There is much more to Antwerp than frites and fat ladies, finds Carol Wright

Frites (chips to us) and fat ladies go together in Antwerp; the former served everywhere usually with local beers and the latter gained the kinder description of Rubenesque from the city’s famous painter son.

I was awed by Ruben’s house. This is no artist starving in a garret scenario but a stately baroque townhouse built in 1610 in then voguish Roman style. A triumphal arch screens formal gardens planted with period plants while inside there is a statue and art gallery, grand studio and from March 28-June 28 a Rubens in Private exhibition of fifty family portraits reflecting Rubens’ happy, loving family life. These paintings, not intended for public display, are freer, more experimental and glow with affection. I was touched by the portrait of his five year old daughter Clara who died aged twelve.

Rubens’ friend and art patron, Nicolaas Rockox also had a splendid mansion where Rubens’ Samson and Delilah hung over the fireplace (now in London’s National Gallery). The house, until the end of 2016, will be a ‘luxurious art cabinet’ with paintings from Antwerp’s Royal Museum of Fine Arts (currently closed for renovation) cramming the walls in seventeenth century style including Van Dyck, Van Eyck and Memling works.

Rubens also painted the Plantin family of printers and publishers and designed frontispieces for their books. The Plantin-Moretus Museum contains two of the world’s oldest printing presses and collections of early printed books displayed against a backdrop of tapestry hung, Spanish tooled leather walls and Rubens’ Dying Seneca painting.

Antwerp is an easy city to amble pivoting round the 123 metre high 1520 cathedral spire landmark. Inside the seven aisled church, are some of Rubens’ most powerful works including the Descent from the Cross. Sitting guarded by Ruben’s statue in a pavement cafe in nearby Groenplatz the former city cemetery, I checked out my copy of the new Ruben’s Walk tourist office booklet. It’s a quirky linkage of fourteen places associated with the painter keyed to the seven deadly sins and virtues and studded with insider insights into the painter’s life and times.

Wandering into nearby Grote Markt with its imposing town hall, I found the statue of the Roman Brabo tossing away the hand he has just lopped off the giant Antigoon. Antwerp means ‘to throw a hand’ and I found many hand shaped souvenirs; the most wantable in chocolate form from Burie’s shop on Korte Gasthuisstraat with its windows of marzipan art forms.

For a quiet lunch, I dropped into De Grotte Witte Arend (‘great white eagle’) on Reyndersstraat, a former convent with a chapel in a corner of its shady courtyard. Reasonably priced, it serves excellent salads, soups, croquettes and of course frites washed down with a beer blonde. For something stronger, the De Voyant pub opposite sells over two hundred Belgian schnapp varieties. In this tangle of alleys some buildings date back to the fourteenth century with spacious cellars.

I found more excellent food at Bourla behind the Bourla theatre which also has a restaurant. Bourla has a terrace, long counter for singles, huge crystal chandeliers, starter specialities like marrow bone, fish croquettes or fennel crumble and mains of smoked pork knuckle with mustard sauce and sautéed pigs cheeks with chicory and croquettes (the frite alternative).

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Catching a glimpse of Antwerp’s vibrant fashion scene, I window shopped at Dries Van Noten’s palatial Het Mode Paleis, a Belle Epoque wrought iron balconied building on the corner of Kammenstraat and Nationalestraat the high fashion area. I browsed among more traditional shops like Galalith on Zirkstraat selling only buttons with pearl buttons displayed filling a Victorian hipbath. Boon on Lombardenstraat opened in 1884 and retains interiors from a 1920’s renovation. Boon sells hand crafted gloves and always has 10,000 pairs in stock. I dithered between colours, leather styles - ostrich, fish, lamb, long or short length, cashmere or silk lining; pricey but each pair is fitted to the customer’s hands with great care.

I strolled up Antwerp’s high street, Meir, towards the central station which rivals the cathedral for architectural dominance. Its domed, carved, gilded magnificence has trains running one above the other on three levels. Along one side runs the Diamond gallery: dozens of small shops glittering with jewellery. I crossed into Hoveniersstraat; narrow, cobbled, grey, traffic excluded and one of the most depressing city centre 500 metres I’ve encountered. Yet every hour four to five million dollars-worth of diamonds are traded here. Three hundred CCTV cameras watch over its diamond bourses where 80 per-cent of the world’s diamonds pass through the hands of Antwerp’s 1850 dealers (Antwerp’s Most Brilliant is a new tourist guide to where to buy the best diamond jewellery).

Around the cathedral’s skirts, De Witte Lelie on Keyerstraat offers 11 rooms in three restored sixteenth century houses furnished with modern design furniture. The lounge is a peaceful spot where breakfast can be taken in front of the fire.