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. [...]
As you may recall, we really like Antwerp here at Sophie’s World. So we just had to return! Earlier, we’ve talked about the city’s three World Heritage sites (three!). This time, I'll tell you about an unusual Antwerp brewery. Sounds, well, not that exciting? That’s [...]
