City of beer cafes.
I’m having issues with taxis. I ordered one to take me to a bus stop out of town. It didn’t arrive, they said they’d send another one, it didn’t arrive. Time was running out. In the end I tried Uber and within minutes, a very touchy feely older taxi driver arrived. I asked him if he thought I’d make it to the bus and he assured me he knew a quick route as today there was a marathon on. He patted me on the arm and told me not to worry. I worried. Meantime, I booked onto another bus that went an hour later. He took off at speed and we were there in time to catch the first bus. He patted me on the shoulder and told me I shouldn’t worry so much. A message for the day. In fact, I managed to get the first bus and found out that you could cancel the other one within an hour of leaving and get a refund!
And so off to Antwerp I went. The bus stopped on the outskirts and so another Uber driver delivered me to my lovely hotel. Beautifully renovated and colourful! It was an old coach Inn.
I walk around the corner and there is the square in all it’s glory. So many things to see here. Beautiful tall thin buildings glinting light off their many windows. There’s a craft and food market in town and I have the chips with mayonnaise that is the thing to try here and because the guy is cutting the chips and cooking them on the spot. So good.
I did some research and there are over 140 Madonna statues on the corners of the buildings. I keep looking up and there they are.
Later, near my hotel, I discover Elfde Gebod, an amazing restaurant. I go in for a Cider and I’m stunned. Evidently it was once an Inn for priests as The Cathedral of Our Lady is across the road and on the top floor was a brothel - of course it was. Those were the days. It dates back to the 1400’s. It’s now filled with religious ephemera and statues and paintings from when it was an artists commune. I book for dinner and have the best mussels with a lemongrass and chilli sauce. This is definitely a thing to see here.
The next day I’m off to search of more Madonnas on street corners and look into beautiful old renovated buildings.
I have lunch at a vegan buffet and wander for an hour to find the art nouveau house with a boat balcony commissioned by a sea Captain. It’s stunning, have gone way past my 10,000 steps.
On the way back I find a bookshop about Belgium cafe culture from a woman I follow on Instagram, @Regula Ysewijn. In it is a beer cafe, Cafe the Cat and so I walk again to find it.
When I do,I feel like I have stepped out of time. I’m in the thirties. I go inside and a skinny guy with hardly any front teeth greets me and suggests a beer. He goes out with one himself to sit with a girl all dressed in purple with pink hair who’s drinking a Bloody Mary. I’m drinking an Antwerp beer called Seef with a retro label and the glass matches it (I don’t like beer but needs must) which adds to the atmosphere. Old music is playing and I linger, imagining what it must have been like here in the twenties when it was born. I ask him how he survived in the pandemic and he said the government helped places like his survive.
I walk down to the riverside, there’s a bronze cut out that you can look through to see the castle, Het Steen, dating back to 1200 which is beautiful. Evidently it was the gateway to the main castle that they demolished in the 1900's. How could they! But I love how they’ve built modern up close to the old here without losing the design elements of the buildings. That night I ate Vietnamese as you do in Belgium.
Next day I go to a district of beautiful art deco buildings with stunning mosaics and then to one of the most beautiful railway stations in Europe or so I’m told. It was so damaged during the last war that they thought it would have to be pulled down but after many years, it’s restored and it really is stunning. The work that was put into railway stations in the early 1900’s is amazing. Next to it is the zoo but I'm too tired to go in.
I walk back through the old town and pass a beautiful shopping centre, Stadsfeestzaal, which is stunning. I can't resist a cupcake shop and love what's written on the serviette. Goals.
I go for a cider at another old beer bar and am intrigued by all the old ads and the beautiful blonde who is running it who’s outside with a customer, having a smoke and eventually realises that there’s a few people at the counter wanting to pay. No one seems concerned. They seem very relaxed here.
That night I return to the first restaurant and sit amongst the saints. Saint Paul, the statue next to me and my companion for the evening, has his toenails painted red, very fashionable. I have the rabbit with prunes and a beer creme brulee which was weirdly good.
And then one last walk through the town, looking at the beautiful lace shops, the many and varied beer shops and back to the hotel.
And that’s a wrap on Antwerp even though I haven’t seen anywhere near what it has to offer in three days.
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