2 Best Sights in Antwerp and the Northeast, Belgium

The heart of the Oude Stad is dominated by a huge fountain splashing water onto the paving stones. St. George is perched on top of a 16th-century guild house at Grote Markt 5 about to fight a dragon. The lopsided square is lined on two sides by guild houses and on the third by the Renaissance Stadhuis. Antwerp's town hall was built in the 1560s during the city's Golden Age, when Paris and Antwerp were the only European cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants. In its facade, the fanciful fretwork of the late-Gothic style has given way to the discipline and order of the Renaissance. 

Barely a notch down in splendor from Antwerp's Grote Markt, or the magnificent Grand Place in Brussels, Mechelen's main square deserves its billing among Belgium's finest plazas. Looming over the western end is the soaring stone tower of St-Romboutskathedraal, while at the opposite end, parts of the Stadhuis (City Hall) date back to the 14th century. The north and south sides are lined with bars and restaurants, with bustling terraces that bring the area to life in summer.