A Short Visit To Antwerp Belgium

Enjoying A Short Visit To Antwerp

We enjoyed our short visit to Antwerp in Belgium.  But knew we should have booked a longer stay.  Antwerp was the first stop on this visit to Belgium after we finished our river cruise in Amsterdam.  

Our charming boutique hotel (the Sapphire House Antwerp) was a lovely luxury spot to enjoy.  While we may have wanted to just enjoy our hotel, we headed out and explored on this stay.

The port in Antwerp is the second largest in Europe after Rotterdam and the 13th largest in the world by container volume.  At one point, the port made Antwerp one of the most important cities in Europe.  We did not make it to the port area on this visit to Antwerp.  But we saw many of the stunning sights built when this was a major booming city.

We were stunned by the beauty of the train station when we arrived.  And found more architectural gems and fun outdoor artwork as we wandered in the city.

Challenges Taking The Train From Amsterdam To Antwerp In Belgium

We finished our river cruise with Tauck in Amsterdam.  We had different options to travel to Belgium from Amsterdam but decided it was quickest on the train.  Well in advance of our trip, we looked at train options from Amsterdam to Belgium.  

We wanted to start our Fall visit to Belgium in Ghent but that required a transfer in Antwerp.  And travelling with 5 weeks of luggage we wanted to reduce train station connections.  So we decided to start our visit to Belgium with a direct train and a quick one night stop in Antwerp.  

We purchased a really good priced Early Bird ticket for our direct train with no stops.  Reading the fine print on the tickets provided two tips:  print the tickets with a high quality printer and check the scheduled trains to ensure the train was still running.

When we checked on the train before we reached Amsterdam, we found our direct train was cancelled and there were no other direct trains running to Antwerp.  All trains required a connection in Rotterdam for the weekend we travelled.  So much for the easiest route!  Despite being a planned change, we were not notified proactively in any way.  We contacted SNCB on X (Twitter) and Facebook as suggested but we got no help in how to deal with our existing tickets.  You had to pay to talk to the Call Centre and we were advised that would not be helpful at all.

An early morning visit to the train station when we arrived in Amsterdam confirmed that we used our existing tickets for any train combination from Amsterdam to Antwerp as long as we used the IC (inter city) trains we had a ticket for.  

We quickly learned why it was suggested to print the tickets.  In a world of eTickets we rarely printed tickets.  But the ticket scanners at the train station gates did not like the bar codes on my iPhone.  It kept opening my credit card in ApplePay to pay for a ticket!  Finally someone suggested turning the screen intensity right up and that helped a bit with our electronic tickets.

We planned to take the early train to Antwerp to give us time to deal with any more changes.  And sure enough, that train was cancelled too!  But we ultimately got on a train to Rotterdam and made the connection that took us to Antwerp.  As expected, the connection was a pain with so much luggage and only stairs in several places.  But we were happy when we started our short visit to Antwerp.

A Historic Train Station In Antwerp

When we were on the train, we overheard someone talking about the beauty of the Antwerp train station. It was referred to as the ‘Railway Cathedral’ by Antwerp residents.  It was built at a time when Antwerp was one of the most important port cities on the coast.  

We were prepared to stop for photos around the station.  We saw one side of the Antwerp train station when we arrived.  And when we left we entered on another side and got another look at the beautiful architecture.  

On one end of the train station we found a large ferris wheel.  And the Antwerp Zoo.  These would be fun stops for families visiting. 

Our first view of the Antwerp left us excited on our short visit to Antwerp.

A Luxury Stay For Our Short Visit To Antwerp

After many hours of train travel and challenges, we exited the train station and decided to roll our bags to our hotel.  It was mostly an easy walk although we forgot how many cobblestone streets there were in old towns like Antwerp.

We arrived at the Sapphire House Antwerp and were happy with our Marriott Bonvoy Elite upgrade to a Junior Suite.  And we were delighted with the deep soaking tub in the room.  After 2 weeks on a river cruise boat with no tub, I was ready to sink into a hot relaxing tub.

The neo gothic building was quite lovely inside.  The rooms were all quite distinct. We learned that the hotel used to be the “Den Grooten Robijn” hotel.  This meant “The Great Ruby” for the city’s heritage in gem trading in the 1500s.  Beside the hotel we found the Handelsbeurs building – “the mother of all exchanges”.  This was the centre of the Antwerp trading and exchange market since 1531, 

We enjoyed a snack when we arrived and a full breakfast the next morning before we left.  A sweet treat arrived in our suite as a welcome amenity. Wandering close to the hotel we found a local wine bar for a charcuterie board for dinner.  David was delighted with his first taste of Belgium dark stout beer! 

We loved our stay at the Sapphire House Antwerp and just wished we booked a longer stay. 

A Few Churches Nearby

We visited so many churches in the small towns on our river cruise from Budapest to Amsterdam.  But that did not stop us from searching out the churches on every stay around Belgium.

The Cathedral of Our Lady (Onze Lieve Vrouwekathderaal) is the most notable building in Antwerp.  Its Gothic architecture and 400 foot tower was one of the first spots we went in search of.  Because of our short visit, we did not get a chance to wander inside this church.  We would have liked to see the impressive collection of paintings by Peter Paul Rubens.

The other church we found on our wanders close by was the St Charles Borromeo Church.  This Baroque treat was in a small piazza with cafes all around it.  This church was originally built by the Jesuits.  But the design and art of Peter Paul Rubens added a beautiful artistic element to this church.  Sadly the ceiling paintings done by Rubens were all destroyed in a fire.  While we passed by this church a few times, we never found it open for visitors.

There were several other churches around Antwerp to visit.  But they would have to be visited on a return trip.  We simply ran out of time on our short visit to Antwerp. 

Lots To See Wandering In The City

There was lots to see wandering in Antwerp close to our hotel.  We kept our eyes peeled for interesting art and architecture around the city.

The main square of Antwerp (Grote Markt) was close by.  Around the square we saw beautiful 16th century buildings.  The Antwerp City Hall was a marvel of Flemish and Italian Renaissance design.  

In the centre of the square was the Brabo Fountain.  This infamous statue depicts the hand cut off a giant by a Roman army officer.  Throwing cut off hands in the River Scheldt was the price paid for not paying shipping tolls.  It earned Antwerp the name “Hand Werpen” or “Throw Hand”.  We were quite amused when we got hand-shaped cookies with our coffee!

But that was not the only interesting statue we found.  In front of the Cathedral of Our Lady, we found the statue of the boy and his dog (Nello and Patrasche).  These central characters in the “A Dog of Flanders” play and later book tell the tale of the appalling treatment of dogs.  At some point this tale was translated to Japanese and an animated series was created.  The Museum Aan De Strom (MAS) had a whole section related to Nello and Patrasche.  

Of course, we were always on the lookout for street art when we travelled.  We found just a few pieces but knew that Belgium was known to have great outdoor art.  Our we were already looking forward to wandering down Graffiti Alley on our next stop in Ghent.  

We found lots to see when we wandered on our short visit to Antwerp. 

A Short Visit To Antwerp Gave Us Just A Small Taste Test

We had a busy stay on our first our short visit to Antwerp.  We returned to the lovely train station to travel to our next stay in Ghent in Belgium.

Our lovely hotel was located close to many of the key sights in Antwerp.  But we missed a visit to the first stone fortress in the city (Het Steen) and certainly would have liked to explore inside many of the sights we passed by.  All good reasons for a return visit one day.

Have you done a short visit to Antwerp?  Did you wish you stayed longer?

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