A week ago the news was announced from Brussels Airlines that its application has been accepted and it was to become a part of the global Star Alliance network. The President of United Airlines, Glenn Tilton, held and chaired a meeting with the CEO’s of members of each of Star Alliance’s member carriers; each of the members voted for accepting Brussels Airlines into the alliance as a new member.

Glenn Tilton went on to say: ‘Brussels Airlines further strengthens the Star Alliance by offering greater connectivity throughout Europe and Africa to better serve the international travel needs of all our customers.’

The MD of Brussels Airlines, Bernard Gustin said: ‘Together we will be able to bring all the advantages of Star Alliance to all of our customers, both at the heart of Europe where we have our state of the art hub, and to Africa, our second home where we have more than 80 years of experience.’

Brussels Airlines service 300 daily flights to 55 airports around Europe and also 15 African destinations which makes them the major airline for offering the widest choice of flights to and from Brussels

Now that they are members of Star Alliance, Brussels Airlines will be able to offer its passengers a good number of additional benefits when taking flights with their airline; automatic benefits include access to connecting flights to more than 1,000 destinations situated within 174 countries.

September will offer a great treat for music loving holidaymakers, as the streets of the city will be turned into an array of stages to showcase a medley of music.

Many of the planned performances have already taken place across the summer, however, there are still loads of shows available for anyone looking to take a city break in Antwerp this month.

On the 13th September in Kielpark, visitors to the TeKiel-A event will receive an afternoon of musical enjoyment commencing at 4pm local time.

The show is part of the Straatlaweit (Street Noise) series.  It has been promoted by the Antwerp tourist board as a:

“colourful music festival in a green environment”

The follow Saturday, the Den Dam concert will take place in the Twee Netenstraat.  Then the entertainment programme will continue to Saturday 27th September, the last day in the series, which will be celebrated with the Waagstock in Stadswaag.

Many people are looking for cheap, bargain holidays at this time of year and what better than to celebrate the love of music in a city as enchanting as Antwerp.

Antwerp is a city in Belgium, close to the border with the Netherlands, close to the mouth of the river Scheldt and is one of the liveliest cities in Belgium.

The name has an interesting background. Legend has it that back in the days when the city was an important harbour, the area around the city was terrorised by a giant who cut off the hands of sailors who refused to pay their tolls. Their hands were then thrown away, which in the local dialect is ‘hand werpen’ and hence the name ‘antwerp’ came from this. The giant was slain by the Roman Silvius Brabo and you can see his image on the Brabo Fountain, depicting him throwing the giant’s own hand into the river.

Once in Antwerp, you can see diamonds being cut at the Provincial Diamond Museum, visit the busy docks area and sample a few local beers in the Oude Stad (the Old Town). All around you are beautiful art nouveau buildings.

You will find the Brabo Fountain in the town square, home to the Grote Markt, a market well worth a visit. The houses around the square are topped with golden statues and the Renaissance Town Hall is an impressive building. There is also the Cathedral of Our Lady that took 170 years to complete from the start date in 1352. The city was home to the famous artist Ruben and you can visit the Rubenhaus, where he lives for 25 years, and see a collection of his masterpieces in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts.

The shopping in Antwerp is excellent and there is a zoo complete with a planetarium and dolphinarium. Parking is not particularly great, so many prefer to arrive by train, which has the added bonus of being able to see the great old station, made of marble and gold, worth a visit on its own.

Flights are just one hour from London to the Antwerp-Deurne Airport, which is just three miles from the city from where you can take your car hire, a bus, taxi or train.