed for never built.

When to go

Trinity Sunday for the Doudou, which is the city's great day and fills it completely; April to October otherwise. A day. Museums close on Mondays. Accommodation on Doudou weekend must be booked far ahead.

Honest expectations

The Doudou draws enormous crowds and the square is packed to a degree some find alarming. Outside it the city is quiet. Museums are scattered and several are small. Interpretation is in French.

Nearby

Spiennes flint mines are south-east; Grand-Hornu lies west.