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While the word “paper” might not conjure the most fashionable of associations in your mind, MoMu (the Antwerp fashion museum) makes clear that the material we use to write on has had an elaborate style history. And even – if you check in with the Belgians – a very recent one.

Road safety campaigner Luc Beaucourt has been caught speeding at 174 km/h by police at Lille near Antwerp. Beaucourt, an emergency room doctor who spent more than 20 years touring and lecturing on road safety, said he was “deeply ashamed”. -----

Last year was an exciting one for Antwerp shoppers, with the opening of Sien – the only boutique in Belgium that sells Proenza Schouler (next to designers like Emanuel Ungaro and Hussein Chalayan) – and the luxury fashion boutique LXP, where you can rent haute couture dresses for a night or a week.

AchelOf all Flanders’ Trappist breweries, none is more remote than the Saint Benedictus Abbey of Achel, tucked away along the Belgian/Dutch border in Limburg province. The monastery owes its existence to this location, having been built in the 17th century in what was then the Bishopric of Liege when the Catholic mass was prohibited in the Netherlands. Today, cyclists benefit from its location: its remoteness makes for both quiet visits and beautiful riding.