From Antwerp’s chocolate museum to the nightly Last Post at Ypres, Larry’s Flemish road trip turns from sweet to sombre, and discovers a battlefield that’s far better with children than he’d dared hope…
If Bruges was the chocolate box, Antwerp might just be the chocolate itself. But, it must be said, it doesn’t arrive gift-wrapped. The drive east is an easy one, just under two hours through flat Flemish farmland, church spires on the horizon and the odd wind turbine, ensuring our road trip wasn’t all iPads and boredom on long motorways between destinations. But the final approach is another matter: ring roads, gantries and graffitied warehouses, and a creeping suspicion that this is a city that has seen better days.
The historic centre, however, more than makes up for its somewhat tired, less than salubrious route in. As the concierge at the Maek hotel advised, Antwerp is a place best discovered slowly, and they were right: give it some time and there’s plenty to discover, much of it architectural. There’s the cathedral spire dominating the skyline, the gabled guild houses of the Grote Markt and Antwerp-Centraal, a railway cathedral in all but name, its vast dome and iron-and-glass train shed making a mere station feel like a place of worship, ranking it among the world’s most beautiful. First impressions dissipated as we found a city bristling with bohemian sensibilities, cultured and cosmopolitan.
Antwerp is renowned for art and fashion, with high-end boutiques along Schuttershofstraat, and for Rubens, its adopted favourite son. His house on the Wapper, the Rubenshuis, is a good visit for younger viewers, with plenty of interactive displays and a beautifully ornate Italianate garden. His altarpieces still hang in the cathedral, one of the few buildings they were originally commissioned for, and a place of pilgrimage for art lovers from around the world.
Count me among them. Nello, the penniless hero of the Victorian children’s tale A Dog of Flanders, couldn’t scrape together the fee to see the Descent from the Cross; I, with rather less tragedy, simply paid the entry fee and, while Mrs L and our Little Nest of Vipers made for the park opposite the hotel, made my own solitary pilgrimage. Arresting, show-stopping – you might say service-stopping – it was a small respite for this weary Dad during the school holidays.
A short stroll away, on the Grote Markt, stands the Brabo fountain, which tells the city’s founding legend. A giant, Antigoon, so the story goes, demanded a toll from every boat passing on the Scheldt and cut off the hand of anyone who refused to pay, until the Roman soldier Silvius Brabo defeated him, severed the giant’s hand and hurled it into the river. Hand werpen, or ‘hand-throwing’, and Antwerp was born; and the statue shows Brabo mid-throw. Our twelve-year-old relished it more than any amount of Rubens, and the city has turned the story into the handje, a hand-shaped biscuit (and chocolate) found in every bakery window.
But while you might think the cathedral and its square would be the city’s go-to spot, you’d be mistaken. Antwerp’s biggest draw, surely, is Chocolate Nation, the world’s largest chocolate museum. And this being Belgium, well, need I say more?
Our little chocoholic proved remarkably immersed in the installation rooms showing the journey from bean to bar – did you know Antwerp is second only to Amsterdam as the world’s largest cocoa port, and that there are specialist ‘selectors’ for choosing beans to maintain Belgium’s reputation as the world’s finest chocolate producer? – but the highlight, of course, is the tasting room, with Wonka-worthy sampling machines pouring liquid nectar at the pull of a lever.
As much as one would like to count that as a meal, one does require proper sustenance, and Brasserie Appelmans is a great spot for dinner, among a clutch of tourist eateries in the shadow of the imposing cathedral. The meatballs on the kids’ menu are spectacular: three large pork offerings in a lake of tomato sauce, enough to suit a parent, too. Signature dishes on the à la carte are just as good, and a recommendation of Antwerp beers – Bolleke with the shrimp croquettes, Tripel d’Anvers to accompany the traditional stew cooked in the same – made for a very Belgian dinner.
