A weekend trip to the very beautiful and authentic city of Antwerp! Experiencing it on its bourgondic and seeing a lot of the city.
By car to Antwerp is really good to do. It is just across the border and very good to drive at once. From Amersfoort it is only an hour and a half by car!
At the end of the morning we arrived at the hotel. We spent the night in the centre of Antwerp in The Hotel Plaza. This beautiful classic hotel is situated on a small road, so you can load and unload your belongings. And they have a garage, where you can park in spite of the space. Super nice!
We stayed in a spacious hotel room on the 6th floor overlooking the street. A good centrally located hotel to spend the night in Antwerp.
After a refreshment we walked a little bit to the center to have lunch together. We sat on a covered terrace with enough heaters, so we were warm. A good cup of cappuccino and lots of different finger food at Restaurant Bourla certainly went in!
After lunch we walked through the city in the biggest shopping street of Antwerp: Meir. They really have all kinds of shops here. With the usual well known brands and the unique shops. They also have a mega pop-up store in the building where Forever 21 used to be.
The pop-up store was used for 5,000 square meters of Christmas items and decoration. From nativity scenes, baubles, Christmas trees, candles, life-sized polar bears and an inflatable giant Christmas man. Think of it and you could find it there. In the Meir they also have the smallest waffle shop in the world. They have really hot Liège waffles here. Highly recommended to taste one!
In the evening we went to Beer Central in the heart of Antwerp. They have more than 300 kinds of beers here, of which I tried the Pauwel Kwak & Tripel Karmeliet. The Pauwel Kwak was really a nice beer, but unfortunately the Carmelite disappointed me quite a bit. Beer Central is a cozy and burgundian pub and is located next to the central station of Antwerp.
After the Belgian beers we had a delicious meal at De Bomma. It looked like we were visiting a grandmother. A nostalgic feeling! Started with a carpaccio, after that we were allowed to make our own main course. Chosen for a delicious piece of entrecote with vegetables and of course the famous Flemish fries. The crème brûlée for dessert made my dinner complete. What a delicious dessert I think!
After dinner we went to a small cafe. The inspiration for their interior they must really have gotten from Pinterest, otherwise they have to place it directly. It looked super cool! After a few drinks we closed the evening to go to sleep in the classic hotel.
Sunday morning we had a nice breakfast in the hotel. Croissant, toast, cup of coffee and fruit. Yummy! After breakfast we walked in the direction of the central station. On to the Zoo ZOO Antwerpen. It is literally next to the station! Almost more central than that is hardly possible.
After some walking through a zoo we were quite hungry! Luckily we saw a Burger restaurant nearby on Saturday evening, so we had a delicious burger at Ellis Gourmet Burgers. After eating the burgers we walked back to the hotel to get in the car and drive back home.
Antwerp is a very nice city, where you can see, do and taste a lot. This Belgian city is highly recommended for a city trip or a weekend break.