Does Django render web pages on the server side?
Django can do either, but it is designed to render on the server side in its default configuration, not the client side. 
To use server side rendering, use Django as intended and according to the many tutorials out there. 
To use client side rendering with something like React or Vue, use the Django Rest Framework.
Does Django render websites and serve them from a views folder similar to how the express framework works in JavaScript? Or does it render pages on the client side similar to an applicatipn running express in the back-end and some fron end framework such as Vue.js in the front-end