Antwerp – Antwerpen in Dutch, Anvers in French, is Belgium’s second city and it’s well worth a visit.

It’s located in the far north of the country, not far from the border with the Netherlands and has a population of just under half a million.

Antwerp is a port city, despite being located some 70 kilometres or so inland from the North Sea on the River Schelde.

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It’s situated on the right bank of the wide River Schelde. You can reach Antwerp from Brussels by train. It takes around 45 minutes by Inter City train. Don’t take the local trains as these take much longer.

Antwerp is a lively, gritty city with a large charming old town area, still largely intact, together with a ring of 19th century building, and more modern Low Countries style buildings beyond that.

Antwerp has a long and proud history. In the Middle Ages it was a major port city. Then after the war with Spain, the Schelde was closed to river traffic on the insistence of the Dutch as part of the peace settlement. With that, Antwerp’s port was also closed and the city fell into a long period of major decline. This lasted until Napoleon occupied the city a couple of centuries later. The port was then revitalised and Antwerp began to recover.

There’s a great deal to see in the city and it’s hard to do justice to it in just one visit.

However, there are some things which are definite “must-see’s” for any visitor’s agenda and that’s what I’m going to cover here.

The basics

Central Antwerp is located within the confines of a ring of boulevards which used to form the old Antwerp city defences.

Antwerp has a large old town area, parts of which go back to medieval times and even earlier. The university is also based in this district.

The vast sprawling modern day port is located many kilometres north of the city centre, but there’s little of interest for visitors to see there.

However, there is a much smaller but much more interesting older port dating from the 19th century, situated just to the north of the centre. Called the Eiland or Island. It contains a number of yacht basins and a mix of renovated wharf buildings and modern constructions.

Antwerp is served by an extensive network of tram and bus lines operated by De Lijn, providing access to the city centre, suburbs and the Left Bank (Linkeroever). The tram network has 12 lines, of which the underground section is called the “premetro” and includes a tunnel under the river.

You can buy tickets from machines in the premetro stations in the city centre, as well as at the De Lijn kiosk in the central station and at the central bus station at Rooseveldtplaats.  You can get a day ticket if you wish. Try not to buy tickets on the trams or buses themselves as this works out much more expensive.

You’ll find practically everything of interest in the old town area between the Meir main shopping street and the river. The Linkeroever or Left Bank is mostly comprised of modern blocks of housing. There’s very little for visitors to be found on the Linkeroever, apart from a great view of the old town.

But if you want to go across to the Linkeroever, there is a pedestrian tunnel called the St. Anna tunnel.  This is situated at the end of Hoogestraat on the right. The tunnel was built in the 1930s and still features two banks of old wooden escalators. You can also cycle through the tunnel. (There are other tunnels for vehicle traffic).

Unusually, there are no bridges across the river in Antwerp, so all traffic and pedestrians have to use the tunnels.

By the way, Antwerp is Dutch-speaking, not French, although many of the city’s inhabitants can also speak and understand French (as well as English and other languages).

The main sights

The Central Station

There aren’t many cities where the central station is itself worthy of a visit, but Antwerp’s is definitely worth a look in. The interior of the building is neo-baroque and feels like the inside of a cathedral.

The station was enlarged and remodelled as a through station with platforms on several levels below each other, to allow for high speed trains to run from Paris and Brussels through Antwerp to Rottterdam and Amsterdam. Finally, the exterior of the station was given a full restoration.

The Diamond Quarter

The old diamond quarter is located to the right of the Central Station. Part of it has now been relocated inside the station in the indoor mall which sits on top of the station platforms and tunnels. The Gothic style railway viaduct that leads out of the station going south has also been fully restored.

Nearby is the city’s large Jewish district, home of many Orthodox Jews.

The Antwerp City Zoo is located to the left of the station building and is one of the oldest zoos in the world.

Chinatown

There’s a small, but expanding Chinatown just opposite the Central Station on the northern side.  Chinatown’s main street, the Van Wesenbekestraat is lined with mostly Chinese or other Asian restaurants and food stores. Note the impressive red and gold Chinese Gate with the lions on either side, which has recently been erected over the entrance to the street.

Next to the Chinatown Gate is an public aquarium.

The grand Vlaamse Oper (Flemish Opera) building is located further along going weste, on the corner of Frankrijklei near the bus station.

