Monday, November 14, 2016

A Visit to Antwerp, Belgium


Last weekend the whole family had an extra day off. We decided to take advantage of it (and my international driver's license) and take a little road trip to Antwerp. We chose Belgium because we wanted to visit a new country and it was only a four-hour drive away. It would be too far for a day trip, but it's a fairly small city so there was just enough to see in two nights without being overwhelmed by choices. 

The photo above is the Grote Markt Square at night. You can see the beautiful baroque architecture of the guildhalls and the statue of Brabo on the left. It's really beautiful and it was only a short walk from our hotel.


Our hotel was in the center of the oldest part of town, on the Grote Plaats. That's the Cathedral of Our Lady, which dates from the 1300s. 


There are beautiful sculptural details on the buildings everywhere in the old town. 


A lot of the old buildings have these little stair-step facades. I don't know what they're called but they have them in Germany and the Netherlands also. Some of the buildings also had gilded statues on top as well. 


Some of the buildings are incredibly narrow, like the white one in the middle here, also in Grote Platz. There are also lots of tiny narrow alleys and winding side streets which reminded me a little bit of Venice, but without the canals. 



This building is much newer and it has a really beautiful art deco facade. 


I loved this door knocker that looks like a little dragon. This was right on the main square. 




The Het Steen, the old city fortress on the waterfront and the oldest building in Antwerp. That's a statue of the giant Lange Wapper in the foreground, lower left. 



There are lots of statues all over Antwerp. Here's one of the city's most famous resident, the artist Pieter Paul Rubens who lived and worked in there in the early 1600s and was a very successful artist  His house is beautifully preserved, right in the middle of the city. I'm not a huge fan of that art period but it was very interesting to see the historical context. The house also has art by Rubens and his contemporaries, including his student Jan Van Eyck who also became very famous.




You can visit Ruben's house though I didn't take any photos inside (too much artwork, I was afraid to ask). There's a beautiful garden courtyard in back which is probably stunning in the spring. I took this photo of the back of the house from the courtyard. If you enlarge the photo you can see the amazing detail. 



We found a nice bookstore right next to the Rubenshuis Museum. They had a nice selection of used books in English and I picked up a few bargains (more on that in another post!) I loved this sculpture just inside the front door. 



There are lots of bars and restaurants in the old town, but my favorite was this combination bar and bookshop! I passed by in the morning before it was open and didn't have time to go back, but I think it's great. I peeked inside and it looks like there were some shelves of used books for sale and a very laid-back place to hang out, read, and have a drink. 



Of course I had to have an authentic Belgian waffle! This one was covered in Nutella. 



Even the McDonald's was in a beautiful old Baroque building (no, I didn't eat there). And that's a chocolate shop right next door -- there were at least four chocolate shops in the mile-long walk from the old town center to the train station. (Also plenty of beer if you prefer it). 



The interior of the beautiful train station -- it reminded me a little of NewYork's Grand Central, but much smaller. And there's a park with a zoo on the other side! 

I loved Antwerp -- the people were lovely, nice shops and restaurants, and plenty to do and see if you're only there for a few days. I would definitely go back and I want to see more of Belgium including Bruges and Brussels. 

And I still haven't written my post about all the books I've bought so far in Europe! But that's another post. 

21 comments:

  1. What a fun weekend trip! Your photos are amazing. Thanks for sharing! Now if only you could share that Belgian waffle, too. :D

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    1. It was delicious though rather messy. And there are two different types of waffles available -- Brussels waffles which are rectangular, and Liege waffles which are free-form and cooked with pearl sugar that caramelizes as it bakes. There are also thin crisp waffles which I think are called waffelin. If you've had stroopwaffles they look like that.

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  2. Ooooh, lovely. Wish I was there! Denmark has those stair step facades too.

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    1. I want to go to Denmark too! I spent a summer in Schleswig-Holstein when I was in high school and we went to Lokken for two weeks and stayed right near the beach. It was lovely and I really want to go back, and also to Copenhage.

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  3. Beautiful city - thanks for scratching my travel bug itch a little :-)

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    1. Thanks! I'm trying to take advantage before it gets much colder. I have a couple more short trips coming up as well.

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  4. Wow! Sounds like a fun trip! Loved your photos - makes me want to head to Antwerp :)

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    1. It was so nice! I had originally wanted to go to Bruges but we couldn't find a good hotel that we liked, so we decided on Antwerp instead. We loved and would go back.

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  5. Awesome, awesome, awesome!!! I love old world Europe. So beautiful. And it just makes history come alive. (I can't wait to see your post on books you bought.) : )

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    1. So far I've bought books in France, UK, Germany, and now Belgium. (And I'm going to Poland this weekend, but to buy pottery, so I don't think there will be any books). I'll try and post about it next week.

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  6. What a wonderful weekend!! Thank you for sharing your photos here :)

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  7. We were in Ypres last May and will visit Bruges next May. Ypres smells of chocolate! In Scotland we have those stepped buildings too and we call them crow-stepped gables. Lovely photos, and Jack especially liked the art deco building. Thanks.

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  8. Lovely! I'm adding Antwerp to my dream trip list.

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  9. Hmm. I'm in dire need of an extended vacation and one of those nutella waffles.

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    1. I would love it if you came for a visit! We can take a road trip!

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  10. How exciting to visit a new country, and one that is only 4 hours away from where you live. If I drive 4 hours in any direction, I'm still in Colorado!

    Loved the pictures--the narrow buildings look like they can barely breath. And the chocolate and used bookstores and museums and architecture!

    Enjoy exploring and thanks for sharing...I love to travel and arm-chair travel.

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    1. It was the same in Texas! The nearest border was Louisiana, and that was still at least 4 hours. I think it's 7 hours to El Paso and at least that much to Amarillo! But now I can literally be in France in less than an hour -- people drive over the border to go grocery shopping. I'm not kidding -- there's an amazing store called Cora and it's like a giant grocery store/Wal-mart, but classier. And French! I'll have to write a blog post about that too.

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  11. Beautiful!

    P.S. I think maybe NYC's Grand Central copied the styles of Old World Europe. : )

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    1. I checked Wikipedia, they were both built right around the turn of the century, Grand Central is about 10 years younger. But almost the same era. Antwerp's is considered one of the most beautiful train stations in the world, and I can see why.

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    2. Interesting. By then, the world was getting smaller, and I suppose art and architecture knew no ocean boundries.

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  12. Ah, looks lovely. Yes, you must go to Bruges. I think our hotel was one of the oldest monasteries (and it was lovely, I can't recall anything to complain about.) So many places in the world I want to see but I definitely hope to visit Bruges again. (and if you add the option to sign in with Name/URL, I would comment more! :D This is @BkClubCare (but it won't let me use the Wordpress signin option)

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