Originally published on September 17, 2025
I was up before sunrise and slipped out to the Grote Markt, the main square framed by the Renaissance-style city hall and the ornate guild halls that once housed Antwerp’s powerful trade associations. At that early hour it was just me, a few sanitation workers, and the sound of brooms on cobblestones. The square was quiet, still, and slowly coming to life—I was hoping for a colorful sky, but the sunrise stayed muted. No matter, I got my photos and enjoyed a rare moment of peace in the heart of the city.
After breakfast with Peggy (a little crowded at the later hour) and a brief wait out of the rain at the hotel, we headed back toward the square to meet our guide Franz for another walk with Legend Tours. By the time the group was gathered, the drizzle had stopped, and we set out into the historic center. To our surprise, we ran into three women from Oregon—a mother and her two daughters—who had also been on our Ghent tour the day before. Small world!
Along the way we paused outside Sint-Carolus Borromeuskerk, which was still closed at the time. Built in the early 17th century by the Jesuits, the church was once famed for its Baroque interior designed with the help of Peter Paul Rubens. Though much of Rubens’ work was lost to fire in 1718, the church still dazzles with its sculpted wooden angels and richly carved altars. Later in the afternoon we came back when it opened, and it was well worth the return.
Another highlight Franz pointed out was the Plantin-Moretus Museum, just a short walk from our hotel. This site, once the home and workshop of printer Christophe Plantin and later the Moretus family, preserves the world’s oldest surviving printing presses (dating to the 16th century). In 2005 it became the first museum in the world to be recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, thanks to its extraordinary collection of typefaces, manuscripts, and the very rooms where the printing revolution spread knowledge across Europe. Standing there, you can almost feel the hum of presses that once shaped the modern world.
After the tour, we ducked into one of Antwerp’s popular fry restaurants for a proper plate of Belgian fries. Peggy picked up some chocolate bars from the shop next door—provisions for later. Finally, we circled back to the church for our second visit before calling it a day. The evening closed on a less glamorous but very necessary note: laundry at the laundromat conveniently located next to our hotel. Even in Europe, socks don’t wash themselves.
