After a long break, I've had time to reflect on the Galapagos. It was really unlike any other place I ever been and nearly impossible to describe. While nothing can compare to it, the urge to blog has returned. I'm going to start working backwards from the Galapagos to write about our previous travels.
As I flip back through the calendar, I land on last September ('06). Eric was attending a conference in Belgium, a country neither of us had been to before. It seemed liked the perfect excuse to take a short vacation, so I scoured all of my frequent flyer accounts and managed to cash in some miles for a "free" flight.
Getting to Belgium was the easy part, but finding my way to Antwerp on the train was more of a challenge. After close calls with the wrong station and the wrong train, I arrived. The trains in Belgium are very efficient, arriving and leaving to the minute. The conference was at the Antwerp Hilton, so we decided to stay there as well (my review of it on Trip Advisor http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g188636-d228106-r5893903-Antwerp_Hilton-Antwerp_Antwerpen.html - On another note, most of my newer hotel reviews can be found by searching under the user “Seat24A” ).
The first night we met up with a former co-worker, also attending the conference, who used to live in Belgium. He gave us some pointers on what to see and introduced us to Belgian beer. There are cafes everywhere with tables outside where you can sit back, enjoy your brew, and people-watch. We spent a large part of the next few days doing that very thing, so I should take a few lines here to discuss Belgian beer.
There are supposedly over 200 kinds of Belgian beer, but unfortunately we didn’t get to sample them all. Most have a pretty high alcohol content (7-8% or even more), but are very smooth. The fascinating thing for me is that each one is served in its own glass - with a distinctive shape and brand label. Every little bar and restaurant has the all the right glasses too. I don't think there were any that I really didn't like, but ones we liked best are noted with "*".
Some of the beers we tried:
- Die Konnick - you can’t escape this one in Antwerp, but it’s god and the price is right
- Duvel*
- Orval
- Hoegaarden
- Juliper - seems to be the Brussels equivalent of Bud, but soooo much better
- Belle vue Framboise* - my favorite lambic
- Kwak - this one comes in a mini-yard glass
- Westmalle* - double and triple varieties
- Brugse Zot
- Augustin
Over beers we got a history lesson on how the city of Antwerp got it’s name. I’ve heard a few variations on this, but here goes: Way back when, there was a giant who blocked the river Schelde that flows through the town. Every time merchants and boats wanted to pass or cross, the giant would make them pay a huge tax or he would kill them. Finally, one young man had enough and went off to confront the giant. He ended up cutting off the giant’s hand and throwing it across the river. The Dutch word for this “hand throwing” is handwerpen, which was shortened to “Antwerp”. There are several statues depicting the incident around the city. Here’s one in front of the colorful town hall or Stadthuis:
We spent our time there wandering around the city. Most of the sights are within walking distance or a short subway ride. One of the highlights for me was the Antwerp Royal Museum of Fine Arts. Aside from the large collection of Rubens, there are some paintings from Flemish masters in the 1400-1600s that really caught my attention. Not the normal Biblical scenes, these paintings show gruesome scenes from the torture of the Spanish inquisition to terrifying dragons and mythical creatures doing battle with the saints. One that stood out for me was Jean Fouquet’s Virgin and Child Surrounded by Angels - the weird red and blue angels are more than a little creepy and this was painted in 1450!
We also visited the beautiful Cathedral of our Lady, the Steen, and the Diamond district. Antwerp has a very comfortable feel to it, with lots of students and not too many tourists. Unfortunately we had to move on…next stop: Brussels.
A few more views of Antwerp:
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