The story goes that once upon a time, there lived this awful giant fellow named Antigoon, here in this part of the world. He used to stand by the great port, forcing all seafarers and bargemen to pay heavy taxes for passing his waters. All those who couldn't afford to pay the taxes or those who resisted had their hands cut off and then thrown into the Schelde. Then along came Brabo, a brave Roman general, who put up a great fight to defeat this Antigoon; then, eye-for-eye, he cut off Antigoon's hand, and threw it in the Schelde. Hand-for-hand, in this particular case. And so, the seafarers were freed from Antigoon's ruthlessness.
And that's how the name Antwerpen came to be: from Hand Werpen, literally translated "hand throw." I think it's pretty entertaining.
More to come later. For now, here is a more panoramic view of the Grote Markt:
Mmm, Leffe.
You are so cool!
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