Antwerp Travel Guide
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48km (30 miles) N of Brussels; 51km (31 miles) NE of Ghent
Antwerp (Antwerpen) is one of western Europe's most hidden gems. Most people think of it only as a port and center of the diamond trade. Yet it is also easygoing, stylish, and filled with the monuments of a wealthy medieval and Renaissance period. Given that the city boasts a magnificent cathedral, a fine arts museum full of Flemish masterpieces, a maze of medieval streets in the town center, and a vibrant nightlife and cultural scene, it's amazing that Antwerp has been relatively neglected by tourists. Suffice it to say that Amsterdammers head for Antwerp when they want to have a good time in a Low Countries' Golden Age city.
As home to the world's fifth largest port, Antwerp has all the liveliness, sophistication, and occasional seediness that you would expect. It is also the acknowledged "Diamond Center of the World," the leading market for cut diamonds and second only to London as an outlet for raw and industrial diamonds. The diamond business is worth a sparkling $23 billion a year, which swamps Amsterdam's $1 billion -- though you would never guess as much from the noise the Dutch city makes about its jewels and the discreet silence maintained by the Belgians.
The city (pop. 450,000), which is the capital town of Antwerpen province, owes its life to the Scheldt (Schelde) River, its soul to the artist Rubens, and its name to a giant of ancient days called Druon Antigon. Legend has it that Druon levied exorbitant tolls on every Scheldt boatman who passed his castle, and if anyone would not or could not pay up, the big man gleefully cut off the miscreant's hand and threw it into the river. Druon's comeuppance came from a Roman centurion named Silvius Brabo, who slew the giant and (as if that weren't enough) cut off his hand and threw it into the river, thus avenging the boatmen. The Flemish handwerpen (throwing of the hand) eventually became Antwerpen, the city's Flemish name (it's called Anvers in French).
Historians who deal only in dry facts tell a different story. They claim that sailors described the port city's location as aan-de-werfen (on the wharves). But to the people who live here, the severed, bleeding "Red Hand of Antwerp" is the symbol of their city. You find two statues in the town commemorating the Roman's act of revenge, and replicas of the giant's hand appear in everything from chocolate to brass.
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