Antwerp

Hey everyone! Today I'm going to tell you about my trip to Antwerp, or Antwerpen, as the Dutch call it.

Antwerp is a Belgian city with a population of 501, 400, so quite a large city in comparison with somewhere like Hasselt.

The city's name comes from the Silvius Brabo legend: the city is divided in two by the river. When people from one side of the river wanted to cross to the other side in their boats, they had pay a tip to the resident giant. If they didn't, the giant cut off their hand and threw it into the river. One day however, a man named Silvius Brabo killed the giant by cutting off its hand and throwing it into the river. The city's name Antwerpen comes from the old Dutch 'hand werpen', meaning to throw a hand, in reference to the story.

This legend is immortalized in a statue on Antwerp's main square, as well as on many postcards, magnets and other souvenirs of the city.

The city of Antwerp is home to one of the most important universities in Belgium. It's a city similar to Cologne (Germany) and to Salamanca (Spain) in terms of the large amount of young people, the student life, leisure activities, etc.

It's also worth mentioning that Antwerp is famous for its diamond business and for its important European port.

Antwerp hosted the 1920 Olympic Games, and the UEFA European Championship in 1972. Last but not least, the city has its own beer which can be ordered in any bar here, though especially in those near to the main square. They have thousands of different kinds of beer. Antwerp's typical beer is called De Koninck.

Fancy some sight-seeing? There are lots of places to visit, but I'll point out the ones I think are the most important: the Main Square (Grote Markt), the port, the Rubenshuis Museum, the Antwerp Royal Museum of Fine Art, St. James's Church (Sint Jacobskerk) and the flower market on Sundays.

Right - now I've introduced Antwerp as a city and told you a bit about the sights, I'm going to tell you about my visit.

I decided to travel to Antwerp by train, as it's more comfortable than getting the bus and because I had the 'Go Pass', the journey was very good value (five euros there and then another five euros for the way back. Pretty good, right? ). Take care with the 'Go Pass' - don't be so much of a wise guy that you don't write down your journey on your 'Go Pass' in pencil before you set off, and then try and write it down later when the ticket officer appears, because you'll get fined. I know I've mentioned this several times before, but on the day I went to Antwerp a guy on the train hadn't written down his origin city and they almost fined him 60 euros. I'm not really sure why they didn't fine him... the ticket officer was quite kind in this respect, but he told him that he shouldn't have done that and that he could have been fined for it, because it's always possible that someone hasn't forgotten, but instead wants to use the journey more than once, if you get me. So, be careful...

The journey lasted around an hour and fifteen minutes, so if you've had to get up really early, you have time to have a snooze on the train... hehehe. When you arrive in Antwerp, you'll even be excited by the train station, as it's beautiful. I loved it. It reminded me of a series I don't know if you'll have seen (this is mainly aimed at girls, haha), it's called 'Gossip Girl' and the station reminds me of the first episode in the first season when Serena returns... sorry, I'm going off on a tangent, haha (as always). The station is also very pretty on the outside. To get to the city centre, all you have to do is to follow the street outside the train station. It's very easy and it's impossible to get lost. You'll find loads of shops on this street, and you could say that it's the typical shopping street that you find in every city. A bit further along, you'll see a sculpture of an enormous hand which you can (and I'm sure you will) take photos next to. :D I think this is also related to the legend I told you about at the beginning of this post.

Next to the cathedral, you'll see lots of street performers who are fun to watch. The only downside to the cathedral was that when I visited they were restoring it and although it was stunning on both the inside and the outside, the cranes were in the way of the facade and you couldn't appreciate how beautiful it was... I'm sure though that when you visit, they won't be there anymore, and you'll be able to take nice photos.

If you follow the narrower street to the right of the cathedral, you'll come across a huge square with a beautiful fountain with waterfalls in its centre. The upper part of the sculpture again makes reference to the 'legend of the hand'. Behind this fountain is a large building featuring many different flags. I think this is the Town Hall, but I'm not entirely sure. I thought it was really cool seeing so many flags next to each other. The next step is to cross the river.

First, I decided to view the city of Antwerp from the bridges, and it's great to be able to contrast how the two sides of the city look from either side (one being more modern, and the other more historical). You can also see the port, which has over 150 kilometres of loading bays!

Something that really amazed me was how you can cross from one side of the city to the another under the river - yes, you did read that right, under the river! There's a tunnel built under the river which connects one side of the city to the other. I found it really impressive as I'd never been in a place like that before, and it's really strange when you're walking through the tunnel (it's a really long one, of course) and you can hear the water if you're really quiet...it made me panic, but only a little bit! Hahaha.

This tunnel is 450 metres underground, so that the large boats that pass down the river don't collide with it or have to take a different route because of it. You can either walk or bike down this tunnel, since as you know, the most common mode of transport in Belgium is by bicycle. When you come out of the tunnel, you'll come across some rather large gardens in front of you facing the other side of the river, where you can relax. These gardens are also decorated with natutical-themed items, such as anchors and helms. There are also playground where the equipment is nautical-themed.

Looking for somewhere to eat in Antwerp? Since the city's so big, you're spoilt for choice - from McDonald's, Italian and Asian restaurants, to places serving the local cuisine.

Lastly, there's an art museum whose rooftop terrace you can access for free (you have to pay to enter the museum) and enjoy a bird's eye view of the city. It's very impressive and worthwhile, since you can see the whole city from up there, both the more modern and the historic districts. I recommend it 100%! (it's a red building in the newest part of the city, and the signs make it easy to find).

To finish off, I'll describe our journey home. The trains run until 10-10. 30pm, so you won't have any problems if you want to leave late. :) When we got on our train, it turned out that one of the boys who had come with us had bought a 'Go Pass' although he was 26 years old, and the pass is only for those under 26... as luck would have it, the ticket officer came round, and asked for our DNIs (Spanish identification cards) so he could check that we were all under 26. When they asked him, he told them he'd forgotten his ID that day to get out of showing it. The ticket officer asked for his details, confiscated his 'Go Pass' and told him that he should come and collect it from the train station office in Hasselt and bring his ID. If his ID didn't prove he was under 26, he'd have to pay a fine! They are very strict on the regulations here and make regular checks... sometimes Spanish guile is really useful here. ; ) That's a warning for you all! Be careful!

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