Tour guide in Antwerp Jorge A.

Hello and welcome to Antwerp! I am Spanish. Work brought me to Belgium in 2007. I had to take a decision about the place to live. The beauty and the life in Antwerp called me. It is a more organic city than Brugge, and more livable than Brussels. When we think of Antwerp the name Rubens comes up, but the city is much more. From the uncertain Roman times, to the fortress in the middle ages, from the Spanish to the Austro-Hungarian Empires, from Dutch occupation to the independence, from being one of the richest nations in the world to be at the center WWI and WWII. All these periods left signs in the architecture and the streets of Antwerp. My Spanish family has roots in a wine area. My grandfather and my uncle continue a heritage that I could not continue here. Then, the spirit of the family called me in 2008 and I started to brew beer myself in the heart of the beer country. In 2016 I decided to share all my knowledge with visitors, and in 2017 UNESCO decided to grant the acknowledge of Human Heritage to the Belgian Beer culture. At that moment I was the only specialized beer tour guide in the city. Tour operators started to contact me and I continue the work today, sharing the culture, the story and the beer with any traveler who wants to share with me the time. Tour operators contacted me and, specially in Italian, there was no support for cultural tours in the city. The demand was growing and the moment of sharing my experience and my love for history was knocking at the door. I was a history freak of everywhere I lived before. It makes me feel closer to the place and it makes me understand why the development reached the point it has at this moment. My target is make that you understand the city as much as me and, when you show the pictures at the end of your trip, you are able to tell the stories because you understand the images. Spanish food is superb. What can Belgium offer? Frankly, apart of the pralines (mix of chocolates), french fries and waffles, not much of the Belgian food transcend internationally. It took me long time to discover the bakeries, butchers and foods that makes Antwerp unique. Even your people are totally alien to the traditional food. I can unveil for you some of the mysteries and traditions that sometimes don't cross the barrier of the language.