CHARLEROI ADVENTURE

The idea of this safari, at first considered preposterous, is now attracting tourists from all over the region and even beyond: Flanders, neighboring countries, the USA... It has to be said that the Urbex fever (exploration of abandoned urban buildings: houses, factories, etc.) is making many people fantasize. Charleroi, with its industrial past, is an ideal setting for this new discipline. And there's nothing better than practicing it with a local who knows the wastelands and abandoned warehouses better than anyone! The protean artist Nicolas Buissart takes us on an urban safari, discovering surprising places that are inaccessible, neglected or ignored. Industrial and natural relics, as well as a few "no-go" zones. Like a ghost metro station, with curves and furniture from the 1970s, that never worked. Or the carcass of a mining site that was first used as a body shop and then as a zoo, before being abandoned. The tour includes a climb to the top of slag heaps, stops at various places (cafés, disused sites, Nicolas does as he pleases), the visits are never the same. As the guide says in his introduction: "Voted 'ugliest city in the world' by a recent Dutch poll, Charleroi offers a wide range of exciting attractions." This atypical visit is to be taken at face value - Belgian humor at its best - at the risk of coming away with a battered image of Charleroi, but also sublimated by the abandoned, little-visited carcasses of its industrial past.