This Is Antwerp invited 12 internationals to Discover Antwerp Through Experience, in short to go on a D.A.T.E. with Antwerp from the 3rd until the 8th of November. We’ll show them the best hidden secrets, jaunt the hottest places, survive workshops together, enjoy the finest meals and much more. But most important they will meet that one important thing that fuels Antwerp to be the dynamic city that it is today: creative people.
We might not be the world’s biggest player and unfortunately we must confess we literally understand what rejection means. But we also got lucky a couple of times. There are two important lessons we learned from participating in the dating scene: brushing your teeth pays off and fun facts always work.
We could tell you a million things about the rich past of Antwerp. How Antwerp is the home of the very first stock exchange in the world. Or how the Antwerp port was Einstein’s gate to New York and Napoleon’s secret weapon to invade England. But bragging about facts like being the home of the world’s oldest printing presses usually don’t get you to far on a first D.A.T.E..
We rather talk about what Antwerp is all about today. We gladly help you out with some useful D.A.T.E. material.
Antwerp is the home of the world renowned Fashion Academy. Fashion is everywhere in Antwerp. All of this really lifted off when the Antwerp 6 graduated from the Academy in the early 80’s. Antwerp fashion strong holders Dries Van Noten, Ann Demeulemeester, Walter Van Beirendonck, Dirk Van Saene, Dirk Bikkembergs and Marina Yee put Antwerp on the fashion world map. We even have a fashion museum, FoMu.
Antwerp is a very dynamic city what often results in a very vibrant pop-up culture. Whether it’s a bar, a restaurant, shop or a hotel it exists in a pop-up version. We try to gather all pop-up concepts in our free This Is Antwerp-app. That’s why a lot of locals use this handy travel tool as well.
Antwerp has a very creative soil. We’re the proud home of creative minds like figurative artist Luc Tuymans, graphic designer and street artist Kenson, actor Mathias Schoenaerts, contemporary artist Jan Fabre and many more.
We’re Belgian. That more or less explains it all. We love our beers. Especially our local brewed De Koninck and Seef beer. That last one recently won 2 international prices.
Antwerp is the second largest European harbor. Besides being an economic stronghold it also facilitates a great variety of leisure possibilities like biking and walking paths with beautiful scenery.
as a world port Antwerp has a lot of different ethnical communities within its city walls. There are more than 170 different nationalities living in Antwerp. Quite an interesting melting pot.
Feel free to join in on the fun! Use hashtag #thisisantwerp and become a part of our D.A.T.E.! Or follow us on , , or
Text by This Is Antwerp
Pics by This Is Antwerp