Day 3: Dark Side of Antwerp Tour

I enjoyed the Legend Tours Dark Side of Bruges tour so much I signed us up for the one in Antwerp. My thought was if Don was tired, he could go back to our room and I'd meet up with him later. Unlike the tours in Bruges and Ghent, this one started at 8 pm. We met Tom by the statue in the Grote Markt. He entertained us and our small group for the next two hours. His tour was less gruesome than Martin's tour in Bruges. Perhaps the city is less gruesome in general.

On that topic, Google news tends to share stories that are physically close to you. That morning I saw a murder had taken place in Antwerp. A quick scan of the story showed it was domestic violence case, therefore unlikely to impact us as we walked the city late at night. May it not make a future version of the Dark Sides Tour.

This statue depicts the Roman era. This was a giant who lived along the river who would collect tolls from sailors. If you couldn't pay, your hand would be cut off. Julius Caesar sent his nephew Silvius Brabo to Antwerp to battle the giant named Druon Antigoon. Brabo won and cut off Antigoon's hand in retribution and threw it in the river. Many years later they thought they found his skeleton, but it was actually that of  whale. 

Thus ended our first gruesome story of the night.

The next story was sweeter. It took place in Green Square, next to a statue of a kid and dog we must have walked past a half dozen times without noticing. It is based on a 19th century novel called "A Dog of Flanders" by Ouida. Nello, the protagonist, is an impoverished boy who is sent to live with his grandfather. He sells milk to make a living. He really wanted to be an artist like Rubens. He fell in love with a rich girl. The story takes dark turns. His grandfather dies. There is a fire in the village. Nello is blamed for the fire. On Christmas Eve he is struck dead next to a Rubens painting (perhaps one in the cathedral behind the statue). The book is translated into Japanese. Someone visiting Antwerp in the late 1970s, early 1980s decides to create a statue in his honor. Note how the cobblestones wrap themselves around Nello and his dog as a blanket.

The gruesome side of the story comes with the reminder that the wealthy people were buried inside the cathedral. The poorer people we buried about where we were standing.

Around the corner was a tiny alleyway that was easy to overlook. Back in the day, many such alleyways existed. The poor crammed themselves into these homes during the 16th century. At the time 40-100,000 people lived in Antwerp. Sixty to 70 in this alley with only one pump, and waste being dumped on the ground. In the 1960s there was talk of turning the area into a parking lot, but an antique dealer bought the property and removed it over twenty years. 

I love these tours because they highlight places hidden in plain sight.

Back in the 16th century, Antwerp was covered in eight kilometers (five miles) of canals. With the population increasing, they needed more places for people to live. They believed the canals were making people sick. Therefore the canals were paved over and a sewer system was installed. 

Antwerp, unlike Rotterdam, was not badly damaged during World War II. As an American, I tend to forget how damaging the war was to everyday people. When Rotterdam was destroyed on September 4, 1944, Antwerp became the main port. 

We walked past Het Steen, home of the Antwerp Story which we toured that day.
Het Steen literally means "stone building," a very apt description of the stone fortress. It was a prison until the start of the 19th century. In those days you paid to be in prison. The more you paid, the higher up and nicer your accommodations. The poorest ended up in the flood zone. 

This was our excuse to talk about torture. I'll skip that part of the tour.

We passed a building that looked nearly religious. This early 16th century late Gothic-style building was the guild house for the butchers. It is home to the museum of Antwerp's musical history, which is temporarily closed. Next time.

Around the corner from the butcher's guild is the animal market where meat was sold in the 14th century. Before that executions and suicides were displayed here. It is now a basketball court that was installed by US soldiers in World War II as a way to keep entertained at the end of the war before they were shipped home. It was key to the start of basketball in Belgium.

The 1830 Belgian revolution happened as a way to create a buffer state between Napoleonic France and the north. It lasted about 50 years.

Before entering the red light district we learned about the history of prostitution. As recently as 20 years ago there were 17 streets. The government came through and cleaned up the area. They legalized prostitution (with certain guidelines). The workers receive health care and other government benefits. There is now only one street. No photography allowed. At the end of the street was the oldest Chinese restaurant in town that dated back to 1923. Unfortunately it closed last year.

We ended our tour climbing to the top of the MAS building, which Don and I did on our first evening in Antwerp. I noted the escalator from the 8th to 9th floor was fixed, so we had less climbing to do. 

Tom showed us free bathrooms in the area. Always a good thing to know when traveling. The bathrooms were inside an old industrial building that has been gentrified into expensive apartments. Back when he was a college student in the 1990s a friend borrowed 100,00o euros from his father to buy a cheap apartment. He sold it about 10-15 years ago for 1.5 million euros.

A few pictures from the Christmas Market and Antwerp at night.