Belgian break (1) : London to Antwerp
Vee and I tend to take our major holiday in the winter (this year we went to five countries in Central America in February), but it is good to have a short break in the summer too, so this year we decided to have a few days in Belgium. We have previously had a holiday in Bruges and I have visited Brussels many times for work, so we chose to base our break in Antwerp.
Modern day Belgium only dates back to 1830. The Germans occupied the country throughout the First World War and most of the Second World War, so you can understand why they support the European Union. But, if football is a game of two halves, then Belgium is certainly a country of two halves: the Flemish-speaking north and the French-speaking south. The Flemish part is the more prosperous and indeed the Flemish rather look down on on their less affluent compatriots. Antwerp, of course, is in the Flemish part of the country.
Our holiday break was booked through the “Guardian” newspaper and includes travel and accommodation. Travel was by Eurostar from London to Brussels and local train from Brussels to Antwerp. Our hotel, the Leonardo, is directly opposite the station and we arrived around lunchtime today in pleasant weather.
During the afternoon, we had an exploratory walk of central Antwerp. This is the second largest city in Belgium with a population of 510,000 and the name comes from Dutch words for ‘hand’ and ‘throw’ which refers to a local legend.
We strolled down the main shopping street, a broad pedestrianised avenue called Meir, to the main architectural attraction of the city: the Catholic Cathedral of Our Lady. This is the largest Gothic church in the Low Countries and is noted for two triptychs by the painter Peter Paul Rubens.
Just round the corner from the cathedral is Antwerp’s finest square Grote Markt which is surrounded by tall, old buildings. In the centre of the square is a fountain which depicts Brabo, a legendary Roman soldier who freed the port of Antwerp by defeating the giant Antigoon and throwing his severed hand into the river – hence ‘hand-werpen’ has become the name Antwerpen (the local spelling).