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My Belgian Summer Holiday – Antwerp

Published on 13 July 2023

Usually I do my big trips in spring and autumn, but that doesn’t mean I don’t go anywhere in summer. When the Belgian rail company launched their Off-Peak Unlimited ticket—all-you-can-travel for 31 days—I seized the opportunity (again) to plan some trips within Belgium, and slightly beyond… It’s also a great opportunity to put my Museum Pass to good use!

The first destination was Antwerp, mainly because they have quite a few nice beer bars I just don’t go to often enough.

As usual though, the first stop was at Cuperus Coffee. It might actually be the last time, since apparently they’ll be closing that location in the near future…

From there it was just a short walk to the Snijders&Rockox House. It is actually made up of two restored historical buildings, and named after Nicolaas Rockox and Frans Snyders, two key figures in Antwerp during the Baroque era. This museum is now filled with 16th and 17th-century art and objects, evoking the everyday world of their 17th-century residents.

The next destination was Het Steen, the oldest preserved building in the city. The Antwerp Story, an exhibition you normally have to pay for—but luckily not with my Museum Pass—was supposed to be all about the history and identity of the city. However, unless I missed something, it was actually just promotion for all the other museums of the city… At least I got to see the inside of Het Steen!

After all that art, history, and promotion, it was time for beer, starting at the nearby Café Pardaf, followed by Café Ernst, just a couple of doors down the street.

Since the slightly underwhelming exhibit at Het Steen meant I started dinking earlier, I really needed something to eat, to tie me over until dinner time. For this I went to Loa Streetfood, for just a bit of Korean fried chicken. In my experience, that usually means either some boneless chunks, or wings. However, in this case I got a bowl of full-sized drumsticks! All of a sudden, the price made a lot more sense…At least now I was ready for one more bar, The Northerner. I was never actually inside this bar, and despite the nice beers they have, it’s definitely a sports bar as well…

My actual dinner was fish and chips at Bia Mara. You can’t go wrong with that!

The evening programme consisted of Billie’s Bier Kafetaria—an Antwerp craft beer classic—Station 1280, and conveniently close to the train station, Beerlovers Bar.

Before leaving you, I’d like to share a very Antwerp phenomenon: street corner Marias! I don’t know any other city that has this…

By the way, over the coming month I’ll have some more day trips like this coming up, to Lille—not Belgium, I know—Bruges, Ghent, Liège—well, mostly Misery Beer Co.—and Namur. Recommendations for bars, breweries, and places to eat are always welcome!

FyneFest Trip – Day 12

Published on 9 June 2023 
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If you want to read about this trip from start to finish, instead of in reverse order, click here!

Heading Home…

Eventually, there’s always that day you have to go home, and today was that day…

The original plan was to have breakfast at Snax Cafe, the very first I ever visited in Edinburgh, fresh off the MegaBus on my first trip to Scotland. However, it seemed I turned up just during their morning rush, and there was no space to sit at all. So the alternative was a breakfast with an Indian twist at Dishoom, a restaurant that had been on my to try list for a very long time. I picked a simple bacon and egg naan so it wouldn’t take too much time, but I’ll definitely go back there to try some of the other dishes!

From there I went straight to Edinburgh Waverley Station to catch my LNER to London Kings Cross.

With a couple of minutes delay, we arrived in London, where my first stop was One Shot Coffee for my daily dose of caffeine.

At BrewDog Camden I met up with Ryan to enjoy the last couple of beers of this trip, and some Buffalo dirty fries, since I’d be on the train during dinner time, and arriving in Brussels too late to still eat.

Getting to and checking in at the Eurostar terminal went without a hitch, only for the departure of the train itself to be delayed… Only a couple of minutes though, and the train to Brussels wasn’t even very full! Arrival in Brussels was just about ten minutes late.

So, that’s it, almost two weeks of travelling through Scotland, with some hashing, copious amounts of delicious food, and lots of beer!
Until next year, Scotland? Of course!

Done reading about this trip? Resume reading my blog in the usual order!

FyneFest Trip – Day 10

Published on 7 June 2023

Tartan & The New Town

Breakfasts in Aberdeen just don’t seem to work out as planned for me: after being too late yesterday, I was too early today! As it turns out, BrewDog Union Square only opens at eleven nowadays, which was too late for me today…

So instead, I resorted to some breakfast at Black Sheep Coffee, where apparently they combine high-tech touchscreen ordering with low-tech name shouting.

