"last day of 2001 in Mortsel" Mortsel Travelogue by irisbe

First thing I saw that early morning was the snow carpet in my garden!
It had been snowing during the night and the world looked wonderful now!

I put on my shoes and went out to watch it more carefully
Everything was covered

It looked wonderful!

Leopold II thought Antwerp had to have a good defence and therefor he decided to build several fortresses around the city.
This one is Fort IV, one of the camps that has been in use till recently, but last year the city of Mortsel bought the area.
Here was a training camp for soldiers for a long time and was stored amunition.
The fortress used to be underground, and normally the only vegetation growing above it was grass, and the level of the ground was a bit going up, so it made a small hill.
This way the soldiers could spot the upcoming enemies.
Nowadays nature has gone her way and there are a lot of trees growing on top of it.
If the city decides to maintain the buildings as a sort of museum and witness of the past, they will have to cut several of those trees because their roots are penetrating into the underground buildings.

By the time the chain of the fortress was finished, the warfare had changed so much that as a defense strategy they became useless. That is why they got the function of training camps and later on were sold to the community.

The Antwerp Province is planning to make a "connection" again between the fortresses and give them a "destinity" or function.
Fort IV would be the real fort as it used to be, Fort V would be the Theatre and art fort, fort VI will be the university campus fort (that is where I work), Fort VII will be the bird reservation fort etc etc....

On this picture you see the "officer's building"

Here you can see clearly the buildings are covered with a lot of ground and trees are now growing all over

All the forts where build in the same shape and in this very particular style

One of the former "fire alarm" places

Looking very primitive now, the heating place

A view from the other side

some parts of the buildings are almost completely hidden underground (see the background building) and grass, weed, and nowadays even trees, are growing over it

The real heart of the fortress
I once visited my boyfriend who had military duty there and I ended up behind the bar serving beer for the soldiers !
It was fun! The major thought different and checked my age if I was already 18, well I just was!
And every one laughed and beeeuuu-wed at him, untill he left the bar. I never saw him again!

Once, on Christmass, the soldiers who didn't get any leave were so frustrated they let escape the singing birds of the general or the major ( I forgot ) and the birds flew all through this building, the halls underground etc etc. Maybe one or two escaped through the chimney? '-)
So from that time it was forbidden to drink alcohol on weekends or official holidays when you had to stay in...
and that is where visiting girlfriends come in handy!
So I was "forced" to be a little smuggler.

Behind those windows were the rooms of the soldiers.
I think the city will have to do a lot of restauration and maintainance to keep this building healthy.

The style the bricks are put is very typical for these fortresses.
A recent (end 2002) press comuniqué suggested the local governement is thinking of maybe installing a youth hostel in these buildings, now that would be a brilliant idea!
Mortsel has so much to offer: Inside swimmingpool, a public and a private gymplace, indoor wallclimbing, theatre, train at few minutes from the Fort (about across the street) and that only is 9 to 13 minutes to Antwerp, close to other public transportation to Antwerp and other cities, a shopping centre, some restaurants...
and I could send you all to the youth hostel instead of camping in my garden `-) hahaha
well at least that would be better with this kind of weather!

Nowadays the fort is open to the public and the city is planning cultural activities over Summer

Detail of the rememberance stone

officiers building and the road leading upwards to the "talud"
at the right the wall with a rememberance sign

The building that housed the bar of the officers

The "inner-"fort is surrounded by water and you can make a nice walk alongside.

With this Winter weather, it looks all so beautiful and peaceful

If you keep follow the hiking path, it will lead you to the backside of the City Hall of Mortsel.
The square tower like part of the building is the backside of the huge enterance hall with stain windows.

On the first floor of this round-tower like part is the Mayor's office

When you leave the city hall behind you, you will pass the in-door swimmingpool and behind it you will walk alongside the little playground

Toys are colourful and modern

And for the brave of the youngest, we have this spiderweb to climb!

So... by now I felt a bit like a snowman myself and I longed for a bit of heating and a warm cup of tea :-)
And I needed to get ready to celebrate New Years Eve!

Thank you for walking with me, you were nice company!

Yes! We do have a castle, hidden behind huge trees.
But now their leaves are gone, we can witness a part of it's beauty.
The castle is owned by an old lady (getting close to 90 years old).
She used to have a huge chain of clothing shops (De Wolmolen), never got married or had any children.
So she made it her aim in life to rebuild the ruins of this castle, together with a neighbour.
They sure did a great thing!
Here you can see the tower of the castle.

The enterance is the oldest part of the castle.
It goes back to the 15th century at least.