Fotos

Old metal on wheels,
seven brothers...
I wouldn't trust them
to lift a fly.

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These are some old cranes at the Antwerp docks.

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A short history of the port of Antwerp...

The name Antwerp comes from 'anda verpum', which refers to its position on the oustide of a bend in the river Scheldt. There's a local myth about the name of the city being derived from "hand werpen", which means "throwing a hand (into the river)"...but that's just a story we tell tourists.

In the 16th century Antwerp was the Europe's busiest port, but then it fell victim to a sectarian war. As a result of this war, the Low Countries were split in two and the port of Antwerp became blocked for centuries.

In the late 18th century Napoleon, who saw the port of Antwerp as a "gun aimed at the heart of England", brought the harbour back to life.

Of course, it was he himself who was defeated some time later...yet it proved to be enough for Antwerp to reclaim its position as a world harbour.

Since then the natural curves of the river Scheldt have been straightened (ouch!) so that bigger ships could dock. This took away a considerable chunk of the original city center.

As the harbour became even bigger, it left the city altogether and moved north to the Dutch border. Remnants of the old port are still visible in and near the old town...including these old cranes.

I guess they belong to a museum, or maybe they just got left behind and no one bothered.

Abandonned.

Sad old monsters...

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