Brussels
We’d booked to stay in a YOUTH HOSTEL! Well their carpark, which is literally a stones throw from the city centre. Had to apply for a LEZ permit as well, which was all relatively easy online. We reached the city & this is where the panic set in, good job G was driving. You have to have 360 degree vision to see everything, bike/moped lanes, pedestrian lanes, bus lanes & our absolute favourite trams tracks. Parked up in the secure carpark, which had all usual moho facilities. Was in the city within 15 minutes, we hadn’t even had a chance to plan what we were going to do. All we really knew about Brussels was the Manneken Pis, so he was on the list. We spent around 6 hours on our feet, exploring the different area’s of the city. Really big cafe/bar culture around the many squares. We wouldn’t have overlooked Brussels however it wasn’t our favourite city. Would we return, probably not.
Antwerp
Ready for our final day in Belgium, we awoke to the sun shining & big blue skies. Quickly checked emails before leaving & panic set in. Our application for a LEZ permit for Antwerp had been refused (the email was from 3 days prior & was in junk). I emailed back with copies of the V5 for “The Ranch” to prove it was Euro 6 & then decided to call. Spoke to a very nice efficient lady, who found our email, checked it over & said that she would send over the permit confirmation within 2 minutes – she did! Now back on track, we had to find somewhere to stay, we had seen a nice parking area just across the water from the city. The traffic on the approach to Antwerp was mental, lorry after lorry after lorry, nose to tail. Luckily we were on the opposite side of the ring road. We found a parking space exactly where we had planned & it was a quiet/peaceful spot. Off we went on the river shuttle, which landed a stones throw from the main Grote Markt. What a beautiful city, it had everything & more. To name just a few of the highlights, stunning architecture – both modern & traditional, the train station was like a museum, a 1930’s tunnel under the river with the original wooden escalators & art deco touches. We skirted very quickly around the diamond district, there was so many jewellery shops & the windows were full to brimming with diamonds of every shape/size/colour/cost! We found out later on that there used to be over 9,000 diamond cutters in Antwerp & this number has now dwindled to around 800. The main event was going to see a friend’s cousin! George & Elaine run the Highlander in the city, so we popped in for a quick drink to say hello from Annie. We left 4 hours later! Even though we didn’t know them before we went in, we certainly do now. Walked back to the river shuttle & back to “The Ranch” we raided our precious Belgian choccies for our daily fix, before climbing in to bed absolutely shattered.
