Antwerp
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Our hotel is located north of the city centre at the inland port and we find it easily. It's too early to get into the room, but that doesn't matter. We hand in our suitcase and walk along the street to our next railway station: Antwerp Central.
This one is neoclassic - or is it art nouveau? Anyway, we like it (according to Wikipedia it is eclectic, so somehow both is true). Renovated and rebuilt several times, especially the main building is worth seeing. Especially the view upwards is worthwhile.
Over the main shopping street, we walk to the "Stadtfestsaal", a classicistic building, which is a shopping center today.
Actually, the Cathedral of Our Lady was on our visit list, but from the corners of our eyes we see interesting graffiti and so we get to the St. James Church.
This is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre of Rubens and although it is currently being restored, it is beautiful. The entrance fee is not worth mentioning and we even get a short guided tour. We spend some time here and try to absorb the peace and beauty.
The accessible part is not small but over a staircase, we get on a platform and can see the part that is being restored. It is at least as big as the other one. We definitely have to come back when everything is finished.
Among other things we visit the 10th floor of the MAS museum to have a panoramic view of the area.
The panorama platform can be visited free of charge. Just pass the cash desk area and take the escalators to the top.
From here we discover more graffiti and decide to walk over. There are also nice open-air restaurants nearby and so we take the opportunity to sit down and have a drink.
In the evening we have a tasty dinner near the hotel and then walk to the harbour administration. Somehow it looked closer than it finally is. Instead at sunset we just arrive at the blue hour.
First, we take pictures through a coarse-meshed building fence. But then we come to the entrance of the property and can photograph the building undisturbed. This will probably not be possible for long. It looks as if the place is supposed to be under construction soon.
