Square miles of landscape conservation areas and nature reserves gave us the opportunity for long bicycle rides and the rest we needed.
Relaxing view
Category Archives: interesting locations
Resting
A sight to enjoy: The San Giorgio Maggiore Church opposite St. Mark’s Square in Venice.
No tourists anywhere
No to be misunderstood: I am a tourist too, but I love to roam through the city when there are less people rushing around. Half a mile from the city center of Venice the city becomes more normal and less commercial.
Quiet Beauty
The rain is gone and the blue hour just arrived and gave me the opportunity to make this portrait of a wonderful beauty in the city of Venice.
Rain all weeks long
Enduring rainfalls for weeks caused floddings all over the more nothern parts Germany in December 2023. Here in Ruhrort, where the floodplains usually are a leisure area, the lanterns shine, although the area is not accessible, but they bathe the scene in a beautiful light.
Preserved Beauty
There are many buildings with style in Antwerp. This former shop has a front with ceramic tiles, a huge window and a great window with stained glass from the art déco era.
Vlaamse Opera
The current Royal Vlaamse Opera Antwerp building was opened in 1907 and can host 1000 guests. The architectural design comes from Alexis Van Mechelen and Emiel Van Averbeke. Next to the Opera there is a large building, the Antwerp Tower, a former office building transformed by Wiel Arets Architects to a residential building on the upper floors. The Belgian national road 1 in front of the Opera was relocated to a tunnel to make place for the pedestrians.
New purpose for an old port
The port of Antwerp is huge and is now closer to the North Sea than it was centuries ago, when ships docked in the middle of the city. This part of the harbor, called Kattendijk Dock, was used until the end of the 20th century and then became part of the city.
Bourlaschouwburg
Bourla Theatre (also known as Bourlaschouwburg) is a theatre located in Antwerp that seats around 900. The building is designed in a neoclassical style on the site of the former Tapissierspand tapestry market. The theatre was designed on request from the city in 1827 by the city architect Pierre Bourla. Construction began in 1829, but was delayed due to the Belgian Revolution. The theatre was finally finished in 1834 and opened under the name, Grand Théâtre or Théâtre Royal Français, on account of its ownership by a French company. Presently, the Bourla houses the theatre company Het Toneelhuis, which is a merger of the companies, Koninklijke Nederlandse Schouwburg and Blauwe Maandag Compagnie.
The Bourla is the last remaining municipal theatre in Europe with original stage machinery, which fill five levels above and below the stage. The building has been named a protected building since 1938, and therefore is regarded among the most important historic buildings in Belgium.
Text from wikipedia
Twisted Beauty
The twist of the building is for a purpose. The architect wanted to capture more light and to shadow the neighborhood lesser. In addition, it is an eye-catcher and beautifully located in a newly created park.