Some interesting, unique and very unsual places to see and venture into
Disadvantages:
Not a major city for things to see and do
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
Antwerp allegedly gets its name from a legend in which a mythical giant, Antigonius, decided that he was going to enforce a toll on those who wanted to cross the river Scheldt and appointed himself collector of said toll. Anyone who was sily enough to refuse to pay in cash paid instead with their bodies as Antigonius would then chop off one of their hands and throw it in the river. "Hand werpen" (hand-throwing) morphed over time into "Antwerp". This isn't the only theory - another one says the name originates from "an t werf" (on the wharf) - but it's certainly the most entertaining one, and one of the first things we spotted when arriving in Antwerp was the huge fountain in the Grote Markt of Silvius Brabo, the soldier who aledgedly deafeated Antigonius, victoriously throwing the giant's own severed hand.
The Grote Markt is a good place to start a visit to the city as it typifies the place, hand-throwing and all. It's a large square bordered by ornate buildings including the magnificent Stadhuis (town hall) and strewn with cafés and, seeing as this is Europe, dozens of Japanese and American tourists. Even the rain and the gloom of March didn't put them off so I imagine come mid-summer their numbers would peak uncontrolably.
It's just round the corner from here that you'll also find the Onze Lieve Vrouwe (our lady's) cathedral, Belgium's largest gothic affair with an impressive collection of art work and architecture inside that can be yours to examine for an entry fee of a few Euros which includes a leaflet in your language of choice - bargain. The only disapointment for me was the fact they don't let you climb the 123m main tower - in fact there was nowhere we came across in the city that would let us climb up for a view of the city.
A short walk from the Grote Markt is the riverbank where you'll find the Maritime Museum which is housed in a suspiciously castle-like building and has a distinctly interesting name - Nationaal scheepvaart museum - unless you speak enough German, Dutch or Flemmish to skip from farting sheep to sailing journeys. Across from here was the Vleeshuis, or house of meat, a bizarre building whose brickwork makes it look like it's made out of streaky bacon. We were there too early to go in, and it was raining too much to warrant a trip back later, but inside you can visit an 'impressive exhibition of wood-carvings and old musical instruments' according to my guide book.
Boat trips run on the river from Easter to October, so we were too early for these, but there seemed to be a number of tour operators offering cruises from 30 mins to an hour and a half, all with English commentaries. Beside these tour operators' stands was the fanciest public toilet complex I've ever seen, complete with the kind of bowled sinks I've never seen outside of an interiors magazine. Here as with almost everywhere in Belgium you are expected to pay to go to the toilet - typically 50c to €1 will suffice - and my recommendation is that you pay on the way out since otherwise the little person sitting at the money table will glare at you as if you've not paid (the exception is McDonalds in Gent where the male/female/walrus loo-guarder (it was that hard to tell) spoke up to demand more money as we left as we'd missed the sign telling us the exact price of, um, spending a penny and were a few cents short).
Across from the loos on the way back towards the cathedral there was an interesting bar/club which was not only at street level and with big windows letting anyone look in but was also pumping with people grooving away, with many others lineing the streets queuing to get in. Not much wrong with that picture until I add that this was at 9.30am on a Saturday. I still can't figure it out unless Antwerp is the secret home of the party people of Europe.
Back in the centre the rain was still coming down so we headed for the useless tourist information office to see what shelter they could suggest. Most of the leaflets were for tourist attractions across the country or even in France and Holland, useful only if you're a local looking for vacation inspiration and not a visitor to the city. What we did find though was a handy guide to shopping in Antwerp and having read through the foreign language pages before realising they did have it in English too I discovere a small shopping arcade nearby.
Located between the Grote Markt and Groenplaats this housed a selection of fashion shops and also had a decent branch of GB - the local equivalent of Tesco - where we stocked up on picnic food and presents of the chocolate-variety for those back home. The actual chocolate shops of Antwerp disapointed me as they all seemed small and offered only pick-and-mix style chocolates. Although these looked delicious it seemed they were missing the point of so many tourists coming to Belgium for chocolate shopping - to take back gifts for friends and family. I really thought there would have been demand for a set-up more like Thorntons where as well as those pick-and-mix ones you can wander round and pick from a range of pre-selected, clearly price-marked packs without having to get into a conversation with the bored looking shop assistants about which chocolate was which in the glass display cabinets. After all when you're bringing back gifts for the sake of gifts, you don't really care whether your selection is slightly top heavy on brazil nut truffles or not.