No beer for breakfast either, so I was in Aberdeen station early, and luckily so was my Scotrail train to Dundee.

Arrived there, I left my very full bag at a Stasher location again. The reason for my stop in Dundee, was the temporary Tartan exhibition in V&A Dundee. While I was there, I of course also went to see the Oak Room, one of Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s most important interiors, formerly one of Miss Cranston’s famous tea rooms in Ingram Street, Glasgow.

After that cultural intermezzo, I went to BrewDog Dundee for a pizza—with mustard?—and some beers, before resuming my journey to Edinburgh.

This was actually the first time I crossed the famous Forth Bridge by daylight, as far as I know!

After arrival in Edinburgh I checked in at hotel Travelodge Edinburgh Central Rose Street , and after unpacking a bit, I immediately changed into my running kilt, since it was almost time for my last hash this trip!

The start of this The New Town H3 run was at the pub Bennets of Morningside. From there we ran to the Braid Hills, and it went up, up, and again up, it seemed! Well, we actually went up, since we reached the top of Buckstone Snab at some point, and the views from there were amazing!

After getting back to the hotel for a shower and a change, I popped out for a couple of beers at the nearby Fierce bar, and at The Black Cat.

FyneFest Trip – Day 8

Published on 5 June 2023

Adventures in Aberdeen

After a last breakfast at FyneFest—a bacon and egg breakfast roll from Hector & Harriet—it was time to walk back that mile to the bus stop—albeit an invisible one—for my Citylink 926 back to Glasgow.

After quickly getting a coffee to go from Laboratorio Espresso, I headed to Glasgow Queen Street station for my ScotRail train to Aberdeen.

I arrived in The Granite City a bit too early to check in at my Travelodge, so I first visited The Craftsman Company, for another coffee, and a beer. There are not enough places like this that do both specialty coffee—this one even roasts in-house—and craft beer!

In the evening I planned to go the the hash of Aberdeen H3, but it was about 35km out of the city, and not that easy to get to by public transport. I was supposed to catch a ride with another hasher, but he himself had a problem getting to Aberdeen in time. So off I went by myself, two and a half hours in advance… First I had to catch a train to Inverurie, and change onto a first bus there. I had about half an hour for this, so I seized the opportunity to visit BrewDog Inverurie—right across the square from the bus stop—and pick up the pin they didn’t have when I did my Flying Scotsman trip.

After that first bus, I had to get on the same line in the opposite direction, since apparently it serves different stops. From that last stop, it was still a three kilometre walk to the start of the trail…

The hash was totally worth it though: a beautiful trail, a ‘sweetie check’, the most amazing beer stop location, and lots of nice hashers!

The way back to Aberdeen was a lot easier and quicker: I got a ride back with one of the hashers.

Back of the hotel I first had a shower, to wash off four days of camping and a hash through at times quite some dense growth.

After that I somehow managed to drag myself outside for a last beer at BrewDog Castlegate. They soon called last call however, so it would stay at just the one.

FyneFest Trip – Day 3

Published on 31 May 2023

Rural Glasgow

After finally a full night of sleep, the breakfast choice of the day was a beef shin and cheddar toastie at Outlier. You can’t have a full Scottish for breakfast every day, can you?

From there, the number 6 First bus—eventually—took me to the National Museum of Rural Life. It was not just a museum, but also a working, centuries old farm, with Highland coos, rare Tamworth pigs, sheep, and big farm horses!

Then on to The Burrell Collection, in Pollok Country Park. When I was there the last time, they were just renovating the building, so this was my first opportunity to see it.

On the way to my first beer, I stopped for a coffee and brookie at Grain and Grind. Just a little bit up the road was the Koelschip Yard, where quite coincidentally, my mate Dom was sitting at the bar! Beers were had, and some very good bottles shared…

The plan was then to have a vegetarian Indian dinner at nearby Ranjit’s Kitchen, but their card machine was out of order, and without an actual card on me, it turned out to be impossible to get money from a machine…

I did have Indian in the end, but back in the centre, in a restaurant in the St Enoch Shopping Centre, Namaste by Delhi Darbar.

The last stop of the night was Inn Deep, a conveniently short subway ride from the hotel, which gave me the opportunity to use my Bramble smart card again, which still had some money on it from years ago…