Our time in Europe was not limited to the Netherlands. We planned a day trip by train down to Antwerp, Belgium, for a day of food and sight seeing. The train we took had a breakfast service, so we spent our hour ride in comfy, crimson, cushioned chairs peering out into the passing cities as we sipped our coffee. I have a mild fascination for foreign graffiti, and the route to Antwerp did not disappoint. Walls and buildings blinked by, scarred by vibrant colors and intricate shapes. I find myself conflicted as to whether they caused damage, or created art. It is in the eye of the beholder after all.

We arrived at Antwerp Central Station early in the morning. A word of advice: this station is a wonder to behold; leave yourself plenty of time to wander around it.

The building’s architectural style defies definition. In fact, it has been voted by various publications and authorities as one of the most beautiful train stations in the world. All of this translated to us walking around stupefied as we tried in vain to grasp what we had walked into. Also, an unintentional benefit of arriving so early is that the station was nearly empty. This made for a more pleasant experience as we could more freely stand around without impeding foot traffic.

We stepped out of the station on a mission to find breakfast. A brisk breeze and flashbacks of Iceland were our greeting. The streets were spotless. Large buildings encased a wide street/walkway. We huddled close to the stores as we made our way away from the station and in search of a filling meal. Unfortunately for us, this is not a city that offers a variety of options for an early morning meal. We put some serious distance between us and the train station before we found anything close to a proper breakfast. Once we did though…whew. Food so good it gets a new paragraph.

Our noses nuzzled up to Trip Advisor, we finally found an oasis in the barren streets. Shaking off the cold as we shed our layers, we sat ourselves in Monico-Meir. Menus were handed out, and drinks were ordered. Nicole’s was a chocolate concoction that was quite clearly made with care. Absent was that biting, synthesized sweetness that is all too common in big brand *cough cough Starbucks cough* drinks. Our food soon arrived, as did more patrons. My dish was a vegetarian farmers omelette: baby potatoes, cherry tomatoes, assorted greenery, and a patchwork of delicious cheese on top. I marvel at how chefs can imbue so much flavor into every element of a dish. Knowing what it takes to do so makes me appreciate it all the more.

Our seats were facing the street, and as we ate we saw two camouflage clad soldiers carrying assault rifles strolling down the sidewalk. Understandably we were a bit unsettled, and we quickly looked up some justification for what we had just seen. Soon we found out that Antwerp has been a recent target of terrorist attacks in recent years, and the guards were actually a step back from what was commonplace immediately following the last successful attack. It was a sobering thing to know that such a wondrous place is not impervious to ill intent.

After eating, we sought out a local mall in an effort to commingle with the locals. Our first stop was a grocery store. While walking down the aisles we came across an employee stocking the shelves. This, stock-woman, was pushing a cart through the middle of the aisle in the opposing direction. I will spare you the drawn out story, but basically she pushed us into the shelves because she refused to move to her side of the aisle. Taken back by her brazen behavior, we laughed and chose to move on. I have had bad days too; collateral damage happens. Continuing on, we checked out the different offerings looking to pick up a snack for our day. Finding nothing, we tried to make our way out of the store. The walkway behind the cashiers was also strangely blocked by a gate, which was hidden by a low shelf. Looking at the entrance as our only way to get out, we found that there was a gate to the side of it. Feeling that this was our only option, we opened the gate AND ALARMS JUST STARTED BLARING. Admittedly frustrated, we looked up for some help. Met with judgmental eyes, we were led, in French-English (think Spanglish) to go past someone who was being rung up to get out of the store. So, basically, this place was a Fort Knox for food. It was super awkward.

Nicole was excited to get some Belgian chocolate, so our next destination was a street that had a few chocolatiers. Both of the shops we walked into had workers who made no effort to help us, but instead stared as we looked through their selection. Nothing was in English, and the only hint as to what each chocolate contained were stylized pictures printed on them. This approach had it’s shortcomings, because some chocolates had animals printed on them. Others may have had fresh herbs, or THC. Another instance of less than friendly staff. Did I mention that Belgium shares a border with France, and the French population makes up for 41% of the total citizenry?

