Viking - Tulips and Windmills - Day 6 Antwerp

 Day 6 - Monday 1 April 2024

We arrived at Antwerp during breakfast and went on the included excursion, a walking tour of Antwerp. But first we had to get on the quay. Another boat, which refused to move, was in our space so we moored alongside The Elegant Lady, a boat in  Plantours fleet.

Elegant she was not. The steps down from her sundeck were metal, narrow and steep. Covered in water from the rain they were dangerously slippery. Only one person could descend at a time, and it was safest to descend backward. There was only one handrail.

Thus it took ages for everyone to get down and we set off late.

First was the impressive remains of the old city wall.

I thought the building on the left was a church, but the guide said it was the Butchers Guild building and the steps next to it were known as the 'bloody steps' because blood & innards flowed down the steps like a waterfall from the abattoir above.

In a square is a statue of Nello, a young orphan boy, and his dog Patrasche frozen to death in their sleep. The adventures of  Nello and Patrasche is very famous in Japan, Korea, and Philippinesbecause of  an anime TV series. Hordes of tourists from those countries came to Antwerp and were puzzled that no-one had heard of Nello and Patrasche. 

Which wasn't surprising as the origin was a book A Dog of Flanders written by a British author. The city had the statue made in the 80s, and when I was there 20-30 Japanese were taking pictures of each other by it.

Then we entered Antwerp Cathedral of Our Lady which houses three huge Rubens' triptychs and another painting by Rubens. There were many tourists there, including groups following guides' flags and paddles. 

After an exhaustive description of the first triptych the guide led our group o the next, but we sat down. The programme director was in the cathedral so I asked him if the tour continued after the cathedral, because otherwise we'd head back to the boat. He assured me it did, so we sat in the cold and eventually the guide completed her commentary on the fourth Rubens and said that was the end of the tour.  That was the third time I'd got duff info from the programme director so I didn't rely on him again.

So back to the boat for lunch. Fish'n'chips today.

Last time I'd had this on Viking was the previous year on the Mosel, andthen we were sitting outside on the prow enjoying the sun.

We didn't go for a self-discovery walk of Antwerp in the afternoon because we were still moored alongside Elegant Lady and I didn't want to risk their dangerous steps.

The afternoon talk about life in Belgium was amusing and well presented by a young lady.