May 17, 2024 Sint Amands to Antwerp

There was a light fog at 8 o’clock breakfast. The temperature was 12C and a light breeze northwest at 9km/hr. We departed at 9 a.m.with scattered cloud and some sun, most people had packed their rain gear just in case for our journey from St. Amands to Antwerp following the canal for most of the time.

Today was an easy ride. There was a quick break at the 8 km point at Weert near the church, then we continued to Temse where it was market day. We had a 40 minute stop for coffee, toilet break and a look around the market. Just after noon in Kruibeke, was where we stopped for an hour long lunch break at the Museum de Schuur and café. Kruibeke is in Belgium’s East Flanders province. The museum’s collection of old agricultural machinery and tools is housed in a mid 19th century barn that was built on the Count of Wissekerke property. Nearby was Wissekerke Castle and it small lake.

It was only another ten kilometres to Antwerp. We continued following the west bank of the river Scheldt until we can to the building housing the elevator that goes down over 31 meters to the St Anna Tunnel just for pedestrians and cyclists to cross under the river Scheldt from the Left bank to near to Antwerp’s city center on the right bank. Since 1874 residents talked about a bridge to connect the old city with the newer areas, rather than using a ferry, but they did not want to disrupt shipping. Finally in 1931 the idea to dig a tunnel under the river was approved. It was finished in 1933. There are escalators and an elevator. The elevator can hold 80 people. Our group of 31 people and bicycles barely squeezed into the elevator. The tunnel is 4.3 meters wide and 572 metres long, and it took about a minute to smoothly ascend or descend. The buildings that house the escalators and elevator are original.

We rode to Antwerp’s Grote Markt (main square), where on one side is the Renaissance built (1551 to 1565) City Hall. It is still in use for city offices that have recently been renovated. We parked and locked the bikes. Then Peter gave us a guided tour of the old city. He is a registered Antwerp guide. He explained the legend of Antwerp was that a brave Roman warrior cut off the hand of a giant who severed sailing captains hands if they did not pay a toll to use the river. Around the Grote Markt are many guild houses, the unions places of the day. Atop the tanners guild house is a Manneken Pis, a small boy peeing. To tan leather the tanners used to urine of young boys. The butchers guild was a little away from the square due to the smell. It was the only place to buy meat that was butchered daily. There was no refrigeration back then.

From the square you could see the golden clock on the Cathedral of Our Lady. Peter took us on a two kilometre walk of the old part of Antwerp. we reached the 9th century castle and fortress by the river, known as The Stone, since it built of stone. Peter explained that 14 streets of the old city were demolished to straighten the river in the mid 20th century. Antwerpt in the second largest port in Europe. Rotterdam, Netherlands, is number 1 and Hamburg, Germany, is number 3. Those ports were both rebuilt after the war. Antwerp had very little war damage to its port. The 365 km Scheldt RIver’s source is in France, but it is owned by Antwerp. Further on he pointed out the Diamond Museum. Antwerp has 82% of the world diamond market. We arrived at the Cathedral of Our Lady and its 123 meter high tower. The city of Antwerp owes just the tower of the church. In ancient times it was the watch tower of the city to spot fires. The last stop was in fornt of a chocolate shop where Peter and Mieke served the group 6 cm long molded chocolate hands and shortbread cookie hands.

With the tour over, people had free time or they could go to an included tour of the Red Star Line museum, just around a two kilometre ride away. Mieke took us there, we were the only one of the 31 who were interested. The company was eventually bought in the late 1930s by Holland America Lines from the German government that had confiscated the company since it was owed by a Jew. The museum told the story of the people who emigrated to Philadelphia, then New York and Halifax.

We rode our bikes over to meet the group at the MAS, museum aan de Stroom, which opened in 2011. The outer facade is Indian red stone from the Agra region of India. There are 3,185 hands attached to the exterior. We gathered at the MAS to climb to the top of its nine storeys for a view of Antwerp. There were escalators that linked the floors. It was windy and a light rain had started. Back on the main floor Meike and Peter told us that again there was a problem getting more drinkable water for the boat and that there was a minor scraping of the boat near a bridge so the boat was about 30 minutes delayed. When they thought we could find the moored boat we started the one kilometre ride only to find the boat had not arrived. We parked our bikes in a protected area of a building and all walked to nearby restaurants. Most people (about 20) chose the nearest one, a pizza restaurant which the people quite enjoyed. We went further to the Burger Boutique where we enjoyed Belgian Blue beef burgers and shared an order of fries. The rain was light as we walked the eight minutes back to the boat. The odd looking Port Authority of Antwerp building was a 15 minute walk away. Larry took a picture from the pier where the boat was moored at Kattendijkdok and later walked closer for night time photos of it’s colourful modern upper floors.

The ride to Antwerp was almost 40 kilometres and the ride in the city was about three kilometres. Steps were 11,315