A Relaxed Day in Antwerp

On a trip where most days begin with an alarm to move on to the next scheduled destination, staying in the hotel through a rainy morning until 2:30 PM was a welcome luxury. After too many cups of coffee in the lobby while sorting photos and a bit of time relaxing in the room, hunger became apparent.

Being the last full day of solo travel in Flanders, it felt like the last chance to try paling (local eel). A fish market down the street called De Schelp (The Shell) had a surprisingly classy restaurant behind it that was open in the afternoon. They served both gebakken paling (pan fried) and paling in het groen (in the green), the latter of which is served in a sauce of a varying, and sometimes long, list of greens. When asked about which I should try, the server responded immediately, so the choice was made to try fried eel.

Excellent bread is the hallmark of a restaurant that takes every care in food preparation!

Belgium has a habit of serving fries with everything, including a ~$30 specialty plate. Like many other excellent restaurant experiences, it would have been better without the lackluster potatoes. Fortunately, they also tend to serve oddly delicious salads made from fresh, local vegetables. The paling itself was too oily, not only because it was fried, but also because the meat, while similar to whitefish, was much richer. It’s probably on the “only try it once” list, but without regrets.

The first piece revealed an unexpected crunch. The eel had been split down the middle, but the spine was not removed. There’s nothing like feeling like a child trying to figure out how to eat a new food. By this time, the restaurant was completely empty (really, no one expects to dine at 3 PM), so no one bore witness to the adult struggling like a toddler. This also gave the surreal impression of having a private tasting.

Outside the Ring

Like many cities, a ring road, seen above as E19/E34, surrounds the inner city. The red map marker is the rough location of the only West Coast Swing (WCS) dance class in the city. That turned out to be seven of us in a respectable garage studio, though a few people weren’t able to make it that evening. The small group was very welcoming and it was the best of reasons to leave the city center.

After a few miles eastbound on the tram, the neighborhood became more working-class and urban. There was nothing surprising about the mix of shops and commuter residences stemming out from the transit line.

Arriving to the area early left time to walk through the park to the north, seen on the map above as Provinciaal Groendomein Rivierenhof.

Kasteel Sterckshof sits in the middle of the park, and despite appearances, it’s a 1920’s reconstruction on the site of a former castle. It once served as a provincial silver museum, but is currently awaiting a new purpose.

Winding Down the Visit to Antwerp

There aren’t any more pictures to share from the evening, but from the park, there was a quick stop at a 200-year-old pub, ‘t Mestputteke (The Manure Pit), for coffee. That provided a bit of alertness just before joining the local dance group.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t much of a crowd. The people were indeed warm and enjoyable to spend an evening with, but a critical mass is lacking. Starting a dance community is tough, and has become exponentially more difficult since the pandemic. Hopefully they find some momentum soon!

With departure looming, a stop for late-night pizza near the hotel and a stroll through the neighborhood helped to stave off the end of the last full day. A few morning hours in the city and a slow journey toward a night bus departing from Brussels to Zürich followed, but that will have to wait for the next post.