Where can you find a combination of old buildings, jews and street art? You can definitely find this in the city of Antwerp in Belgium. I went there for a weekend with my dad, brother and boyfriend, and of course: the travel companions. So this was the travel company:
Recently i got a new lens: a 10-24 mm wide angle lens. It gives possibilities to make photo’s in which a lot of the enivironment is visible. It also offers creative possibilies, because the perspective is different when you use it at the widest angle. I really wanted to try out this new lens, so all the photo’s in this blog are made with it.
Old buildings
Antwerp is an old city, with beautiful majestic buildings and a lot of gold. It is very nice to just walk around and feast your eyes.
The train station of Anwerp is an iconic building. The original station building was constructed between 1895 and 1905. The station is now widely regarded as the finest example of railway architecture in Belgium. You can judge by yourself:
Antwerp also has a very nice beguinage. Beguines were devout women who lived in a community, without taking religious vows. As a consequence of this particular religious life they were neither laywomen nor nuns. In the middle of the city is this sacred, quiet place, with lovely cobble stone streets, cute little buildings and a church.
Jews
Antwerp houses a big community of Jews. The history of the Jews in Antwerp goed back at least eight hundred years. Currently, the Jewish community of Antwerp consists of around 18,000. The Haredi, or ultra-orthodox Jews, traditionally tend to live concentrated in the city center in an area close to the railway station. This neighborhood is also known as “Jewish Antwerp”. In this area are a lot of diamond shops. On friday, a lot of Jews in this area were dressed in traditional clothes.
Street art
Besides all the old things, Antwerp has to offer modern things. There were cool paintings on the streets, you can rent a kinky bike, visit a photography museum or a quiant market, eat a way too big breakfast and see a musician with a self made musical instrument.
NICE