Banks, Beer and a Hand in Antwerp (#39)

Sparkling Star
Aug 27
2 min read

We arrived at the beautiful Antwerp train station.

From the outside it is impressive.

The inside is equally grand.

Our hotel was a former bank situated nicely in the center of the town. We had a spacious bathroom with the most amazing view of the church next door from our skylight in the bathroom. We had the best view in the hotel.

On our second day we took a tour of Antwerp and learned about the story of the giant and the roman soldier. The story is that there was a giant that was stopping all the boats comng through Antwerp and demanding a 50% toll. If the merchant ship didn't pay the toll, the giant would cut off his hand. This led to a drastic reduction in the number of merchants passing through the city. Eventually a roman soldier conquered the giant and as a symbol cut off his hand and through it in the canal. The hand became the symbol of the city visible everywhere.

Also, Antwerp had a golden age that ended in the late 1500's when the Spanish conquered Antwerp and the area. Any of the wealth was returned to Spain. The area was only rebuilt when the Jews came back to Antwerp and rebuilt the diamond industry to regenerate wealth to the city. The Jews were removed during the holocaust. About 2,000 orthodox Jewish families returned after the war to rebuild diamond trade.

Antwerp was having a street festival sponsored by a brewery.

Ted also tried two beers served in the Cathedral of our Lady by the Cathedral monastery. A first.

Antwerp is famous for this herbal liquor Elixir D’Anvers that the Amish still use to cure their horses from colic. We had a taste in a chocolate cups.

We were able to to see four Rubens in the cathedral.

In Antwerp, the canals we moved underground in the 1800s to transfer goods within the city. The exterior river entrance was dredged to be deep enough to transport passengers to the US on the Red Star line in 1871. Now all goods are shipped outside the city center.