And here's that noble Roman soldier immortalized in bronze, holding the giant's severed hand and preparing to throw it into the river. Toward the bottom of the fountain (not seen in this picture) is the mortally-wounded giant, with "blood" spurting from the stump where his hand used to be. There are allusions to this bit of folklore throughout the city of Antwerp, so beloved is the story here. Truth be told, however, scholars suggest that the city's name comes instead from a Flemish phrase meaning a place of slightly higher ground. I like the giant story better, or should I say the, errr, tall tale? OK, I haven't made a pun in several blog entries, so do bear with me and keep reading ...
I arrived at the beautiful Antwerpen Centraal train station at close to 11:00 AM. Built at the turn of the twentieth century, it follows generally the Victorian style and it's really a tourist destination in and of itself. A twenty minute walk through more modern Antwerp brought me to the old town square.
Above: a row of rent-a-bikes in the foreground. Behind them, a giant Easter egg, one of several decorations I saw. There were even what appeared to be Belgian Girl Scouts selling bags of Easter eggs on the street.
Above, the intricate entranceway into a church along the way to the Grote Markt. Below, the main plaza with our hero in the foreground and the Stadhuis (town hall) in the background.
A typical side street in Antwerp. Note the uneven, thin-brick paving. That, or cobblestones, exist nearly everywhere in Belgium and The Netherlands. Smooth, wide pavers are rare, and my feet would kill for plain old concrete or even asphalt -- and darn the aesthetics, I say! It's little side streets like these that cause explorations to take so long. Sometimes they lead nowhere too exiting, but other times you turn a corner and, voilà, something spectacular!
A few minute's walk from the Stadhuis, we find the giant pestering two sailors for his cruel toll. He's standing in front of a tiny little castle on the banks of the Scheldt River.
As you can see, the weather was remarkable again, sunny and in the upper 60s. Ironically, just in case, I brought my leather jacket on this day trip, but I ended up lugging it in my backpack.
The museums were closed today (I hadn't considered that when scheduling the trip - I should have swapped days with Bruges), so I could only see things from the outside.
I was OK with that, because outside was beautiful and the people watching was fantastic.
I returned back to Brussels at about 4:00 PM. I wandered around just taking things in. I'll be going to bed early tonight, as I need to catch a train to the airport tomorrow at 07:32. Well, OK - maybe one or two more Belgian beers before I retire.
Here's a bonus picture for you, of the street in front of my hotel, at night.
Location:Antwerpen,Belgium
Hi Uncle Ken,
ReplyDeleteWe really like the castle! At the top of the castle on the right it looks like there are some antennae, or long poles. Do you know what they are? The street scene at night is lovely and lively!
Thanks, Andrew! The poles on the right side of the castle were actually flag poles, but there were no flags - I don't know why. I got to walk through the middle of the castle, but the inside spaces were closed. It was still pretty cool!
ReplyDeleteThe street outside of my hotel is very busy, and the restaurants are open very late. Fortunately, I have a room on the other side of the hotel from the street, which overlooks an enclosed courtyard - it is pretty quiet, so I can sleep without too much noise!
The train station looks amazing-almost like it belongs in a Harry Potter movie! Interesting how they have a more modern looking giant in front of the castle instead of something like the Romanesque fountain. My god, are there no backyards?! It looks like the buildings are literally connected to eachother. The night scene looks like a lot of fun mixed in with a bit of magic thanks to the lights. Dar
ReplyDeleteYeah, the giant looks more Disneyesque than Romanesque, but the city is full of blends of epochs, so I'm OK with it.
DeleteThe train station is amazing - I read somewhere that a panel of experts has judged it to be the fourth most beautiful train stations in the world, behind on in India, one in London and one in Paris.
The night scene in general here is tinged with magic - all of the monuments are lit up, the streets almost glow. I don't typically wander about with my camera at night, though, because I'd be easy pickings by my lonesome for a pack of thugs.