Bright lights, big city

Although I have blogged in some detail about the places I’ve been visiting on my travels, it dawned on me that I’ve never told you anything about the city I have been commuting to for well over twenty years and which I previously lived in for fifteen years: the beautiful city of Antwerp.

It is, of course, impossible to show you in one blog post all there is to see in a city of this size, so I will be regularly treating you to little glimpses, of its ordinariness as well as its fabulousness, with some quirky details thrown in.

My office is smack in the middle of the city, which - if I'm lucky - is a 45 minute commute from where I live.

This is the sight that greets me when I come up for air out of the metro.

The tall building is one of Europe's very first skyscrapers, built between 1929 and 1932, in Art Deco style.

It is called the "Boerentoren", literally meaning the "Farmer's Tower".










The tower got its nickname due to the fact that the most important shareholder at the time of construction was the Belgian Farmers' Cooperation. The official name of the tower is now the KBC tower as the current main tenant is the Belgian bank of that name.

In 1981, the building became a protected monument.

It is looking very striking, bathed in the amber autumn morning sunshine.

My office is on the fifth floor, on the back of the building you can see to the right of the tower in the first photo, its row of windows neatly framing the cityscape.

From this vantage point, the finer details of the "Boerentoren" can be admired.

I can also see part of Antwerp's majestic cathedral, built between 1352 and 1521, which dominates the city's skyline.

Our office building is at the far end of Antwerp's main shopping thoroughfare, called the Meir, a higgledy-piggledy mix of historic architecture, 1960s and 1970s glass and concrete boxes and some more recent buildings. The street has been pedestrianized since 1993, cars and delivery vans only being allowed until 11 am or after 7 pm.

The street, having all the major international chains which clutter most Belgian towns, offers only average shopping. Not much to write home about in that department ...

It pays to look above eye level though, as it’s there that most of the buildings’ unexpectedly lavish details can be found.

As a keen photographer, I'm always on the lookout for photo opportunities, but most people do not tend to look up, unless they're tourists. I like being a tourist in my own town!

These two buildings are on opposite corners of the side street which houses one of my favourite vintage shops. The Madonna statue on the white building originally adorned the wall of a fireworks shop a little further down the street, which was destroyed in an explosion in 1857.  Miraculously, the Madonna survived!

Halfway up the Meir, on the Wapper square, is the Rubens House, which can be visited, although tickets have to be bought at the glass box of a visitors centre cum museum shop in front of it. Rubens and his family lived at the house for well over 25 years and it is here that the artist created the lion’s share of his work. It is also where he died in 1640.

The museum's permanent collection contains a large number of works by the master himself and by his peers and contemporaries.

The house and garden, which is a reconstruction of the garden in Rubens's time, are well worth a visit in their own right.

I tried to divert the ticket collector's attention and take a sneaky picture of the courtyard, but he was watching me quite eagle-eyed, probably thinking I was about to come and steal one of Rubens's paintings.

A little further on along the Meir is Antwerp’s latest shopping centre in the beautifully restored Stadsfeestzaal, the city's festival hall.

The Stadsfeestzaal was completed in 1908 in neo-Classical and eclectic style. It was a popular venue for parties, balls, exhibitions and fairs.

After a fire destroyed the building in 2000, it was reconstructed in 2004. The glass dome with gold leaf, the staircase, mosaics, wall reliefs, original oak parquet floors and other elements have been restored to their former glory.

Directly opposite the Stadsfeestzaal is one of my favourites: a modernist building with art deco elements, which was completed in 1933.

This gem of a building, called Maison Tilquin, was purpose built for the shop of the same name, selling high-end quality cutlery and tableware, and has been protected since 1983.

It seems I have barely scratched the surface of all there is to see, even on this street alone, so I guess I will continue spending my lunch breaks pretending to be a tourist and braving the inevitable crowds for a while yet.

Oh, and here are some of the outfits I wore to work this week, including one of my favourite coats, which is definitely worth having chilly weather for!

Will be back soon with another installment ...