Antwerp & Doel, Belgium

Antwerp & Doel, Belgium. Nothing is as it seems on the borders of northern Belgium, where doomed villages, old reserves and a revitalised Antwerp make for a wild escape, writes Gareth Clark

The lady behind the bar looked defiant. “If the village goes, this is all gone. Then wego.” Themansat besideme raised an empty beer glass – it was as apt a summary as any. Yet as I gazed outside at couples taking selfies by graitied walls, the doomed village of Doel seemed anything but. Life on the edge of Europe’s second-largest port is a world away from the city it overlooks: Antwerp. There, a neo-Gothic station (having recently added a comics-themed amusement park) and medieval centre prove Belgium’s doyen of style has made an art of preserving its past in fun ways. Bistros crop up in old port buildings and tours of its sunken vaulted canals make even the sewer into a great day out.

Essential Info

When to go: Year round. Look out for the lively Doel Village Festival, which takes place on 12 August.

Getting there: FlyBe (flybe.com) and VLM (flyvlm.com) fly direct (one hour) from Southend and London City airports respectively; from £60 return. VLM flights from Manchester start in Oct. Eurostar (eurostar.com) trains depart St Pancras London and arrive via Brussels at the neo-Gothic Antwerp Central station (three hours); tickets cost from £70 return.

Getting around: Antwerp is best explored on foot, though a handy ‘pre-metro’ tram network threads the streets. A ticket costs €3 (£2) and is valid across the bus network, too. You will need to hire a bike or car to reach Doel and Saeftinghe.

Where to stay: Stylish De Witte Lelie (dewittelelie.be) is a boutique hotel sprawled over a trio of 17th-century houses in Antwerp’s medieval heart; doubles from €242pn (£213). Closer to the centre, of Grote Markt, lies Hotel Julien (hotel-julien.com), an uber- hip courtyard stay whittled into the narrow townhouses – try to grab a room overlooking the cathedral – with doubles from €169pn (£149). Or for a dash of eccentricity, Boulevard Leopold (boulevard-leopold.be) is a fun B&B, all standing bathtubs and vintage chic, in the city’s Jewish Quarter; doubles from €125 (£110).

Where to eat: Antwerp is full of old industrial or religious haunts turned into hip eateries, from the pumphouse of Het Pomphuis (hetpomphuis.be) to the former convent of De Groote Witte Arend (degrootewittearend.be), to the Michelin-starred The Jane (thejaneantwerp.com)–a former church with tattoo-inspired stained glass. Then there’s the city’s bars, with Billie’s Bier Kafétaria (+32 3 226 31 83) serving up 350-plus brews and some hearty Flemish fare, too.

Further info: Visitantwerpen.be is the city’s tourism site; doel2020.org charts Doel’s fight.

Day 1: THE OLD, OLD CITY

From the cathedral-like Antwerp Central – a neo-Gothic confection of iron, glass and marble built in 1905 – head to the boulevard of Meir for a pastry at Goossens, Antwerp’s oldest bakery (1884) on Korte Gasthuisstraat. Of the Meir lies Rubenshuis (€8/ £7; pictured), the 16th-century home of painter-cum-diplomat Peter Paul Rubens, and now a museum. Its garden is a treat, even if his best work scatters Antwerp. Stroll past Europe’s first skyscraper (Boerentoren) to Grote Markt and its gory Gothic statue of the city’s founding.

Stroll the medieval centre, padding the cobbles of Vlaeykensgang up to Reyndersstraat for lunch in a former convent at De Groote Witte Arend. Nearby, the Cathedral of Our Lady (€6/£5) glowers moodily, its Gothic walls filled with treasures from the brushes of the Flemish Masters. By the river is also the world’s first UNESCO-listed museum at Plantin- Moretus (€8/£7). Printing presses are the star here, smuggled out of France in the 1500s as printers were being burned alive for heresy. End in Billie’s Bier Kafétaria, near Groenplaats, for one of the city’s best cellars and an always filling stoofvlees (meat stew).

Day 2: A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT

Don wellies and a protective suit to explore Antwerp’s network of vaulted canals on the oddly thrilling De Ruien (pictured; from €17; deruien.be) sewer tour at Suikerrui. It’s a nostril-baiting trip into the waterways and tributaries that once lined the city until pollution saw them bricked over by the 1800s. Next, trace the Scheldt north to Het Eliandje –past the ruin of Het Steen fortress, the city’s oldest building.Once a sleazy harbour, now the area buzzes with cafés and diners. Grab a snack, then unravel Antwerp’s maritime past at the Lego-likeMASmuseum€10/£9), which also has fine views from its rooftop over the docks.

Nearby, the interesting Red Star Line Museum (€8/£7) tells the story of two million Europeans who left for the US. After, grab a boat tour of the Scheldt itself – the Jan Plezier cruise (€17/£15; janplezier.be) even comes with pancakes! It’s not pretty per se, but its industrial scale is remarkable. Once back on dry land, make for Sint-Jansvliet and take the wooden escalator to the 1930s tunnel linking the river’s left bank (Linkeroever), a good sunset spot. Then return for Het Pomphuis on Siberiastraat, a glitzy bistro set in a 1920s dockside depot, complete with cast-iron bilge pumps.

Day 3: THE DROWNED LANDS

Hire a car and trace the Scheldt north (along the N101) to link up with the R2 road, which crosses the great river. On either bank lie the 16th-century forts of Lillo and Lie enshoek, built first to keep out the Spanish and later repurposed by Napoleon to fend of the Brits. There’s interesting exhibits and fine walks along the dykes in this last slice of greenery left in the port. From here, it’s a 25-minute drive to Doel, Beveren’s ‘doomed village’. For a ghost town it can be quite busy, with a pop-up music bar and a few cafés (including one inside its 400-year-old mill) all good places to stop. Stroll the graitied streets, keeping an eye out for artistRoa’s murals (pictured).No one preserves the work; tags, scrawls and grand artworks fight for space, but it’s the sense of a village clinging on by its fingertips that makes it unmissable.

After Doel, head to Saeftinghe, just over the Dutch border at Emmadorp. The treacherous salt marshes require a guide (saeftinghe.eu/en) who can take you out over its sunken villages to spy curlews, sea eagles, golden plovers and lapwings amid the mud. Finish in Antwerp at The Jane, a church-set, Michelin-starred gem, its stained glass inspired by the chef’s tattoos – tasting menus only. A fine symbol for a city always evolving.

sources: Wanderlust UK , July 2018