Whatta I know about diamonds? Don’t they come from Antwerp? - 21st April 2026
- Brett Sedgwick
- May 9
- 2 min read
Hallo from Antwerpen,
A cruisy drive in Delphi - skirting the LEZ (Low Emission Zones - where old vans can’t go into) - and we pulled up in a converted backyard that could easily house 20 vans! ABC Camping was 15 Euro a night without power - an extra fiver for power. Yes please. A fire pit included with unlimited firewood and Aldi next door - now you're talking my language.
A huge shop at Aldi saw us load up on all manner of grocery products before we decided to plan our days. Free walking tours and e-bike trails seemed like the go, and that’s exactly what we planned. We booked the tour and took the scenic route into town on the bikes - 30 minutes of mostly flat cycle paths before we reached the Saint Anna bike tunnel. This thing was epic. You line up in front of a huge elevator door that descends 31 floors below ground. You then ride your bike across the 572m tunnel that crosses under the river Scheldt, before getting on the elevator on the other side!! So cool, as you are then in the Old Town of the Twerpen!!
Our guide was a legendary old dude named Luc.
We met in the square near a huge statue of sea creatures and gods, including a dude throwing the severed hand of a giant??? I don’t know? The official symbol for all things Antwerp is the Shining A, and the Twerpen’s are very proud of their city and very proud of the Shining A classification.
The walk was informative - usual things were discussed - waffles, beer, politicians, churches, buildings, fashion, architecture, and the Madonna. There are 200 statues of the Madonna, mostly on the corners of buildings, and Luc pointed out about 40 of them over the next two hours. He also showed us a wine bar where Hendrix played in the 60’s - pretty cool. He also gave out lollies if you knew the answer to a question, and then whoever had the most at the end won a prize. Well, Jen-Jen and some other chick tied, so they had to go to sudden death, and Jen-Jen won!!! Her prize: a Shining A bike seat cover! Perfect.
The next night, we got the tram in and had a great Italian feast before we got some beautiful nighttime photos of the cathedral, main square, and train station, as seen below.
We finished off free parking in a Park and Ride (P n R) near the tram station for the final night, to see if we can go without power, and yes, we can…for about two days. All of the waste and water needs to be extracted or replenished after 48 - 72 hours, so we know our limits.
Delphi is a champ, the e-bikes are awesome, and we’ve now been to a new city, though we didn’t get any diamonds.
That’s about it. Off to Luxembourg tomorrow.
Dag.
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