A Day trip to Antwerp – Belgium & Netherlands, Part 6

This post is the continuation of a series documenting our travels to the countries of Belgium & Netherlands in the Spring of 2023. We were based in Bruges for the Belgium leg of our vacation and spent our first two days seeing the sights in Bruges (First Taste of Bruges – Belgium & Netherlands family trip, Part 1 , A morning walk to the St Janshuis Windmill – Belgium & Netherlands, Part 3 & The Churches and Belfry of Bruges – Belgium & Netherlands, Part 5 ) as well as doing a short but great day trip to the nearby city of Ghent ( A Day trip to Ghent – Belgium & Netherlands Part 4 ).

I spent the early part of the third morning walking around the centre of Bruges which was my routine for all the days we were in Bruges (Bruges at Dawn & Dusk – A tranquil beauty – Belgium & Netherlands, Part 2 ). I returned from my morning walk to find everyone else ready and went and had the great breakfast served by our hotel Duc de Bourgogne. The better half and I then spent a couple of hours climbing the Belfry at Bruges while the parents enjoyed the local farmers market in Grote Markt square. The plan for the rest of the day was a day trip to the city of Antwerp. The reason for choosing Antwerp was that my father had spent some years in the city while learning the ropes of the diamond trade over 4 decades ago. My mother had not wanted to move there after marriage and my dad had moved back to India. So she hadn’t had the chance to see the city that she had refused. Since we were in the region and Antwerp was a convenient train ride away it was a great opportunity for all of us to see the city for ourselves while Anna got a chance to revisit some old memories.

I had bought train tickets to Antwerp online the previous day itself to avoid the hassle at the station in Bruges. We walked to our by now familiar Djiver bus stop & used our De Lijn bus passes to take the bus to the station. We then walked to the platform and waited for our train to Antwerp to arrive. The Belgian rail service is punctual to the dot and soon we were on our way to Antwerpen Central the main train of Antwerp.

Antwerp is a major railway junction and the Central station is huge with multiple levels and a historic facade from inside and outside that has been painstakingly restored even after it was damaged in World war 2. We reached the Antwerpen Central station and were impressed by the enormous station in comparison to what we had seen till now in Belgium.

The Parents pose inside the historic Antwerp Central railway station

Taking a family selfie at Antwerp Central Station

We then went to the nearby metro station which is actually an underground tram that took us right to the main square of Antwerp. We again made full use of the De Lijn passes that were valid in the local public transport here too & saved the parents the hassle of too much walking right at the start of the day trip. We got off the metro and got up to ground level and dominating the skyline was the huge Cathedral in Antwerp.

The Cathedral of our Lady as it is called has the tallest spire in the entire Benelux region and has a troubled history. It has been ravaged by fires, art stripped by protestants, robbed by both Napoleon & Hitler’s armies over its 5 centuries of existence. But it has recovered from all of that and now has some serious art with 3 famous paintings by the famous Flemish artist Reubens and some spectacular stained glass, some of which is original. This is in addition to the amazing high arch ceiling, wide nave and overall sense of awe when you enter the structure.

The only decorated part of the exterior of the Cathedral at Antwerp – the Last judgement carving on the tympanum

We bought our tickets and entered the Cathedral. We walked around the spacious structure while I enjoyed taking photos of the symmetry and beauty that is seen in most churches I have visited in Europe. For me they are big art galleries where the building is as striking as the art it houses.

The dome and high arched ceiling of the Cathedral of our Lady, Antwerp

The Altar with the Reubens painting of ” Assumption” hanging over it

A scale model inside the church shows the mismatched towers – one left incomplete due to various misfortunes

The stained glass here was exceptional and gave the cathedral an added charm due to the soft light passing through it. I am a big fan of stained glass windows and the painstaking art that goes into making one. They are also extremely difficult to capture in a photograph – I still tried!

Some of the amazing stained glass windows on display at the Antwerp Cathedral

Since I had promised the family a museum free trip these cathedrals were the only chance I had to see some Flemish art. Reubens paintings have a fluidity to them and you can vividly imagine the motion going on in the scene depicted just by the way the figures are painted. I went and admired the four main art pieces here from Reubens here – all obviously with religious significance and took photos.

The Raising of the Cross – by Reubens , you can see the efforts in the bulging muscles of the guys getting the cross up with Jesus on it.

The Assumption of Mary – Reubens depiction of Mary being carried to heaven

The Descent from the Cross – by Reubens, Here you can see how gently people are taking down the body of Christ from the Cross

The much smaller “Resurrection” – where a radiant resurrected Christs walks through a crowd

The choir and the pulpit too have some great carved wooden sculptures which were a treat to see and photograph.

