Antwerp and Ghent

Antwerp is a port city in the Northern region of Belgium best know for producing diamonds. We decided to visit Antwerp on January 2nd, coincidentally, the same day used by the museums and attractions as an extended holiday. With nothing to visit, we spent the day outside following a self-guided walking tour of the city that turned out much better than expected.

This statue shows the origin of the word Antwerp. There is a tale that tells how a giant was ravaging the city and a young man, named Brabo, cut off its hand and threw it away. 'Ant' means hand and 'werpen' means throw, giving the Dutch name of Antwerpen.




This building is one of the cities many cathedrals.

This statue shows 4 of builders of the cathedral.

the front door of the cathedral

and the interior

This building is the town hall.

Antwerp is full of cute streets with even cuter buildings.

This is a statue of Henrick Conscience. He is a famous writer who was so loved that all of the Belgians learned to read so that they could enjoy his work.

Charles the 5th, the renovator of...

The steen, now the Maritime museum of Belgium

which has a statue of this 'devil' who creates havoc for the drunks of the city as they return home from the pubs. I think it looks like he's trying to pee on them.

As we strolled through Antwerp's famous red light district, we discovered (amoung many other things) an outdoor urinal. Oh the joys of being a man. The red light district was also interesting because it is the first I've ever seen where women rent chairs in front of windows to entice the window shopping men who fill the streets. Nothing is shown, except a lot of skin, but it is quite shocking when you first see the mass amounts of windowns.

After our visit to Antwerp we experienced the first snow of the year (and of the season for Belgium). It was just a light dusting, but enough.

The following day we travelled to Ghent with Ineke and her father (he was born and raised in this ancient textile city)

Ghent is symbolized by 'the three towers'

This tower belongs to the St Nicholas's Churchcathedral, and is the first of the 3 towers

The 2nd tower is St. Bavo's Cathedral

This houses the original copy of 'Adoration of the Mystic Lamb' an alter painting that has 1 missing piece---and makes up Ghent's biggest (and longest) mystery. It has been missing for over 70 years.

The Belfry (the town bell tower) displays an interesting (and crude) carving. This picture tells the story of a man who was sentenced to strave to death in the prison (though he claimed to be innocent and many of the townspeople also thought him innocent). His daughter, who had recently given birth, visited him every day and fed him from her breast.

Since he was 'miraculously' surviving his starvation, he was then beleived to be innocent and was set free.

Another statue (known commonly as the 5 pissers)

We also visited the Castle of the Counts. Here are some pictures:

Outside of the castle we were back to the beauty of Ghent.

This statue is pointing the way to England (not heiling Hitler)

After marvelling in the beauty that is Ghent, we decided we wanted a picture taken. Easier said than done. Here is the saga...

First we had to figure out where to stand ('I'll come down' 'no. I'll go up')

Then we get rid of the ridiculous hats and fix our hair...

Then the picture. But of course we need just one more...

But then we get annoyed.

That's why you usually only see pictures of the places...not the people.

This inside of St. Peter's Cathedral

So the consensous is that Ghent makes it into the top 3 most beautiful Eurpoean cities we've seen so far. It might even been number 1, but then again, we've still got Rome on the way.