while visiting my in-laws over the winter break, stefan and i took a weekend away, just us. so that means i have a smattering of loveliness to share with you about antwerp.
1. maison nationale, in the sint-andries area, is a townhouse with only 8 rooms run by a lovely couple. the rooms are spacious and bright and to die for huge bathrooms. the location is perfectly close to everything. but then, antwerp is a small city with everything reachable by foot.
2. known as a fashion city, there are tons of amazing and interesting fashion shops meir, steenhouwersvest and nationalestraat. of note, wouters & hendrix jewellery store, anine bing, damoy, dries van noten are each a multi brand store... all near the mode museum.
3. interior shopping along kloosterstraat and adjacent streets is incredible; shops are lined up one after the other, vintage and new. i wanted to take everything home with me.
4. visit graanmarkt 13's shop (ceramics, glassware and fashion too) and restaurant... it's a gorgeous spot... cool concrete surfaces, pale ashen walls.
5. the coffee, according to my hubby, is really good. normo is a roaster and cafe that takes its beans seriously.
6. breakfast at cafematic will be exactly what you want; stefan loved that they served a dutch breakfast... bread and cheese. eat at bourla, we had a most lovely dinner here. and the sardines at toneelhuis reminded me of the ones in croatia, perfectly yum! the fries at frites atelier were reeeeeally good; it was dinner one night! i topped mine with belgium mayo while stefan opted for peanut sauce.
7. stefan was swooning at all the chocolate and biscuit shops (proof in the photos below). we particularly liked maison dandoy.
8. do visit the mode museum. it is home to designers such as dries van noten and dirk bikkembers, who both formed part of the 'antwerp six', redefined fashion back in the 1980s. while we were there, the museum was under renovation but we visited their exhibition 'soft? tactile textures' at the maurice verbaet center.
9. while shopping, get yourself a waffle on the go from the smallest waffle shop. and end your evenings at dogma cocktails, in the old city, with jazz music, worn leather sofas (think a 1920s sitting room) and the friendliest mixologists.
kai was so happy to be left behind with his oma and opa. likely, he did not miss us as much as we missed him ;) despite my longing for kai (is it normal?) i will always say yes to a weekend away with my hubby.
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