December 19, 2013
Another favorite of mine: the tiny harbor of Lillo-Fort. I think the pictures speak for themselves… Can you imagine how this place looks like in summer when it’s flooded by tourists? I am eternally grateful to Leen and Veerle that they showed us this gem when there were not so many people around! And, by the way, while it was…
December 19, 2013
On Sunday, we decided to venture outside of Antwerp. Our first stop was Lillo. Or actually, I should say – as is correctly indicated on the map – Lillo-Fort. Lillo itself disappeared in the middle of the 20th century, when the harbor of Antwerp expanded. All that is left now is a small community living around the fort. This was…
December 18, 2013
The expansion of the harbor of Antwerp not only meant that buildings had to disappear; in some cases, whole villages had to make way for it. One of them was Oosterweel and the only thing that is left now is its church. The origins of the village go back to at least the 13th century. In the beginning of the…
December 18, 2013
For the next part of our walk, we went to the Royers Lock and then continued to the Noordkasteel Zuid. The Royers Lock is more than 100 years old and gives access to the right banks of the harbor of Antwerp. It is now mainly used by riverboats and the name comes from a well-known engineer of Antwerp. Noordkasteel on…
December 17, 2013
We left ‘t Eilandje with all its hip restaurants, pubs and the MAS and continued to a place that would become one of my favorites of the weekend. To my great delight, we walked as close as possible to the river. Not only could I admire the view on the Scheldt, but also the old yellow cranes. You can see…
December 16, 2013
Once you find yourself at ‘t Eilandje, it’s hard to ignore the MAS. MAS stands for Museum Aan de Stroom, literally: Museum At the River. But this is more than a museum; it is also a monument, there is a restaurant, a pub, a shop, … In short: it is a meeting place. The museum itself tells the story of…
December 16, 2013
We didn’t have to walk far for our next stop: the Felix Pakhuis. The Dutch word “pakhuis” means warehouse. I was eager to know whether this place was known abroad, so I googled it and stumbled upon this recommendation from BBC Travel: “Felix Pakhuis, a beautifully renovated warehouse from the 1860s that houses the city archives, also houses the trendy The…
December 13, 2013
At least, that is the literal translation of ‘t Eilandje, our next stop. This area is located in the north of Antwerp and it got its name from the fact that is completely enclosed by the river Schelde, the old harbor and the many docks. We found ourselves at the Bonapartedok, one of the smaller docks in the south of…