Photo - a house in Zurenborg, an area mentioned in '12 adventures in Antwerp'
First thing to know about Antwerp is it's not that much use looking in guidebooks. They really give it short shrift as they don't actually expect anyone to go there [Come on lonely planet! You start the entry saying 'Antwerp is cool' then give it about 5 pages, mostly listing chi-chi restaurants of the type you can find anywhere].
The Antwerpians though, are more than happy to show you around and what's really wierd is they actually know what you want to see. They love their city, almost as much as me and for the same reasons. Have a look at the Antwerp city website to start with:
http://www.antwerpen.be/
When you get there head straight to the Antwerp tourism office on the Grote Markt (there's no sign or anthing on the building, but you should find it). They have really good free maps and also all sorts of brochures and booklets. They keep these behind the counter (so they don't get wasted of course). They don't really want you to get the good stuff so look at this part of the Antwerp city website which lists all the brochures so you know what to ask for:
http://www.antwerpen.be/eCache/BEN/266.html
There is a really good booklet called '12 Adventures in Antwerp' which goes through all different districts of Antwerp and lists attractions and gives a walk suggestion. It's 3 euros. There is also a free 'guide to Antwerp for young people' - which is made by the Use-it crew. I never thought I'd like anything for young people, but you're never too old to try these guides. Use-it has a website:
http://www.use-it.be/
You can download the use-it guides there. If you can't print A2 or whatever size it is you can get all the use-it maps for Antwerp, Ghent and Brugge from the people at the Antwerp tourist office, if you ask for each one by name. Only Antwerp seems to have a chunky little booklet from use-it.
No comments:
Post a Comment