Belgium, Day Two: Bruges and Antwerp

Our B&B was comfortable and very cute, and I agreed with the host's claim that we were staying for far too short amount of time. Still, well rested we set off to check out the town (for me, the first time during the day).

It was very rustic, villagey and reminded me a lot about some of the university towns we have in the UK. The town market was in full swing and although much of it wasn't really relevant for us, we did take the opportunity to tick Belgian Waffles off the check list.

 

My travel partner was a coffee head, and so visiting independent cafes was always going to be a part of this trip - not that I minded given how short my lists of things to do in each place was.

 

The star of the show however was the Belfort, and although entry to climb the tower wasn't the cheapest we decided to go for it as the thing to do in Bruges. I'd say it was worth it, not only for the views but for the climb itself. The bells were in full song, with us even catching a rendition of Killing Me Softly. 

Possibly due to the train strike we didn't have many options for our ride to Antwerp, and so we had to take the 1300 train. Although this sounds like we had to cut short our time in Bruges, we were both satisfied by what we got to see and do, and so in some ways the timing worked in our favour.

 

One of the top things to check out in Antwerp is the Central Station, which is lucky considering that's where we arrived. It was definitely something and easily worth the few minutes wondering around.

After stashing our luggage in the lockers, and grabbing a quick lunch, we realised that we were up against time (not really a surprise given the ambition on this trip), so had to prioritise the rest of our time in Antwerp.

It probably says something that an Illusion Museum is cited as one of the top things to do here. Yes, it was cheesy and yes definitely a bit of a tourist trap. But we had a fun time going through the various illusions and it was an okay (albeit expensive) way to spend 45 minutes.

After the fun and games we had to make a beeline to the MAS Museum in the north - I had heard that it had a free viewing platform that was worth checking out. It was... okay, although that's more the fault of Antwerp's uninspiring skyline than the museum itself.

As it hit 5pm we were out of time for attractions that required entry, although some may say it was lucky we had to leave the Chocolate Museum behind. That left Antwerp itself, and we spent the rest of our time here walking around the historical centre, taking in hot drinks and vibes.

Our final sight to see was the Sint-Annatunnel, a pedestrian foot tunnel that traverses the Scheldt River underground. It was a fair bit more interesting that the London equivalent (and certainly less smelly), the wooden escalators alone making the tunnel quite the curiosity.

As we were once again bound by train times, that marked the end of our itinerary for today, and we made our way back to the Central Station to catch our train to Brussels, the city where it all started. After checking into our hotel we went for well deserved burgers close by.