Today was a "traveling day" for us--we took a morning train from Luxembourg to Antwerp, Belgium. It was about a 3 hour ride, not including a connection in Brussels. It was about 3:00 when our train pulled in to Antwerp, and we walked to our hotel and were checked in by about 4:00.
We're staying at a newer Ibis Hotel fairly near the Old Town area of Antwerp. I picked it because of the location even though several reviews mentioned that the rooms were small. They weren't kidding--we are literally walking sideways around each other! I'd post a picture, but it's so tiny I'd have to stand out in the hall. It's clean and the bed is comfy--so it's good enough for us!
The first order of business was to find some food--we'd not had anything to eat since our little breakfast at the Luxembourg station, and we were starving!
Our hotel is on a square not too far from the train station, and we could see some sidewalk cafes from our window. We walked across the square and checked out some menus--most of them were just bars with some snack food. We didn't much care--anything would do. We picked a nice table outside, and looked at the menu. Hmmmmm--it's all in Dutch, and we have no idea what anything is! A nice couple next to us helped us translate, and we ordered a couple of snacks and beers.
These are "Bitterballen--deep fried balls of knid of mushy stuff! They were OK…….
David with his first beer in Belgium--it was great!
After our quick snack we walked a few blocks around the square. We popped in to a pretty church for a quick look:
We walked around a small area in "Old Town" Antwerp--the architecture is very interesting:
After a few hours of wandering around, we decided it was time for dinner, and we set off to find a restaurant that I'd read about on a travel forum. It got great reviews, especially for it's lamb dishes.
We found it without too much trouble, and we were very happy with our choice. It's a small hole-in-the-wall pub with just a few tables. We ate upstairs--a tiny little space with a nice view to the bar below. Again--the menu was totally in Dutch, but he nice young waitress helped us with some translation.
Lamb on a skewer with salad and couscous. The lamb was the best I've ever had--tender, juicy and it had a great smoky flavor.
We each had a beer--they had a large selection both on tap and bottled. We tried two different IPAs--both were very good.
It was a nice night for a stroll, and we slowly made our way back to our hotel, where we spent the rest of the evening all cozy in our teeny-tiny room.
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