Meir

Just along from there is the Meir, which is the main shopping street in Antwerp. It’s said to be Belgium’s busiest retail thoroughfare.

A little way along the Meir, next to the Inno department store, is the grand Stadsfeestzaal or city festival hall. This is a renovated old hall whose inside is rendered in an ornate gilt decorative stye. It serves as a shopping mall, with a champaign bar, supermarket in the basement, and a vast multimedia and electrical goods superstore. There’s also a couple of other restaurants to be found on the top level. Worth a visit.

Rubens house is situated approximately half way along the Meir in a wide side street to the left is open to the public.

The 1930s style modest skyscraper building you see near the Groenplaats is the Boerentorens or Farmers’ Tower. Sometimes also called the KBC Tower after the Belgian KBC bank, it’s a 26-storey building. When it was built in 1932 it was the first and also the tallest skyscraper in Europe.

Towards the end of the Second World War, a V-1 flying bomb crashed into the Borentorens, but miraculously the damage was not substantial and the building remained standing.

Antwerp was peppered with literally thousands of V1 and V2 rocket attacks in the last months of World War Two. The aftermath of the destruction can be seen even today, with noticeable gaps in the rows of houses in many streets of the city.

The Grote Markt

The Grote Markt or central town square is almost as charming as the Grand Place in Brussels. The Antwerp City Hall is located on this square, together with a collection of beautiful old 16th century guildhouses. The statue of Brabo, a legendary character in Antwerp, stands at one end of the square near the City Hall.

The Cathedral

Situated a stone’s throw away from the Grote Markt is the Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal (Cathedral of our Lady). The Cathedral is still the tallest building in the city, at 123 metres high.

Groenplaats

Groenplaats or “Green Square” is said to be the centre of Antwerp. Despite the name, there’s little greenery to be found here. It’s a somewhat featureless expanse of concrete. Lined with some pleasant cafes and bars with pavement terraces, and the Hilton Hotel to one side. But otherwise, apart from a statue of Rubens, it’s nothing special.

The Old Town

The old town behind Groenplaats however, certainly is something special. It’s also a great place to go for a night out eating and drinking. Make sure you don’t miss the Hendrik Conscienceplein square where the Carolus Borromeus church stands. The Conscienceplein area contains numerous charming bistros and bars. The university is also situated in this area.

Het Steen

Walking further along towards the river you come to het Steen. Het Steen, literally “the Stone” is an old citadel. There’s been a fortification on this site for centuries. Over the years, the River Schelde has been successively dredged and widened and the embankments straightened. As a consequence, the very old early mediaeval city centre of Antwerp is now located under where the river now runs in the area around het Steen.

The river embankment on the Steen side is rather shabby and uninviting, but there’s a plan to renovate and revitalise the embankment to make it more attractive to visitors.

The Docks area

The present day port area is located several kilometres to the north of the centre and stretches for a long way further out along the banks of the Schelde. It’s an enormous expanse of mostly petroleum plants and holding tanks.

New and deeper docks are still being constructed today in order that the port can hold it’s own in competition with Rotterdam and Hamburg. There’s little of especial interest there for the casual visitor though.

Het Eiland

More accessible and much more charming is the old 19th century port area known as Het Eiland or “island”. This is situated just to the north of the city centre and contains the docks built by Napoleon. The docks have long since ceased commercial operation and are now used for mooring pleasure boats.

The area is currently being revitalised, with old dockside warehouses being renovated and converted into offices, restaurants and apartment lofts. It’s a pleasant and interesting area for a wander.

The Zuid

The Zuid or South is an old largely working class district which has since become fashionable. The Zuid also contains a one time dock basin – the Waalsekaai or Walloon Dock, which has long since been filled in.  A grand stone gate still stands at the one end of the Waalsekaai.

Unfortunately, most of the time nowadays the wide area in the middle of the street is used for little more than a car park, but many of the buildings on either side and along the surrounding side streets are fashionable restaurants, cafes, bars and clubs. In fact, the Zuid is a good place to go clubbing.

The Royal Museum of Fine Arts is also situated in the South, and houses a famous collection of old Dutch and Flemish masters such as Rubens, Van Dyck and Titian.

Well, that concludes this brief look at the main sights of Antwerp.

There’s much more to the city than this and I’ll be writing more about Antwerp later on.

Meanwhile I hope this article has whet your appetite for a visit to Belgium’s second city!

Image courtesy of Jerome Bon

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