#1. Binche
Historic Binche once sported an opulent palace-castle of Mary of Hungary, sister of mighty Charles Quint. That’s long gone, but the town still maintains sections of historical city walls, has a scruffily attractive main square and a sizeable 17th-century church (Collégiale St-Ursmer).
For most of the year the town has a rather grey and slightly forlorn look. But all that changes for a week of carnival festivities that are some of the world’s most unusual. If you’re anywhere near during Mardi Gras, Binche is an absolute must. Binche lives for its Unesco-listed carnival, which culminates on Shrove Tuesday. The undisputed stars are the Gilles, male figures dressed alike in clogs and straw-padded suits decorated with heraldic symbols. In the morning each ‘brotherhood’ of Gilles clomps to the town hall. Outside, they briefly don spooky green-eyed masks while shaking sticks to ward off evil spirits in a formalised stomp 'dance'.
After a lunchtime lull, up to 1000 Gilles march across town in one vast, shuffling, slow-motion parade, wearing their enormous ostrich-feather headdresses (weather permitting). Oranges are lobbed intermittently into the heaving crowd and at observers who cheer from those windows that haven’t been protectively boarded up. Don’t even think of hurling one back, however tempting it might be – the Gilles-thrown oranges are metaphorical blessings.