Fodor's Expert Review Berchem
South of the Center
Take the 7 or 15 trams to this neighborhood southeast of Antwerp's city center, where 19th-century entrepreneur Baron Edouard Osy and his sister, Josephine Cogels, inherited an old castle, demolished it, and built some refreshingly eccentric houses reflecting the eclectic tastes of the era. There are houses in Renaissance, Greek classical, and Venetian styles, but most of all, there are Art Nouveau town houses, especially on Cogels Osylei, Transvaalstraat, and Waterloostraat, mainly built between 1890 and 1906. Berchem is the first stop on the railway line to Brussels; the local tourist board organizes some interesting walking tours of the area that start and end at the station.
