It’s near. It’s old. It’s cool. It’s Antwerp.

Antwerp is a city that takes time to get to know, partly because its districts have very different identities and characters, but also because each street within them can often be deceptive.

Sometimes you walk round a corner and the first impression of the street is unremarkable, but you quickly begin to appreciate the extraordinary mix of architectural styles. Then you discover that among the utilitarian shops are a bookbinder, a most enticing delicatessen or an expensive fashion salon.

Antique lovers soon discover Kloosterstaat, Mechelsesteenweg and Leopoldstraat and their concentrations of specialised shops. First-time visitors to Central Station are astonished by the soaring overall roof and the lavish decoration of its neo-baroque design by the Giles Gilbert Scott of Belgium, Louis Delacenserie. For the larger stores and chains, head for the busiest shopping street, Meir.

Of course it is Antwerp’s galleries and historic buildings that attract people to visit the city, but even here there are some revelations:

  • The Plantin-Moretus Museum is one of the most extraordinary museums in Europe, and a clue to its fascination is the very rare accolade for a museum of UNESCO world heritage site status.
  • The Rubens House is a fine mansion with a beautiful garden – grand enough to be the home of the exiled William Cavendish, later Duke of Newcastle, after Rubens’s death in 1640.
  • The Museum of Fine Arts and the Rubens Chapel (where the painter and his family are buried) host a world-class collection of paintings from the 15th to the 20th century.

No visit to Antwerp would be complete without sight of the River Scheldt that has enabled the city to become one of Europe’s largest ports and has been the source of its prosperity. A huge regeneration of the riverfront and warehouse buildings is revitalising the quays and turning the city back towards the water with its medieval castle and imposing maritime buildings such as the Entrepot de Congo and the Gothic Tugboat Office. The best way to appreciate the docks is to take a boat trip, or you can go underground and walk along the canals beneath the city. If this doesn’t sound like the romantic excursion you had in mind, try a candlelit dinner cruise.

Another traditional source of the city’s wealth has been diamonds. There are various factories, museums and showrooms in the Jewish neighbourhood devoted to a lady’s best friend.

The newfound wealth and vitality have come from Antwerp’s fashion designers who have made the city a trendsetter since 1986 when the Antwerp Six broke upon the scene at London’s British Designer Show. It’s worth visiting the ModeNatie just to see the imaginative conversion of an industrial building into a fashion centre housing various institutes and MoMu, a museum devoted to avant-garde clothes design. The results of all this creativity can be found in the designer stores that line Nationalestraat and Steenhouwersvest.

Music plays an important part in the city’s cultural life, with jazz festivals and a month of prom concerts from the end of October, as well as a resident classical dance company, opera and several concert halls, not to mention dozens of clubs. Antwerp’s most recent museum, City Sounds, in the grand former Butchers’ Hall, is devoted to music. Visitors receive a palm with stylus and headphones; key in a number and they can hear music appropriate to the picture or instrument they are looking at; information about the exhibits can even be emailed to their computer at home. You have seen the future of museums!

Go to Lombardia in Lombardenvest and you may feel you’ve seen the future of food. Run by the effervescent Alain Indria whose grandfather cooked for the King of the Belgians, it combines all kinds of healthy, fresh foods in combinations that you’re unlikely to have tasted. His juices and ginger tea are famous and unique, but he’s one of hundreds of great restaurants, bars and cafés around a city that takes food seriously. But like so much of Antwerp, Alain’s creations are certain to be a surprise.

Visit www.visitflanders.co.uk for more information.

Our ferries to Antwerp.

Norfolkline provides ferry services to Dunkirk from Dover with a crossing time of under 2 hours with up to 12 ferry sailings per day in both directions. Our full sailing schedule between Dover and Dunkirk is presented in the routes section.

We offer great ferry fares and have regular special offers, so book a great value ferry fare between Dover and Dunkirk online with Norfolkline.

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