This weekend, my partner António and I had the pleasure of exploring three of Belgium's most stunning cities: Antwerp, Ghent, and Bruges.

Antwerp is vibrant with a rich history, known as the diamond capital of the world and home to Europe’s second-largest port after Rotterdam, NL. We traveled through Antwerp Central Station, which is considered one of the most beautiful train stations in the world. Truly a multicultural city, we noticed Hasidic Jewish men wearing their large fur hats and Muslim women near our hotel. Two shops near our hotel offered Vlisco and other wax print fabrics for sale.

A highlight of our visit to Antwerp was the Museum Plantin-Moretus. Painted leather covers the walls and portraits of the large family, a dynasty within the early printing industry led by French-born entrepreneur Plantin. Peter Paul Rubens painted portraits of the large family and they line the walls of one of the drawing rooms. Unfortunately, the Rubens House is currently closed for renovation, so we were happy to view some of his work here. Plantin published dictionaries in several languages, books on medicine and nature, multiple versions of the Bible including one printed with lead characters owned by Gutenberg, and the first atlas. Through labor and perseverance was his motto.

On the train to Bruges, we decided to stop in Ghent, a charming city with winding canals and beautiful medieval architecture. We stumbled upon gorgeous architecture in the Vrijdagmarkt and found famous canal houses and charming shops.

We ended the trip with a couple of days in Bruges. The city's historic center is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and it's easy to see why! We climbed the Belfort tower on the main square, saw medieval Van Eyck and Memling paintings in the museums, and viewed the only Michelangelo sculpture to leave Italy during the artist’s lifetime, sold to two wealthy Bruges cloth merchants. It’s now housed in the Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk museum, in the church that dates back to the late 1200s.

We got a taste of the textiles and lace work in the Gruuningemuseum and the brocante that lined the canal on Saturday and Sunday.

Seeing medieval paintings including this triptych by Hieronymus Bosch was fantastic! It’s astonishing to imagine someone creating this in the early 1500s!

It was a memorable trip and a great getaway from Amsterdam. I’m looking forward to spending more time in Ghent and visiting the Mode Museum in Antwerp later this spring! Look for a future blog post about the Man Ray and Fashion exhibition!