After its beer, Belgium is most famous for chocolates. If you're a chocoholic visiting Antwerpen, you'll want to try the city's own chocolate speciality; Antwerpse Handjes (little Antwerp hands). Some are chocolate all-through, others have various fillings, but all are in the shape of the familiar hand that's the symbol of the city.

The reason for the hand is a legend that a giant called Druoon Antigoon lived on the banks of the River Schelde on the site of what's now Antwerpen and he used to extract a toll, punishing anybody who refused to pay by cutting off one of their hands. He was finally defeated by a Roman soldier, Silvius Brabo (often claimed to be a nephew of Julius Caesar) who symbolically cut off Antigoon's hand and threw it into the river. Thus, according to the legend, the city was named after Brabo's throwing of Antigoon's hand into the Schelde, from the Dutch hand (as in English) and werpen (English: throw).

Available in shops all over the city.

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