It was a study in contrasts when it came to Belgium. Ypres, then Ghent, and a finishing off Belgium with a stay in Antwerp. Though not separated by a lot of distance, the feel, character, and the architectural story for each city was very different. Antwerp reminded us of Vancouver. Antwerp showed an opulent face as soon as we got off the train, as seen in this photo looking at the train station from just across the street.
Moments out of the train station once our tickets to Rotterdam were purchased, we came across this entrance into Antwerp’s China town. The walk through the core of the city, en route to the tourism office and then our apartment showed us a city busy with construction, new buildings rising from cleared spaces. Yet, there were grand old structures that were preserved and vibrant with life as they were converted into hotels, offices, and shopping centres such as the Stadsfeestzaal along Meir Street, an opulent store built at the end of the 19th century. Of course, there are older buildings in the city core as to be expected.
Thanks to our rain ponchos that fit over our backpacks, we were able to stay dry while we walked as it continued to rain on and off as we wandered through the city. With the backpacks stored, we again went wandering as the sky began to break. We had a city to investigate. The municipal museum, Museum aan de Stroom, shown here is all about the new world with history at the core. Another modern building, the Port Authority, or Port House was found.
Antwerp wasn’t all about the buildings. We wandered through streets, people watching; then through parks to enjoy sights and sounds of nature; and finally, we took a tunnel more than a half-kilometre long under the river to reach the residential suburbs and a kilometres long walkway through small parks that had Viking themes, beaches, and up-scale modern homes that advertised wealth and good taste. Again, this could have been a scene found along the residential seaboard or along the river in Vancouver. I wonder what Rotterdam, South Holland, in the Netherlands will be like?