We took the train from Boitford (place of residence) to Gare du Midi where we changed for Antwerp (€7.60 return - duration 35 minutes each way.)
On arrival at the very beautiful railway station,
we set out for the old part of town. We are now in Flanders.
Belgium is divided in two culturally - the French speaking Walloons in the southern half of the country and the Flemish speaking people reside in the northern half. Brussels acts as an intermediary having all road signs and documentation in both languages. The Walloon economy based on Coal and Steel was the dominant economy in the 19th century but the economic focus has moved north based on the port of Antwerp in the 20th and 21st centuries.
We made our way down to the Grot Markt - the centre of the old town - c.30 mins walk from the railway station
En route, we discovered
We arrived at the Grot Markt where the dominant feature was the Cathedral under restoration. Considering it’s size ( photo taken from distance ) , it must be continually under a state of repair.
Many beautiful buildings stand proud in the square
The Rathaus (Town Hall)
It was a pleasant day and the Marketplace was lined with restaurants, populated by diners. The menus were all in Flemish (akin to German, I think), with no translation, so it was difficult to order food and drink.
En route to St Charles Borromeo Church, we encountered one of the many Irish pubs, that peppered our trip
The Church was commissioned by the Jesuits in 1614 and contains many paintings by Rubens
From there with the aid of a local lady, seeing us perusing the map, asked us if we required help, we were directed to the river (Schelde). Our Good Samaritan opined that the map was useless.
At the river was the equivalent of the London Eye!!
We retraced our steps
passing an old Bazaar, whose ground floor was occupied by a shopping centre and the upper floors by the Hilton Hotel, Back to the station and returned to Brussels where my cousin had a gourmet, traditional Belgian meal awaiting us.
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