When visiting Antwerp you have two options to cross the river; the ferry or St. Anna’s Tunnel. As a fun fact, there are no bridges in Antwerp because of the traffic on river Scheldt.
I absolutely adore places like this because us modern generations always think we were so far ahead of most things … The Underpass has been built between 1931 and 1933 and altogether covers 572 meters.
(That’s about 1,876 feet ; whatever that means.)
The historical wooden escalators take you down by 31 meters.
The feeling of space is absolutely incredible and the acoustic is marvelous.
Now, where am I going with this? A tunnel is a nice metaphor for a New Year. These photos have been taken nearly a year ago in February and by the time we returned, we found ourselves in lockdown.
It took me forever to take a picture of St. Anna’s Tunnel without people! First world problems we won’t face today. If you find yourself in Antwerp, Belgium and you love architecture, this is the place to go. Damn, imagine you were a photographer with a good eye and the proper equipment. Or you sing or play Cello …
Happy online traveling to all of you.
Stay safe & sane. Be nice.
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Wow what a journey; the distances and depths gives me phobias. 🙄😬
It was really fascinating but it might not be a place to hang out by yourself at night 😉
I can swim the length easily.🐋
Oh of course hun, I don’t doubt that 😉 It can get pretty windy though but it would make for a really scenic swim!
In the tunnel did you yell “yahoo” to see if you got an echo? The tunnel is very cool and nice you shooed everyone away and got that tunnel shot – great perspective in that last photo. The wooden escalator looks a little creaky maybe? When I was a kid I went to downtown Toronto with my father and had on leggings with elastic stirrup straps and just shoes, not boots, and the stirrup elastic came snapped and came off and got tangled in the escalator at the department store. I was frantic I was going to get swallowed up in it and screaming. I can’t remember the last time I’ve been on a store escalator since then, but if I can avoid it and take the elevator I do that after all these years. If I have to use the escalator, it takes me forever to step onto the stupid thing … I hold back.
Oh Linda, I’m so sorry. As a kid I always wondered if the escalators would do that to me. I still don’t trust these things!
Funny how it stuck with me all those afterward – it was scary though. No, I don’t trust them either, but then, as a adult, I got stuck in the elevator in the building where I worked. Went out to lunch with three co-workers and we were stuck between floors for over an hour … we were chattering away and did not know we were on the intercom. Once you pull the emergency alarm, you are on the intercom – who knew? The elevator repairman was on another job so he didn’t answer his page until he was done with the first job.
This kind of reminds me of the tunnels that the werewolf stalked his victims through in “An American Werewolf in London”, although that took place in, uh, London, of course …
You remind me of that thing … What did we call it? Plane, bus, waiting … travel! That’s a word, isn’t it?
Next time I’m in Antwerp I’ll check this out! They also have a great train station there which is three stories high.
I’m getting itchy feet, too. Traveling would be nice! The train station is stunning! While we were there there was some crazy storm coming, so we hurried & I didn’t take a single photo 🙁
I took a couple of photos and will post them sometime. And yes, it would be nice to go on a trip again soon. But until that changes I’ll enjoy your postcards from Berlin! 😀
Oh thank you. Next ones may be a bit more erm … local 😉
Local to you … but a trip abroad for me! 😉
There’s a tunnel like this under the River Elbe in Hamburg. No idea if it is as cool as the Antwerp one, because it was one of my missed opportunities there. It was one of the school trips my sons went on , but accompanying several classes of overexcited primary school children through an echoey tunnel is my idea of torture. I went on the zoo trip, though. That was lovely!
Ha ha, yeah, it works out like that! Brave of you to even go! I’ve been in a tunnel under the Spree in Berlin last year in Köpenick and I was so impressed, I didn’t even take a photo 😉 It was a lot smaller than the one in Antwerp but something happens with us when we travel!
I know. We have a couple of bike and pedestrian tunnels under our main road round our little town, but I don’t get excited and take a photo every time I go through them. Except the one which the local expert graffiti artist uses, because some of the street art there is amazing.
Wooden escalators are really cool! I like vintage things that still in place. Now we need some light at the end of the tunnel for 2021! 🙂
Well said!
625 yards not 822 or 1,876 feet!
Damn, I googled it …