Another kid-friendly option, away from the bustling centre on the more affluent marina, is Wolf food hall, opposite the MAS building on the waterfront: ten small city street food brands, from curries to gyoza, ramen and pizza, in a natty, arty converted warehouse. With similar pop-ups in other cities, it proved one of the best stops of the trip, and certainly gave Antwerp an edge.
The Maek Hotel, on the edge of the diamond district, is a great alternative to the better-known budget brands. It’s boutique, eminently fashionable and almost too hipster for this old Dad, but our daughter was right at home. Family suites have wraparound windows overlooking the Stadspark – the view of treetops and church spires is a fine one to wake up to – and there’s parking (a gift in a city where it’s at a premium) and, again, a terrific location.
With two days to go, we circled back to begin the return route to Calais. There wasn’t time for Ghent, sadly, and Bruges would demand its own visit, so we settled on a slightly less-sought destination, but one with a particular resonance.
Ypres may seem an odd choice for a family itinerary, but consider the context and its significance, particularly when it comes to educating our progeny, as any self-conscious, self-respecting parent may wish to. It’s a beautiful town, walled and moated, with arched gates to enter and a stunning market square in the centre dominated by its medieval Cloth Hall. Except, it isn’t. Ypres was almost completely destroyed in the First World War, and later rebuilt in its original image, the Cloth Hall itself not fully restored until 1967. It doesn’t detract from quite how picturesque it is, however, like walking around a living museum.
Given the town’s size, our hotel, the Novotel, is ideally situated, a stone’s throw from the Markt and the Menin Gate. It’s a contemporary building; the rooms may be small but are well proportioned, with Rituals toiletries in the ensuite and the fabulous Novotel breakfast buffet we’d come to expect after our stay in Bruges. Given the location, and most visitors’ reasons for being here, there are thoughtful touches: the poppy backdrop in the rooms, books on the First World War in the lounge, and McCrae’s poem, In Flanders Fields, sensitively set on the wall opposite the lifts. There is a play area in the lounge, too, very well thought-out for a hotel in what many consider a ‘grown-up’ destination.
This couldn’t be less true. While Flanders might be considered a vast museum to the Great War – battle sites and war grave cemeteries are everywhere, among them Tyne Cot, the largest Commonwealth war graves cemetery in the world – almost every museum sensitively, brilliantly features things to engage children. The Passchendaele museum has a kids’ tour map and a ‘treasure hunt’, not to mention one of the best restored walk-through trenches at the end of the route.
The small Hooge Crater museum features perhaps the best and most extensive collection of First World War artefacts, the result of an extraordinary endeavour by its owner, who amassed it over decades, and whose two sons provide a similar tour, not to mention their own YouTube channel of insightful WW1 trivia. There is, too, ahem, the Bellewaerde water park next door: the ultimate reward for a 12-year-old from a Dad putting her through a self-gratifying museum tour.
Ypres, ultimately, proved the most rewarding stop on a week-long family road trip through Flanders: for a history-obsessed father on his first foray into the WW1 battlefields, for an aesthetically-minded and chocolate-loving Mum, and for an excitable, energetic daughter, with activities, sweet treats – did I mention its famous ice cream shop on the Markt – and plenty of subliminal education thrown in. Perhaps most impactful the Last Post ceremony at the Menin Gate one evening; remarkable in its attendance considering it has taken place every evening since 1928, and will continue to do so in gratitude to ‘the fallen’.
And with that, it’s back to Calais, the Shuttle and, all too soon, the school gates. Our Little Nest of Vipers counted 366 steps in Bruges; now she’s counting the days until half term.
For more information about Antwerp, and to start planning your trip, please visit the official tourism website at www.antwerpen.be.
Larry’s trip was assisted by Visit Flanders. For more information about the region, including details of what else to see and do, please visit www.visitflanders.com.
The Maek and Novotel hotels are part of the Accor group. For more information, including details of other properties and their ALL Accor loyalty programme, please visit www.allaccor.com.
