We farewelled beautiful Lille and strolled down to the station to catch the TGV train to Brussels. A comfortable ride in 2nd class and we arrived safely to be greeted by Caron at the platform. Caron had flown in from Helsinki to join us and bring our travelling group to a party of 3. We worked out our next train to Antwerp and off we went. It turns out that not only was today the London marathon, it was also Antwerp's day for their annual marathon. This meant a lot of travellers and atmosphere, and closed roads! So a 30min walk to the hotel over many cobblestones was our first adventure rather than a short trip in a taxi. The Hilton is in a brilliant location, right in the historic centre of Antwerp.
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| Caz's first Beer in Belgium |
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| View of our hotel from Groenplaats |
 Groenplaats at night When we were planning our trip quite a few people asked us "why Antwerp?" Well, we wanted to visit Belgium again, and had already been to beautiful Brugge. We basically read a little about Antwerp when we were planning the trip and thought - why not? |
Antwerp's history is again vast and varied. The name 'Antwerp' was first used in the 4th Century (although the settled area dates back much further) and the city has always been a very important port, and it still has one one the largest seaports in Europe. It is a busy city and the capital of the Flanders area of Belgium. Through the centuries Antwerp has been ruled by many, and survived some fairly aggressive visitors, including being bombed in World War 2. Belgium's most famous artist, Ruben, was born here and many of his pieces can be found in the main Cathedral.
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| Antwerp's Cathedral |
We spent our time in the old part of Antwerp. Our first afternoon was bathed in sunshine so after a very casual stroll we found ourselves a table at one of cafes around the Groenplaats square. T-shirt weather and yes, another lovely Belgium beer for Caz. This time she had Caron joining her for one too. Georgina has had to put up with Caz trying lots of different Belgium beers - "I'm only here once; there's so many to choose from; blah blah blah". At least the Hilton had a great gym so Georgina could get a good workout when Caz and Caron were indulging. Dinner was a short walk to a cheap and cheerful Italian place across the square.
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| Little Italy in Antwerp |
Day 2 was dedicated to Antwerp Zoo. A cooler day, but enough sunshine to keep us smiling. The zoo is in the heart of Antwerp next door to the train station. Opened in 1843 it's bound to show it's age but there are signs of improvement and redevelopment. Caz found herself rattling off quite a bit of knowledge about the animals in the collection - perhaps 26 years in the industry has had some effect! G went a bit crazy with the camera at the zoo...so there's a collection of pics below:
Unfortunately the weather was against us the next day which was a pity - Caz had rather excitedly offered to take everyone on a guided tour of the old part of Antwerp. Even though we set out with self-guided walking tour book in hand and good intentions, the bitter cold got to us in the end - but we did manage to sample some fine Belgium chocolate :) We thought our best option was to find some warming soup for lunch. Caz took herself to the Cathedral in the afternoon (funnily enough no-one else was interested!) then Caron and Caz had their obligatory beers later in Groenplaats square with some pretty good people watching in the square too. This is a great way to get a feel for a place - just sitting watching the locals get on with their day.
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| Grote Market |
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| Grote Markt |
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| G & Caz on Caz's walking tour |
A few more pics of Antwerp Old town below.....
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| Minerva is the Roman goddess of wisdom and the fine arts. |
That kinda sums up our time Antwerp really! We made the most of our time but perhaps won't be returning. Our advice for first-time travellers to Belgium would definitely be to visit Brugge if you only have time for one place.
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| A final thought from Belgium... |
We leave Antwerp heading west across to Ypres (Ieper) for the last post at the Menin Gate Memorial and Anzac Day dawn service the following day. G will also have the opportunity to visit Fromelles in France as part of a tour in the afternoon, following on from the Dawn Service - more about this in the next post!