Hello! In the spirit of my most recent trip to Ghent, I decided that the next travel post will also be about a Belgian city. This time I will write about the biggest city-proper of Belgium, Antwerpen! Yes, you read that right, it is actually more populous than Brussels - unless we count the entire metropolitan area.

It has been a while since we have been there, so excuse if I do not have the spiciest details - but I do think Antwerp is an interesting city to visit. It has one of the largest ports of the whole Europe, long history, tons of exciting spots, as well as a beautiful city center - there is a lot to see in the capital of Flanders!

St Anna's Tunnel

The St Anna's Tunnel is a clever way to get from one shore to the other. It is quite a long tunnel, as it spans over 500 meters and you can walk or bike inside here. The reason for the existence of the tunnel was that having a bridge would block the waterways for the multiple ships that often pass by. Due to this, the tunnel is used so that there is an alternative to taking a ferry service to cross the river.

The real reason I am including this tunnel in the post though is the beautiful wooden escalators that lead to it. They are nearly a hundred years old and really make me sad that the usual escalators we see around us aren't made with just a bit more creativity. As for the tunnel itself, it could not look any more boring even if it tried. It is just a long stretch of white tiles all the way through.

See? I told you, just white tiles.

Really, can't all of them just be a little cooler?

City Center

As many Belgian cities, Antwerp's city center is bustling with buildings of historical significance, as well as beauty. If I simply copy-pasted my description from the Brussels post, it would fit here just fine - everywhere you look when you're at the main square, you see a stunning monument.

Right in the middle of the city center, we can find Brabo - or rather a statue of Brabo. Legend says that he saved the city from a terrifying giant and the particular moment captured in the statue is the one when he throws the giant's arm into the into the river. Here's a few pictures of the city center:

Train Station

The last thing I will write about here is the train station. Antwerp's train station has actually won or at least been near the top of the rankings for being the most beautiful train station in the world - and honestly, it is not exaggerated. I definitely cannot do it justice with pictures - especially not the one we took 2 years ago. Honestly, I cannot believe that's all we have.

You get inside and it's like you're in a fairytale!

Everywhere you look!

There isn't so much to say about the station - it's more a matter of going there and seeing it. I encourage you to visit it when you are in Belgium, as it is an amazing one!

Closing Words

I would love to revisit Antwerp and - in the future - revisit this post, adding some better pictures, as well as a more comprehensive overview. We have definitely been pretty lazy in documenting our travels around the Netherlands and the North of Belgium these years, as living here makes us a little less excited about it. But that isn't a good excuse, so it's time to become better!