See these fabulous Art Nouveau buildings? The decorative facades? That golden balcony? This is the result of being thrown out of the music conservatory at a young age, for misbehaving. But he must have been forgiven; the conservatory named a concert hall after him. Yep, [...]
A béguinage, what is that? Well, let's begin with a béguine (come on, that was funny...) A béguine is, or rather was, a woman who dedicated her life to her god - but didn't necessarily want to take a vow, or withdraw from the world. [...]
We’ve covered many serial world heritage sites here on Sophie’s World. Some are within the same country, such as the mining landscapes of Cornwall and Devon, while others are transnational: Struve’s Geodetic Arc, Europe's ancient beech forests, and even transcontinental, like le Corbusier’s buildings. Today, we’re in Belgium, taking a look [...]
In Belgium's second city, you’ll find the Plantin-Moretus Museum, a fascinating 16th century printing shop, publishing house and residence. Antwerp, then a city of 100 000 residents, was one of Europe's leading cities for printing and typography, with 140 bookshops, printers and publishers. Among these, Christophe Plantin was [...]
Stoclet House - or Stoclet Palace - is a secret heritage site. All you'll see is the back of the building. Through an iron fence. I'm feeling a bit like a stalker, snapping photos through the fence as cars pass by on Brussel's busy, snazzy [...]
Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve 11 December 2017 On the train from Luxembourg to Brussels, there is no plug points, extremely scanty mobile reception, and you cannot buy so much as a cup of tea. In fact, according to the conductor: 'You can buy nothing on this train. No [...]
I was first in Bruges just after uni. It was a brief trip, just 3-4 hours, and what I remember best was cleanliness! Not so much as a gum wrapper littered the cobbled streets. Years later, I returned with Ali. Possibly an even shorter visit. [...]
