June 29 - Antwerp (Day trip to Lier)

 June 29 - Antwerp (Day trip to Lier)

When we arrived in Antwerp yesterday we more or less jumped off one train and on to another on our way to our accommodation, and hence, didn’t get to see much of Antwerp Centraal.  However, today we’d organised a day trip to the nearby town of Lier (sounds a bit like the name Leah), and this meant having the opportunity to have a bit more of a look around the station proper.  Well, OMG, what a building it is, it’s fantastic, it’s definitely in the Champions League of railway stations! 😃

On our arrival into Lier our first port of call was to check out the town’s Stadhuis (Town-hall),  one of two UNESCO world heritage sites in town. The main part of the building was completed in 1740, and is really quite impressive inside, whereas the attached belfry was built so much earlier, in 1369. 

Our next stop was to the Museum of Timekeeping.  Housing mostly works of one man, Louis Zimmer, this is home to the spectacular Jubilee and Wonder clocks.  The latter, with 93 clock faces, includes one of the slowest moving mechanical hands in the world, with one revolution in every 25,800 years as an indication of the precession of the Earth!  Certainly impressive, however, I didn’t know what precession meant and, after looking it up, I still don’t know that I do now! 🤔😂

On our wanderings around town we paid a visit to the tiny Lier Museum.  Covering anything from the town’s history to its modern day architecture it’s also home to some very nice paintings. One of these in particular I’d wanted to see, ‘Flemish Proverbs’ by Brueghel, and, although it was only a copy by his son, I wasn’t disappointed.  However, when I enquired what the connection was with the painting and Lier nobody seemed to know 😊

Just a short train journey from Antwerp, Lier is a beautiful old historic town. Surrounded by a canal, full of medieval buildings and churches, cobblestones just about everywhere, and everything within easy walking distance, this really is a delightful place to visit



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sept 27 - Perugia (Day trip to Spoleto)

Image
  Sept 27 - Perugia (Day trip Spoleto) Off to Spoleto today, an ancient city in the foothills of the Apennine Ranges.  Divided into the medieval upper town, and the predominantly modern lower town, our initial goal was to head up to the fortress at the top of the hill.  In theory this was going to be relatively easy as the town has installed a number of escalators all the way to the top making it an easy ‘climb’. However, signage to said escalators being non-existent, we found ourselves wandering around town for ages before finding our way up.   The fortress, the ‘Rocca Albornoziana’, was built in the 14th century and was originally part of a fortification system constructed by the church to strengthen its military power.  Today however, it houses the ‘National Museum of the Duchy of Spoleto’, although in more recent times it was used as a prison.  Having some great views of the city and the local countryside it also overlooks the magnificent 13th-centur...
Read more

Sept 28 - Perugia (Day trip to Assisi)

Image
  Sept 28 - Perugia (Day trip to Assisi) Having experienced some pretty steep hills yesterday, today, on arrival in Assisi, we took the easy option and got the bus to the top of town before strolling down! 😊 On a recommendation we first visited a couple of churches in the upper part of town.  Both nice, although nothing spectacular, but considering where we were, i.e. Assisi, I suppose we were both thinking they’d be a little bit special (sorry St Clare! 😊 ) Walking through town though was very nice, really ‘Olde Worlde’, with some great piazzas, cobbled lanes, some Roman remains, and, because it’s in the hills, lovely views of the local countryside.  It’s not often that I’ll mention food on here but today we found a sensational restaurant, overlooking the walls of the city and just metres from the Basilica of Saint Francis, we chose it simply for its location. The food however was superb and, considering its setting, it was no more expensive than most other places w...
Read more