The carved wooden seats at the choir

The amazing Rococo pulpit at the Antwerp Cathedral

We then walked around the church stepping on as few graves as possible! There are a huge number of famous local residents buried here and it’s impossible to avoid stepping on them altogether.

A side chapel at the Antwerp Cathedral

The huge organ at the Antwerp Cathedral

The latest art acquisition of the Cathedral -” The man who bears the cross ” by Jan Fabre, you can also see the numerous graves on the floor

We spent a good hour and some minutes enjoying the Cathedral before it was time to step out again and see what else Antwerp had to offer.

The Cathedral of Our Lady , Antwerp – A delightful experience

Difficult to get all of us and the Cathedral in frame

Like Bruges it was local market day in Antwerp Grote Markt square. So we got to see it covered by stalls that don’t make for impressive photos, but that couldn’t be helped. The main building on the square is the City hall and in front of it is the statue of a man flinging a severed hand – the lore being that it’s the hand of a giant who used to terrorise locals before a brave roman soldier defeated him & cut off his hand!

Local market at the Grote Markt with the City Hall and the fountain in the background

Another look at the 16th century City hall & the fountain

We then decided to do the most touristy thing ever and have lunch on the main square itself since it was way past lunch time. So we went into a restaurant that looked decent and ordered food and drinks. Surprisingly inspite of the touristy location the food turned out to be excellent and well priced. Most importantly it satisfied our grumbling tummies and gave the parents a break from the walking.

Enjoying a great lunch at the Grote Markt square in Antwerp

Happy us after a great lunch in Antwerp

With our legs rested and stomach’s full we then walked to the waterfront where there is a Ferris wheel (not something that interests us) and an empty Castle that is called Antwerp’s oldest building built in the 800s.

The Ferris wheel at the waterfront in Antwerp

The empty castle has a statue of a giant terrorising locals outside it. Antwerp certainly had a Giant problem in Medieval times! We walked the ramp to the castle and the viewing platform behind it.

The Castle at Antwerp with the Giant statue at its entrance

Parents pose at the Antwerp Castle

From the viewing platform we could see the modern docks of Antwerp in the distance with wind turbines dotting the area. We spent a few minutes on the platform and then turned back the same way we came.

The modern docks of Antwerp in the distance

A customary selfie at the Antwerp Castle

I then asked the parents if they had the energy to take the pedestrian route back to the station. They gladly agreed and we started our slow walk towards the cathedral first along  Suikerrui which was an open canal in the old days and then venturing beyond Groenplaats where we had alighted from the metro on our way in.

At the riverfront promenade in Antwerp

Suikerrui street which was a canal leading to the river in the old days

The unknown dockworker statue in Antwerp – put here after WW II to honour the workers that kept the docks working

The various gabled guild houses at Grote Markt

Restaurant lined pedestrian street between the Grote Markt and the Cathedral

The Cathedral dominates the skyline in Antwerp

Reaching Groenplaats where we alighted the metro on our way in

We then passed the Farmer’s Building, the oldest skyscraper in Europe via a street lined with outlets of chain restaurants and walked the length of the shopping street of Meir.

The Farmer’s Building – the first American style skyscraper in  Europe

The shopping Boulevard at Meir

We then walked through the shopping zone & reached the wide boulevard called De Keyserlei which runs through the Diamond Quarter of Antwerp. Anna couldn’t recognise much of the neighbourhood since it has undergone dramatic changes since he was there. We were able to locate the street where he lived but it also had changed beyond recognition for him so we returned to the Main Street.

Bikes for hire at Leysstraat, Antwerp

A bronze statue of the painter Teniers at De Keyserlei, Antwerp

We had reached the final few metres of our long walk back to the train station. So we bought 2 huge cups of ice cream and enjoyed it on the rest of our way back.

Enjoying an ice cream as Anna tries to recollect about the neighbourhood

Enjoying an ice cream in Antwerp

The final stretch back to Central station in the distance

The wide open station square at Central station

We then walked the rest of the way back to the station and took the next train back to Bruges. It had been a great day spent in Antwerp and we had made the most of our short time here. Even though the city had changed a lot I was happy that we could get my parents to Antwerp more than 4 decades after my father had left it for good. My mother had been a real trooper till now, walking long distances with her dodgy knees but I knew that she needed a rest day before we changed bases to Haarlem.

We would be spending a relatively low key day in Bruges the next day giving my mother’s knees some much needed rest by visiting just the Town Hall and doing a canal cruise in Bruges. But that is topic for another post some other time, some other day.

Till then,

Bye.

Happy us after a great day trip to Antwerp