Fare Magazine – Issue 7: Antwerp

In Antwerp, old tram-lines wind through cobbled streets, and the gentle lean of the city’s many well-preserved Baroque buildings create a storybook texture with which you take it all in.

Sitting by the old city docks (first laid by Napoleon) we learned of Antwerp’s storied pasts, and in studios across the city, contemporary designers showed us how they’re pushing its present. In the heart of Antwerp, artisans demonstrated the craft of a medieval-rooted diamond industry, and as we wandered through backstreets we sipped sour Lambic beers at rustic wood-panelled bruine kroeg bars, before working up an appetite and heading out to fill our bellies. From tableside service at French-Belgian bistros, to an old-school Flemish institution you bring everyone and their grandmother, we saw and ate it all in Antwerp—without forgetting to sample the fries.

In Fare: Antwerp:

• Visit a third-generation diamond polisher in the backstreets of the city's Diamond District

• Immaculate tableside service and cooking at a classic French-Belgian bistro

• Learn about "Lost Monday," a special holiday with working class roots celebrated with obligatory citywide pastry consumption

• Tour Antwerp's influential port - one of the biggest in Europe - and the tiny villages that have survived its massive expansion

• Frietkot, the classic fry shacks and their library of sauces