Antwerpen

 

Not long ago, I was watching excellent documentary about the history of The Netherlands and how The famous Dutch Golden Age was actually set in motion by exodus of wealthy citizen of Antwerpen, who were fleeing from Spanish invasion. What was the destruction of Antwerpen, eventually became the start of prosperity for Amsterdam. So at the back of my mind, I had this curiosity to check the city where it all began and was excited to see it all with my own eyes. It was also a plan to do something every month, to go and visit a place where I have never been before - this time it was Antwerpen, Belgium.

The train ride from Amsterdam was easy peasy, just a little bit over an hour. And to my biggest delight, upon the arrival I was admiring a truly spectacular central station which must be the most beautiful train station I have ever seen, anywhere - it is majestic, huge and sweeping above the city, with a new parts surprisingly well fitting with the original 19th century part. The one in Amsterdam is pretty but this one in Antwerpen is something else. And just like in Amsterdam, once you walk out of it, you are right in the city centre where shops are packed with jewellery - perhaps a bit strange, considering the areas around train stations are always considered a bit unsafe - window displays bursting with diamonds, sapphires, emeralds, etc. I used to work with those so I could tell different types of gemstones - I could also tell that enormous displays are overcrowded and from my own experience I know that less is more, just a few intriguing pieces would attract more attention than stocking window display with too much bling, but its not my problem and from what I have seen, nobody was really visiting these shops, the overcrowded displays killing any desire to look at them.

The city centre was very interesting: I could clearly see that this architecture eventually inspired what we have in Amsterdam now, shapes of the old houses looking familiar but somehow different at the same time. And the historical heart of the city definitely has its own charm, with friendly local people - I have also noted the large number of immigrants. I have read about the neighbourhood called Zurenborg and took a walk there, from what I have seen it is a very pretty and quiet area full of Art Deco houses. Also because it was Saturday, I have encountered a huge number of orthodox Jews going to a synagogue in their special clothes - apparently they live in a area beyond the central station and this is exactly where I was walking. The whole families were dressed accordingly, with their special hats, locks and the whole shebang, I found it very interesting and had to control myself from staring - you don't see this every day. It was here that I have seen a very intriguing detail on almost every house, next to a stairs there is some kind of hole framed with decorative metal - for the life of me I could not tell what is this and was wondering could this have been something to give water to horses perhaps, but it was too small for horses. Eventually some nice lady explained to me this was originally made to scrub the mud from the shoes before you enter the house - so before the streets were paved, they were apparently very muddy and this is how you would manoeuvre around the mud. 

It was a short, weekend stay so I did not bother with must-do lists, I simply decided to enjoy and have fun with two museums nearby: one was called "Illusions Antwerpen" and it was about interesting visual effects (simple but delightful) while another was "Chocolate Nation" and it was all about the famous Belgian chocolate - surprisingly enjoyable and informative, apparently there is a huge amount of work involved in its production, since the beans grow on the other side of the world and than must be shipped here, where the real work on chocolate begins. Not only you read about chocolate, but the corridors are discreetly sprayed with the smell of chocolate so at the exit (where is a museum shop) visitors are totally hypnotised into buying chocolate - I got myself a chocolate soap and chocolate candle. My one regret was that the weather was not on our side, it was way too cold (suddenly) to enjoy being outside and we were so relieved and delighted to return home to our central heating. There is so much more to see in Antwerp, next time I will like to explore more about Rubens and art in general.