Antwerp Solstice

Antwerp, about a two-hour drive from Maastricht, is a city and municipality in Belgium, the capital of the Antwerp province in Flanders, one of Belgium's three regions, a center for fashion and design, and where I spent my favorite holiday in December - Winter's Solstice, with good friend, Maurice Schofflen. It has long been an important city in the nations of the Benelux (Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands) both economically and culturally.This is Antwerp City Hall at the Grote Markt (Main Square) with the Christmas Market in full swing in the foreground. 


Here is Maurice ready to capture me seated in the comforting Hand of Antwerp (below) on the main shopping street.

Antwerp is located on the right bank of the river Scheldt, which is linked to the North Sea by the Westerschelde. Antwerp's seaport is one of the world's largest, and after the port of Rotterdam the second largest in Europe.



Antwerp is synonymous with Diamonds, and families of the large Hasidic Jewish community have traditionally controlled Antwerp's global centre of the diamond trading industry.It is also a rising fashion city, and has produced designers such as the Antwerp Six. The city has a cult status in the fashion world, due to the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, one of the most important fashion academies in Europe. It has served as the learning centre for a large number of Belgian fashion designers.


With Martijn still unable to make a trip that requires so much sitting, Maurice gallantly offered me this day trip to one of my favorite nearby cities. There's lots to do and see. We toured the famous Ruben's House as our cultural offering for the day, ending up in the evening in the newly renovated indoor bourse shopping area, a great end to a fine outing.