A large food market downtown provided lunch and a tense half hour when Terry got lost.
Antwerp, Belgium
August 19-25
There's also pages about Brussels and Belgium Beer.
We spent 4 days in Antwerp and one day in Brussels while going through Belgium this time. That's because we liked Antwerp a lot. Construction on the ring road made getting around by car quite impossible but a 3€ dagpass (day ticket) put all the busses and trams at our disposal which would get us within a couple of blocks of anywhere we wanted to go - downtown or in the outskirts.
The streets are narrow and this made traveling by city bus all the more interesting. At one intersection, spontaneous applause for the driver was the result of his just getting through without killing anyone. Such fun.
A large food market downtown provided lunch and a tense half hour when Terry got
lost.
The story goes there was a giant guarding the Schelde river, demanding a toll from all the ships. If a captain didn't pay, the giant would cut off his hand and throw it in the river. So this hero slew the giant, cut off it's hand, and threw it in the river. A statue had to be erected (below). And that's how Hand Twerping got it's name but they don't know where the H went to make it Antwerp. They admit it's a silly legend but seem to love any excuse for a statue.
The old castle is now a museum on the Schelde River running alongside Antwerp.
Buildings on the GroteMarkt (Grand Square).
More.
A private estate on the far east side of town was rebuilt from just the
foundation
to become a city museum. Lacking anything else to display there, it's filled
with
silver baubles, tableware, trophies, etc. and even a few displays about mining
and smelting silver. Free, but no pictures inside.
The Vrouwkathedraal with it's towering spire and incessant carillon.
A statue at the Vrouwkathedrall honoring the builders - the real builders.
| We couldn't go to Antwerp without seeing diamonds. 85% of
the world's diamonds go through Antwerp. There's a city diamond museum -
this isn't it. These shots are from a jewelry store near the train
station.
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Polishing the facets on a diamond.
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On the east side, the Cogels Osylei (that's the name of a street) is 2 long blocks of what they call "eclectic houses". These places, all built in the 20th century, are each unique in style, character, or details. Of the probably 200, here's some highlights.
The street has a 1-track trolley running down the middle. That explains the lines running through all these pictures. |
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In the middle of the 2 blocks, a roundabout is surrounded on 4 sides by very similar granite block apartment buildings that differ in the details of the turrets, window crownings, doors, etc. Cool.
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Not being able to pass up a strange museum, we had to visit the Volkskundemuseum - folk art that is.
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An organ concert at the Sint-Pieter&Pauwelkerk gave us a chance to sit down for a while. Serge Schoonbroodt performed Fux, Sweelinck, Buxtehude, Bach, Roberday, Fischer, and Grigny then did an encore of Bach's Fugue in G Minor. It was strange to see a performer milking applause for 3 curtain calls in a church.
Last, and probably least, we spotted a sign pointing to an "American Car Meet" up the street and while walking to it they all drove by us. Big iron is alive and well in Belgium.
The guide books say one should have a bitterballen when in Belgium. So we had to try some. Maybe we got the GFS version of bitterballen at a bad cafe but ours was a meat pate breaded and fried to look like a cheap hush puppy. Fairly vile. The texture was vaguely like underdone egg white and the taste was like fishy liverwurst with sage. Served with a big glob of Coleman's English mustard, thank goodness.
