Antwerp 23.7.19
Most of the river cruise moves take place at night so we arise this morning moored in Antwerp in Belgium which is mainly south of Amsterdam having passed along the Amsterdam-Rhine canal for about 40 miles. Wikipedia reports that it is the world’s heaviest used artificial waterway with an annual average of over 100,000 ships.
This joins one of the major branches of the Rhine – the Waal – from which we branch off and do not quite reach the open sea but proceed via canals to Antwerp which is some ten miles or so north of Brussels. We dock at Antwerp at lunchtime.
We have joined an afternoon walking tour of Antwerp on what is another intensely sunny day and it is not long before we are all feeling the heat, so it is immensely pleasant for hear the guide to inform us that he would shortly be turning onto a shady street.
When we do there is no shade. It transpires that this is the centre of the local prostitution area. At the time prostitution was recognised and regulated only becoming decriminalised in 2022. Antwerp (being a port) took a very different view to other local authorities and heavily regulated the red light district – elsewhere the approach was to ban window prostitution so the sights here are unlikely to be seen elsewhere. There are signs offering particular services and indicating prices. The residents do not wish photographs to be taken, any sign of use of a camera was met with shouting and banging on the glass. So only the wall was photographed.
Antwerp Guild Houses 23.7.19
We pass by other parts of Antwerp – which of course is the centre of the diamond trade – and was therefore immensely rich, witness the Guild Houses above on the edge of the Market Place and there were other examples of architecture with the Cathedral and other churches proving impressive. The tour takes around two hours in total.