Past Groenplaats (another square of shops and restaurants, but also the main bus-hub for the centre) we found our way onto Meir, the main shopping street for Antwerp, full of the same shops found all over the continent - C&A, H&M, New Yorker, Pimkie, Body Shop and The Phone Shop (a franchise of the slighly catchier sounding Carphone Warehouse). This road leads down to the central station which typical of so many train stations in the world is not in the nicest part of town but does at least come surrounded by a selection of eateries and post-card shops and other essential establishments. There isn't a plethora of tourist shops in the city, and those few that do exist stock pretty much the same things at the same prices, so there's no real need to shop around unless that's something you enjoy doing. Though it's suposedly the city of diamonds it's possible to spend several days there without seeing any of the sparkly things unless you keep your eyes peeled, and just because so many of them pass through the city doesn't mean you'll get them cheap.
Off Meir a little way is Rubenshuis where Rubens lived and painted for the last years of his life from 1610 to 1640. He's one of the city's most well-known exports and as such a great deal of work has gone into restoring his house into its former grandeur. Entrance fees reflect those of many other art galleries and include discounts for under 26 years olds, regardless of student status. Inside the house, however, we were underwhelmed. Though the art work is indeed stunning, and the restored rooms manage to give a good impression of what life in the 17th century must have been like, the layout with a strict one-way policy meant you couldn't duoble back on yourself and once you'd passed through one room that was it. Still, it's well worth visiting, just make sure you crawl through at a snail's pace to make sure you don't miss anything. The high-ceilinged studio is especially impressive, and the garden looks like it could be worth a stroll in better weather.
Antwerp also has what looks like a decent art gallery but this is 2km out of town and so we didn't get around to going, chosing, perhaps mistakenly, to forgoe it in favour of Rubenshuis.
Flemmish is a perculiar language - a weird hybrid of German, French, Dutch and even a bit of English, or so it appears. I was unaware of the great divide in Belgium before arriving, and hadn't figure out that brushing up on my French wasn't the right thing to do for a trip to this part of the country. Everyone speaks English, though, albeit slightly strangely at times (Antwerp's the only place I've ever found where, on trying to add to my '…… by night' post card collection, I was presented with the distinctly dubious 'Antwerp by evening'. Flemmish also isn't that hard to pick up if you fancy doing the courteous thing of learning the please-and-thank-you staples. Still, it was a most multi-lingual trip, including as it did a smattering of Spanish (I'm trying to improve so took advatage of having my mother present to bounce a few 'Quien no ha visto Sevilla …'s off her) and a muttering of Italian at the restaurant we lunched at. Antwerp is over-run with Italian restaurants and the menus and prices are annoyingly standardised so once you've read one you've read them all. We happened across the Ristorante San Remo near the main station and despite the unassuming exterior were treated to a delightful meal in an authentic tratoria style restaurant complete with glamourous maffia wives tucked away in one corner. The food was delicious, the service impecable and the cost a very wallet-friendly €16. Student discounts are a big thing in the city, and I got 20% off our bill just by waving an ISIC card.
Antwerp has numerous cafés and bars though not especially cheap ones, and you'll often pay significantly more for having a view of the cathedral as you sit and slurp. For fast-food a la Quick head down to the station, and for self-service food and drinks the Skygarden café in the main department store is reasonable.
Antwerp's not that bad a city really, just a bit void of things to do beyond what I've mentioned - it's a nice place to pass through but you wouldn't want to spend any amount of time there in my mind, though I believe the Christmas markets are quite special and worth visiting.
It's not too far to drive from the UK, or Eurostar or fly into Brussels and catch a train over. Antwerp has its own airport that serves the UK but the schedule is limited and prices are high.
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