In the Netherlands, we lived 5 miles from the Belgium border. Crossing the border really meant crossing a frontier, despite that small distance.
As soon as you are in the neighbourhood of the border you can see that the street is different (ask any professional cyclist – Belgian cobblestone roads are famous), the houses are built with materials we don’t use in the Netherlands and on a back road it even shows that nature looks different. In the Netherlands everything is clean-cut, Belgium is cozier.
For Tom and me, Antwerp was closer than Amsterdam, so if we wanted to sniff some culture we usually went there. What to see in Antwerp? There is a lot of variety and the terraces are great!