I love Art Nouveau movement and always live cities where there the movement has taken over the architecture of a neighborhood. There are several neighborhoods in Antwerp where there are fine representations, including Zurenborg neighborhood near the Berchem tram stop. There is a mix of Art Nouveeau, belle-epoque and neo-classical buildings. The neighborhood was built between1894 and 1914, the outbreak of World War I. In a way it reminds me of our neighborhood in Bratislava, but much more elaborate. There are buildings on four corners each representing one of the seasons. There is also a street dedicated to the battle of Waterloo.
I include pics from the neighborhood plus two pictures of the zoo building, which is in the Central Station Square but has the same feel.
Suzi and I strolled the neighborhood, enjoying the buildings, and found a nice sidewalk café which prepared a us most unusual but delicious melted brie, pear and apple sandwich. That, topped off by an expresso made our afternoon delicious.
But as we were walking around a certain Ledbelly song kept going through my brain, “Bourgeois Blues,” cause it’s a Bourgeois Town
