Freezing My Hands Off in Belgium (Worth It? Actually Yes)
okay so i literally did not plan this trip properly at all. got on a train from brussels without checking the weather app first which, in hindsight, was a massive mistake because let me tell you something - it's currently 3 degrees out here and feels like 1 degree and i am NOT dressed for this. my photographer bag is basically frozen to my shoulder at this point. worth it though. honestly. worth it.
Quick Answers
Q: Is this place worth visiting?
A: if you like old european architecture without the overwhelming tourist crowds of Bruges, yes. it's gritty in a way that makes for incredible street photography.
Q: Is it expensive?
A: cheaper than Bruges, more expensive than Liege. expect to pay like 15-20 euros for a decent meal, coffee is like 3-4 euros.
Q: Who would hate it here?
A: people who need perfect weather to have fun. also if you're into polished, sanitized tourist experiences - go somewhere else.
Q: Best time to visit?
A: honestly? the cold months. something about the mist and grey sky makes the whole place feel moody and cinematic.
so yeah the humidity is literally 91% which basically means it's not raining BUT it feels like you're breathing through a wet towel the entire time. the pressure is super high at 1021 so that's probably why everything feels so still and weirdly peaceful. locals told me this weather is normal for like, october through march which is wild because i would literally rather be anywhere else right now but also i can't stop taking photos so maybe it's fine.
*the light here is insane - i don't know if it's the high humidity or what but everything has this soft, almost dreamlike quality around sunset. i was shooting near this old cathedral thing and the way the light caught the stone made it look like something out of a Wes Anderson film but grittier, if that makes sense.
local insight: there's this coffee shop on the corner of werkendamstraat that supposedly has the best espresso in the city, run by this older guy who hates tourists - go early, be polite, don't take photos inside or he'll actually throw you out
i met this girl at the train station who told me she's lived here for 23 years and "wouldn't live anywhere else" but also immediately complained about the weather for ten straight minutes so like, take that how you will. she did recommend this one restaurant that apparently only locals know about - it's not on TripAdvisor apparently because she said "tripadvisor is for people who don't actually know how to travel" which honestly? fair.
key thing about this city: it's divided. like, there's the part that feels super polished and then like, three blocks away it's all graffitied walls and what looks like abandoned warehouses but apparently they're "artist studios" now. a local told me the city council has been trying to gentrify the area for like a decade but the artists keep painting over everything so it's this constant low-key battle.
The temperature maxed out at 4.84 today which like, is not enough to melt anything but also somehow the ice on my camera lens kept melting and refreezing which was GREAT for my equipment obviously. i had to stuff my camera in my jacket like five times to warm it up.
budget breakdown for anyone wondering:
- hostel bed: 28 euros
- coffee: 3.50
- street food lunch: 8 euros
- train ticket from brussels: 12.50
- one beer at a bar that had heaters outside: 4 euros
so like, 56 euros for a day is not terrible honestly. i spent way more in Bruges last year.
okay here's something i learned: there's apparently this whole debate on Reddit about whether this city is "overrated" and the consensus seems to be that it's "only good if you know where to look" which is the most reddit sentence ever. but also, kind of true? like the main square is fine but it's not SPECIAL. the special stuff is in the side streets and the slightly sketchy areas.
i found this one wall with the most incredible light peeling paint situation and i spent like forty minutes there and this guy came up to me and asked if i was "doing a project" and i said "i'm just taking photos" and he goes "ah, one of those" and walked away. still don't know what that meant.
travel tip: download offline maps before you come because the data connection is spotty in the older parts of town. someone told me this at the hostel and i didn't listen and then i was lost for like an hour so, learn from my mistakes.
The humidity is genuinely the worst part. my prints from my film camera are going to be messed up, i just know it. moisture getting into everything. next time i'm bringing silica packets. note to self for next trip.
yelp review i found of a place called 't zilte: "not worth the hype, too expensive, wait was too long" - 2 stars. but then someone replied "you clearly don't know how to appreciate good food" - so you know, typical yelp stuff
some practical thoughts on safety: i felt totally fine walking around alone, even as it got darker. there's enough people around that it never felt creepy. obviously use normal city precautions but i wasn't on high alert or anything.
the sea level pressure thing is at 1021 which is apparently pretty high and the ground level is 1017 so there's a difference? i don't know what that means meteorologically but i asked this guy at a bookstore and he said it basically means the weather is "stable but cold" which tracks.
i'm writing this from a cafe right now and my hands are finally thawed. the wifi password is written on a whiteboard that's been there so long it's basically faded into meaninglessness so i had to ask three times. the barista looked at me like i was stupid but whatever, i have my coffee now.
would i come back?* yeah actually. there's something here that i didn't expect. it's not pretty in a clean way, it's pretty in a "this has seen some things and it's still standing" way. if that makes any sense at all.
going to try to find that restaurant the local girl mentioned. she said it's near the small river and you have to ring a doorbell to get in. sounds pretentious but also, probably worth it.
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more info on the city: TripAdvisor Antwerp | Yelp Antwerp | Reddit Antwerp | Reddit Travel | Lonely Planet | WikiVoyage