Antwerp is a river city par excellence, so the ideal way to capture its essence is to see it from the water. The first thing that strikes you is how the river splits the city. At the level of the old town, it's 500 metres to the other side, which is so distant that the best name they could come up with for the built-up area is Linkeroever - Left Bank.
Then you notice how much the city was built on, not just beside, the water. Up and down the quays are the remains of old locks and sluices that led to channels into the town, before they were closed up when the right bank was rationalised in the 20th century. Before then, the old town had a network of arteries and veins running through it, in addition to the massive aorta at its centre.
The boat company Flandria used to run a ferry from the right to the left bank, before the pedestrian tunnel was built and before the metro came along. Now they operate boat trips. There are two comprehensive visits of the port lasting 1.5 or 2.5 hours. Having a 12-year-old in tow, we opted for the shorter, 50-minute cruise, which costs a mere €5 and covers the waterfront from the Kennedy Tunnel upstream to the entrance to the main network of docks.
The cruise is just long enough for the recorded commentary to describe what there is to see in four languages while still holding your attention. The best part, though, is simply soaking up the atmosphere of what it is that makes a river city live: the wind, the smell, the sound of barges ploughing through the murky water.
Meanwhile, on dry land ...
The Antwerp Diamond Bus is, like its Brussels counterpart, a hop-on/hop-off service. You buy a ticket, and it's good for 24 hours, allowing you to get off at any of the stops that may interest you and catch a later bus. Buses run from the Keyserlei outside the Central station and stop at the city park, Groenplaats, the Fine Arts Museum, Sint-Jansvliet and Steenplein on the waterfront. You also get a recorded commentary in eight languages.
Antwerp by Bike offers a choice of three guided tours on weekends until the end of September, leaving at 13.45 from Steenplein. One of them, covering the city's statues, is available only on request. Each of the two main tours lasts three hours and covers 18 kilometres. They are €15, or €8 if you bring your own bike.
The Tourist Tram, which also operates in Hasselt, Maastricht and Tongeren, would look more at home trundling round a theme park than braving the streets of a metropolis. But it's cheap and convenient: €5 and leaves every hour on the hour from Groenplaats.
The Antwerp Horse Tram is a double- decker carriage pulled by two beautiful draft horses, which leaves every hour on the hour opposite the Tourist Information office on Grote Markt. The trip lasts 40 minutes and only costs €5, but there's one catch: It's extremely popular, so you may well find yourself waiting a long time to get a spot on the top deck.
Finally, from the ancient power of the horse to the latest high-tech means of transport: a two-hour trip around the city by Segway, a revolutionary two-wheeler you navigate by shifting your body weight. Ten minutes of training, the organisers promise, will be enough to get you on the road. The tours, which cost a whopping €38, run until 26 September and cover 17 sites and monuments.
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