Our next stop ended up being quite the treat. Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal (Cathedral of our Lady) was a short distance away from the chocolatiers. Know this: if you only have time to visit one place in Antwerp, this is where you go. A Gothic style church contains famous woodwork, paintings, stone sculptures, stained-glass windows, a crypt, exhibits highlighting its role in society over the ages, and much more. Also, it is quite large (86,000 square feet). We literally spent hours inside of this space, separating from one another as individual points of interest drew our attention, and beckoning each other over when an item was so interesting it had to be shared.

I myself spent an hour looking at the stained-glass windows which cataloged prominent families, as well as famous biblical events. Each knight’s helmet told a story of how much money the house had, their role in wars, the trade their family was known for, and other important facts.

 

Outside the cathedral, there is a marble monument Nello & Patrasche: A story of friendship which depicts a boy and his dog, illustrating their eternal friendship. It is a memorial to the story A Dog of Flanders which is set in Antwerp. The story was popularized by the Japanese people, and is required reading for schoolchildren.

 

Great Market Square was our next stop, and we soon found ourselves in front of the confusing Brabo Fountain. The fountain tells the story of a giant’s downfall who used to hold domain over the river Scheldt. The story goes that the giant would cut off the hand of any sailor who would not give half of their cargo as toll, and would throw their hand into the river. A brave soldier, Silvius Brabo sailed along the giant’s castle and refused to pay the toll. He challenged Antigoon to a duel. Brabo bested the giant and maimed him just as he had maimed others, throwing his hand into the river. The legend is the origin of the name Antwerp which roughly translates to “hand throw” and is a symbol of how a free waterway was vital to the cities survival.

 Me, super stoked at our unintentional find/future tattoo idea

…did he just…that’s a lot of blood…wow…

Any literature on the statue that we have found falls far short of accurately describing how utterly awesome it is. It has all of these intricately depicted animals on it, including an undead horse/dragon hybrid staring agape with amazement at how some mere mortal cleaved a giant king in front of him and is about to shot-put his gargantuan paw into the undertow of the water. Also, there are some mermaids whose faces clearly telegraph future plans of making deals with sea witches to be able to get closer to this god amongst men. After all, Ariel is a story based on Danish folklore, and in the grand scheme of things, Denmark is not all that far from Belgium. You decide.

Certain I had exhausted my comedic possibilities improvising off of this statue to Nicole, we turned our head to other structures. Oh look, the Antwerp City Hall. How ornate. How grand.

Could use more undead dragons and scantily clad mermaids in my opinion, but hey, who am I?

Also, it did not have an American flag. Shady.

On mission again, we then wandered through medieval alleyways and visited the Het Steen Castle, which is Antwerp’s oldest building. It overlooks the Scheldt river, and has a few statues of varying subject matters.

One is a crucifix overlooking the castle. It never fails to amaze me how sculptors can create such realistic figures with stone.

The other is Lange Wapper, a Flemish folkloric character. As the story goes, he used to be a regular man, but was gifted the ability to shape-shift after saving a woman in the river. Known for being a trickster, there are stories of him threatening drunks and messing with kids.

Could not find any stories of him being humble though

We then made our way over to the MAS (Museum aan de Stroom). There is free access to the rooftop for a 360 view of Antwerp. Hiking up the steps is a bit of a workout, but it is well worth the effort. One gets a birds-eye view of the city, as well as a fuller understanding of where you have been wandering around the whole day.

We couldn’t leave Belgium without trying Belgium Beer. Ideally, we would have visited a Trappist monastery. Sadly, they are so far away that we could not fit one into our plans. Instead, we went to De Koninck brewery. At first, we were ignored (flashback to earlier). When the server/bartendress finally asked what we would like, she was quite annoyed when we asked for a menu. We were eventually handed a menu devoid of any English or easily discernible descriptions of the items. I am never one to shy away from a challenge, so I did my best to decipher what each drinks flavor notes were supposed to be. Truthfully, it was fun. We goofed around and laughed at how words maybe kind of sort of looked like a word we knew, and read between the lines to figure out what each drink was. Both of us agree that our effort was appreciated by the server, as her attitude changed markedly when we ordered without asking for further help. Every beer there blew us away with how amazing it tasted. We were quite thorough with our experimentation, and soon required some food to temper our buzz. We ordered some soft cheeses and crackers that went well with the drinks. Elated but low on time, we found our way back to the station. With an hour to kill, we finished the evening off sitting in a cafe on the side walk munching on fries and babying one last brew until our train came to take us back to Amsterdam.