Antwerp; Saturday, 04 March, 2006

After one of the most comfortable nights sleep I had had in a very long time, and a breakfast that should have kept me fed for the whole week, I set out from the hotel to the Tram stop one away from the hotel. This was the nearest one with an automatic ticket machine to buy a three-day Flanders city card (unlimited travel in Antwerp, , Ghent and several other cities and towns for just €10). Having brought the card I then found out, as I boarded the tram, that the company was running a free weekend and you did not have to buy tickets - D'Oh!

I caught the tram back to the Centre of town and had a wander around the Groenplaats, Handschoesmarkt and Grotemarkt in the daylight before going to have a look at the Cathedral. Described as the largest Gothic Cathedral in the Low Countries (possibly even more tenuous than Cologne's 'Largest cathedral north of the Alps' title).

The cathedral is in the process of being repaired, with most of the work complete. Inside it is very light despite the forest of pillars. The cathedral has seven aisles, which create a massive sense of space. There are several paintings dotted around the church including a few by Rubens (even I have heard of him!).

After spending some time in the Cathedral I caught the tram one stop further, underneath the river Scheldt to the left bank. From here there are stunning views of the Antwerp skyline with the Cathedral and the Steen (the remains of a 13th century gatehouse) showing its great history. From here, I walked back to the other side of the river using the St Annatunnel. The pedestrian tunnel links the old city with the left bank and is accessed at each end from either a massive lift (enough space to easily take the 80 person maximum load) or a series of ancient clanking wooden escalators.

The exit from the tunnel on the city side is by the side of the old docks and above them run the South Terrace all the way to the Steen. The views in all directions are great and on a bright sunny day, it was a pleasant walk. The Steen itself is now a Nautical themed museum, but still looks as though it would more be at home somewhere in the 1290's.

After a spot of lunch on the Groenplaats, I wandered back to the central station and caught the bus out to Middelheim. Here there is a large park, which also includes the open-air sculpture park. The park is free to look around, but you can pay for an audio guide, which takes you around the park, and is well worth it as it explains about many of the key works and, some background to the history of the site and some of the details about creating different types of sculpture. The full audio tour takes about 2 hours, longer if you look at each individual piece of work. As it was such a nice afternoon, I took the longer walk back to the tram stop, caught the tram back into town, and then back to the hotel to rest my feet for a short while.

Once the sun had started to set I ventured back out to the right bank to get some more pictures of the Antwerp skyline, by night. If anything, the view is more spectacular at night than it is during the day, though it would be even better if the Steen were floodlight. After taking a few photos, I walked back through the St Annatunnel back to the old city and went for dinner in the Grotemarkt before heading back to the hotel and the welcoming thought of my bed!