We crossed the border from The Netherlands into Belgium quite unceremoniously as there is no border crossing. I expected that because of the European Union there would not be a guard station but there was not even a “Welcome to Belgium” sign. Our travel days once we left Amsterdam were based on the distance to the next town we wanted to visit. Some days were pretty short at 25ish miles and others were longer at around 40. Our routes were primarily paths along the canals, roads with bike paths and some nervously sharing the ride with cars.
Our first stop was the port city of Antwerp. Antwerp is very much an industrial city with a very historic core. We stayed in the Jewish Quarter (also known as the Diamond District) right across the street from the historic central train station. Here we had our first remarkable dinner. Michael had read about Hoffy’s Jewish Restaurant and wouldn’t you know it was just around the block from our hotel. We rode by the restaurant on our way into town and stopped because we recognized the name. One of the owners came out to greet us and we made reservations right then and there. Hoffy’s is a Kosher Yiddish restaurant owned by the Hoffman family and now run by two sons of the original owners. We had not ever had a kosher meal so we ordered the tasting platter and it was fabulous. We loved it all from the wine to the desert and were stuffed by the time we were done.
Antwerp’s a very multi-cultural city because of it’s history of taking in immigrants historically and today. We visited the Red Star Steamship museum and learned all about the early 1900’s when thousands of immigrants made the journey to a better future in America. Just getting out of Antwerp was difficult, between the paperwork and heath requirements many were not allowed on the ships and settled permanently in Antwerp.
The ride to Brussels included our first significant climbing and we weren’t sure how we would do given that Mike was towing a sixty pound trailer. We made it no worse for wear but little did we know that this day would seem like nothing compared to what we would face. We stayed right in the core of old Brussels in a room that faced the street (no air conditioning so our windows were open all night) and listened to people partying until all hours. Brussels is another beautiful medieval city that just oozed history.
As we’ve traveled to other major cities we’ve seen weird and out of place sights that were built for World’s Fairs and Brussels was no exception with the Atomium built in 1958. It was supposed to be demolished but never was and is now a tourist site. Escalators take visitors up to a restaurant in one of the balls. The picture doesn’t show how huge Atomium is.
Another weird tourist stop is the statue of Manneken Pis. This current form was put in place in 1618. The most widely accepted tale of it’s origin is that a small boy saw the enemy sprinkling gun powder on the battlefield and he peed on it. City officials dress him up in costumes several times a year. I wish I had taken a picture of the hoards of people taking his picture.
We took the train for a day trip to Waterloo where Napoleon was finally defeated in 1815. The site includes an extensive museum and this hill which is a monument to his defeat.
We really liked Brussels and could have spent more time there but had to keep moving so it was on to Ghent.
Travel the World Backpacking 