Antwerpia
Trip Start
Aug 15, 2010
1
15
21
Trip End
Dec 11, 2010
Antwerp, Antwerpen, Belgium
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Breendonk is a fort left over from World War 1 that the Nazis turned into a concentration camp during the second world war. While not a "death camp" there were still many atrocities committed here and the mood was very somber. The isa group got a tour of the fort from an excellent guide who went out of his way to make it interesting to a group of young adults by having us play the role of the prisoners and him the role of a Nazi guard. Needless to say the experience was memorable!
After our tour of Breendonk we drove another 15 minutes to our final destination of Antwerp. It is a city known as the diamond capital of the world and its citizens wealth was made clear through the number of Ferraris we saw throughout the day! We visited the Antwerp cathedral and the museum of the printing press, which houses the oldest printing press in existence as well as the Gutenberg Bible. Four of us decided to spend the night in Antwerp and found some space at a nearby hostel. As the light grew dim in the evening, the isa group met up next to the castle by the river for a ghost walk through the back alleys of the old city. The walk was somewhat interesting but the temperature dropped rapidly and there were gusts of cold wind that were very distracting!
After the tour a group got dinner and then went out for the evening. Antwerp is a very nice city that mixes old style with new functionality and it has a much more modern feeling than Gent, Bruges, and in some places even Brussels. I'd say it's certainly in my top three favorite Belgian cities and would recommend anyone in the area to check it out.
