Antwerp has always been one of my favourite Flemish cities. Of course, there are the obvious sightseeing spots: the Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal, the Grote Markt, the river Schelde. But these are some of my favourites:

1. Record shop Bilbo (Korenmarkt)
The cd's are consistently lower priced than in the big shops and it's a good place to pick up some flyers to find out what's going on in Antwerp.

2. Museum of fine art (Leopold de Waelplein)
Not so much the inside, but sitting on one of the benches contemplating life and admiring this lovely building used to be one of my favourite passtimes when I lived in Antwerp. If you're lucky enough to live in one of the new flats opposite (like my history teacher who once invited me in), you have an even better view.

3. Zurenborg and Berchem
If you wander through these streets, you get a taste of what a huge mix Antwerp is: old art deco houses on the Cogels Osylei, bohemiens in 't Zeezicht (Dageraadplaats), fine dining, ugly big hotels, synagogues and churches, Turkish bakeries... For some mysterious reasson, the streets are named after animals (dolphin, whale, lobster) and star signs.

4. Videostore (Dageraadplein, Berchem)
They have absolutely everything, from the latest blockbusters to the old stuff. Easier to find what you want than in the Video library.

5. Old Electrabel building (Karel Geertsstraat, Borgerhout)
The first time I came here was for the play with the title 'Ge moet niet per se ananas gegeten hebben om te weten dat dat ongelooflijk lekker is' (Loosely translated: You don't have to have had pineapple to know that that is incredibly good). It's one of many buildings in Antwerp that has lost it's original function and is now occasionally used by the theatre world.

Other examples are Cinema Roma (Appelstraat -if it's still there) and the military hospital (Lange Leemstraat), but there are many others. The 'Zomer van Antwerpen'; is a good time to discover some of these hidden treasures (if you can get tickets, that is).

Unfortunately, the roads around Antwerp now resembles something of a futuristic landscape. The motorway (Ring) around the city needed to be replaced because it has been neglected since the seventies (trust the Belgians to leave everything till the last minute) and now the road around Antwerp (Singel) is taking all the traffic, so they've built some temporary bridges which are ugly as sin. Antwerp now seems to be synonymous with traffic jams. Take the train if you can...