Squeezed in between the port of Antwerp and a nuclear power plant lies Doel. A small Belgian village that has been almost completely abandoned. While Doel might be tiny, you can easily spend (half) a day in this eerie, yet fascinating place.
Winter has never been my favourite season, but I must admit that the gloomy winter air added to Doel’s atmosphere. The now desolate houses have been sprayed with graffiti and nature is slowly taking over again. The once picturesque town lying in the Flemish polders and flanked by the river Scheldt is now mostly a playground for urban explorers and photography enthusiasts. But people are still living in this almost-ghost town. Something you should always keep in mind when visiting.
Back in the days
Unlike what you might expect when wandering through Doel nowadays, the town was never the site of disaster or other sudden events that forced people to leave their houses immediately. The village was the victim of political games and possible plans to expand the Port of Antwerp. In the sixties Doel counted almost 1500 inhabitants, but that number has declined ever since. During this decade the expansion of the harbour – including the disappearance of Doel – was put on the table for the first time. At the end of the sixties the building of the nuclear power plant starts, too. But that was never the main reason why people left town.
In the seventies and eighties the expansion plans of the port of Antwerp are revised and it is announced that Doel can stay indefinitely. However, the plans to build a new dock put the future of Doel back on the agenda in the nineties. In this period, people can voluntarily sell their house and leave. This is when the number of residents in Doel starts to decline more rapidly. At the start of the new millennium, Doel is plagued by squatters, but they are now gone. In 2020, only about 20 people still live in Doel.
The houses and street art
Time flies when you’re visiting Doel. As the town only counts a couple of streets, I thought we would have seen it all quite quickly, but I was definitely wrong. Checking out all the street art in this peculiar place will keep you busy for at least half a day. Doel is really easy to navigate, so you don’t have to worry about missing something. It’s one of few Belgian towns that has a checkerboard pattern. During your visit it’s important to always be respectful towards the residents who still call Doel home and to its history. Don’t enter any houses, whether they are inhabited or abandoned.
Doel was once covered with amazing street art by famous artists. While the town still counts wonderful murals, you should realize before visiting that many of the artworks you may find online have (partially) disappeared. Some have been sprayed over with less mesmerizing graffiti tags.
Others miss parts because they included the wooden boards that once covered doorways and windows. Those wooden boards have now been replaced by steel plates, so the houses are better protected from people breaking in. Unfortunately, this resulted in some parts of murals being taken away as well. On the plus side: new works of art have popped up on some of the new and stronger steel plates.
The paintings may have changed over time, but there’s still great street art to be spotted in Doel. In addition, visiting Doel is more than just looking for artwork. The more random graffiti adds to the apocalyptic atmosphere of the town. It’s a unique but haunting experience to walk through a village that was almost completely deserted by its inhabitants. What’s left of Doel breathes out the tragic history of the town and its citizens.
More than just graffiti
When visiting, make sure to also appreciate the perfectly tended to church and windmill. While the houses are probably the greatest drawing card for a visit to Doel, you should definitely also take a walk on the village’s embankment. From there you can perfectly see just how close the port of Antwerp and the nuclear power plant are to Doel. It’s a special sight to behold and sad to see how the industry must have affected this town’s and its inhabitants’ fate.
It might be surprising for a town that is mostly abandoned, but there’s one café still operating and you can devour a meal at the windmill. So if you’re not visiting Doel during a pandemic like we did, you can actually enjoy a drink and some food here.
Ready to visit Doel? It’s easiest to reach the town by car, as there’s almost no public transport going to the village. To get there, we had to drive through the port of Antwerp, which was an unusual experience in itself. At one point, we felt as if we were driving somewhere we weren’t allowed to come (which wasn’t the case). The road to Doel shows just how much the industrial expansion is closing in on the town. In Doel itself you’ll find several free parking spots.
Want to see more Belgian street art? Check out Ostend, where we discovered the artworks with a virtual tour guide!
