Antwerp has a lot of events, especially in summer. At the end of August you can enjoy the ‘Bollekesfeest‘ which is a series of activities throughout the town : music, dancing, markets, walks and cycle tours and of course eating and drinking (it wouldn’t be Belgium otherwise) ! 

This year my husband and I especially enjoyed the various markets in the city centre. At the Groenplaats, you could try and buy all sorts of regional products like strawberries, coffee, ham, sausages, fries (Belgian fries I like to call them instead of French fries 🙂 ), biscuits, bacon, sweets, cheese, Elixir d’ Anvers and of course  beer from the local brewery ‘De Coninck‘ and then especially the famous ‘bolleke’ (hence the name of the event ‘Bollekesfeest’), an amber coloured pale ale of this brewery, which is served in a typical, round-shaped glass. No one had to be hungry or thirsty ! We enjoyed a first ‘bolleke Koninck’ and I had a local flancake (I’ve got a bit of a sweet tooth…) whilst enjoying the sun and the relaxed ambiance.

After our visit to the regional market, we strolled towards the market place where we enjoyed a bit of live music and a second ‘bolleke Koninck’.

We then went into the townhall which celebrates its 450th birthday this year. Because of this anniversary, the town of Antwerp gives the people the opportunity to visit this beautiful 16th century building and there is a bar installed on the first floor where you can have a drink or a bite to eat. Now we didn’t do a guided tour. I hope to do this in fall. If I do I will certainly do a more elaborate post on it. But now I can give you some pictures of the hall and the bar where I had a typical Belgian waffle with creammm… 🙂 You can see some more pictures of this beautiful town hall in this post from some time ago.

Then we went to the Steenplein, where there were lots of fish and seafood stalls : oysters, baked eal, baked trout, cockles,… my husband had a baked eal sandwich (he’s got less of a sweet tooth 🙂 ) so both our stomachs were quite happy.

Then we went back to the Groenplaats, because my husband wanted to eat a bacon sandwich.

Unfortunately the heavens opened and soon rain was pouring down… We decided to cut our trip short and go home. We had a lovely afternoon in our favorite Belgian town though !

Love, Kathleen