War and industrial relics in West Flanders

Even though the curtain fell on the United Textile Mills (Verenigde Textielfabrieken or Vetex) in Kortrijk over 30 years ago, the company name still graces the streetscape

A concrete water tower still testifies to the ultimate attempt by a group of West Flanders flax companies to secure sufficient water to sustain flax production.

Three mysterious concrete structures stretch over a distance of hundreds of metres.

Today, you won't find anything of the Pelican Bridge, a steel bridge kept in place with thousands of rivets across the Veurnevaart in Nieuwpoort.

As if the Atlantic Wall defensive strongholds in the Ostend dunes were not enough, Nazi Germany erected a second line of defence in the hinterland.

The dunes of Raversijde, a seaside resort west of East, are home to not one but two German bunker complexes.

Anyone entering Nieuwpoort via Kinderlaan will come across the remains of the World War II German Widerstandsnest Karthauserdünen.

On the night of 10 May 1918, the British army attempted to block the Ostend harbour channel so that German submarines could no longer sail out.

A monumental memorial was erected in 1938 on the bank of the Yser in Nieuwpoort in honour of Belgian King Albert I.

The ring road R8 around the Belgian town of Kortrijk has been awaiting completion for decades. Construction of this ring road around the city began more than 50 years ago, in 1973.