Antwerp for the Afternoon

The next morning I moved on to my final Belgian city—Antwerp. Antwerp is Belgium’s second most populous city and a major port for the country. It is also known as a capital of fashion and an important feature of Europe’s underground house and techno scene.

I began my day by taking a long walk from the train station into town (in retrospect, I might have gotten off at the wrong station), past the city’s Hasidic Jewish quarter. This part of town was quite quiet and residential, but featured some nice buildings.

I then took a quiet stroll through a park before stopping at a highly rated cafe for lunch. There I enjoyed a strong Belgian beer and a BLT sandwich. The waitress was quite friendly and recommended some areas of town that I should explore.

After stopping at my hostel to drop off my things and change, I went for a walk down to the main square to take some pictures and take a tour of the cathedral. Unfortunately, one of the most beautiful buildings was covered with scaffolding, so I headed straight for the church.

Once inside the church I gathered in the back for a guided tour. The guide was quite nervous but endearing. Many of the paintings in the church were done by a famous Flemish painter that I’ve forgotten the name of. They included tremendous depictions of biblical scenes, often on humongous canvasses. Like many religious locations in central Europe, the church went through a variety of redecorations over the years, namely during the Protestant Reformation and when it was sacked after the French Revolution. They have done small excavations and scans of the walls and have determined that there have been at least three generations of art pieces covering each other.

In the afternoon I met with a few friends off of Couchsurfing and enjoyed a beer in the square. After a quick stop at the hostel I went out for dinner with some of my roommates. The night mostly centered around the hostel, learning about the other travelers backgrounds and drinking cheap beer from the vending machine. We played music and exchanged instagram profiles before heading out for a late-night kabob feast.