Photography & travel

PIERRE ALECHINSKY – Pinceau voyageur

Pierre Alechinsky, a Belgian artist know worldwide. New-york, Paris, Valencia, Madrid, Osaka, Tokyo and now in Brussels with a solo exhibition at Villa Empain. The building itself is a gem. An elegant Art Deco building dating from 1930, designed by Swiss architect Michel Polak for Baron Louis Empain. The baron himself hardly ever lived there. The villa has had a turbulent history. It was sold, rented out and eventually bought back by the Baron, who then donated it to the Belgian government. In 1980, the villa, which was in a deplorable state, was purchased by the Boghossian Foundation. Thanks to …

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BARCELONA 2024#2

First time i visited the Sagrada Familia was in 2001, and a revisit in 2012. I still remember well how much of a construction site it was in 2001. The nave itself was not accessible, but climbing the Bell towers on the Passion façade, or Nativity, was possible in small groups. The progress that has been made in 23 years is simply amazing. (and not to forget that the first cornerstone was laid in 1882)The photo of star of this blog post is the ‘Star of the Virgin Mary’. A true milestone of the construction in November 2021. Was Antoni …

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MORCOTE & GANDRIA

About 10 kilometres outside of Lugano you will find Morcote, a small village with a beautiful lake view. Morcote was founded around 1100. At that time, a castle was born to protect and control trade on the lake. 300 years later the church of Santa Maria del Sasso was built. Visible from afar. Visiting the church does not come without an effort, 404 steps separate you from the entrance. But once you reach the top, you will be rewarded with a magnificent panorama. North-East of Lugano lies Gandria, glued to the surrounding hillside of lake Lugano. Access to the village …

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ÉVORA #3

It is not always the case that the third time is the good time. We experienced this when were treated with heavy rain showers during our third stay at Alentejo. It was so bad that the day before our departure, Lisbon airport was even closed for several hours. But fortunately for us, the sun occasionally broke through the grey blanket of clouds so we planned several small trips around the area.For our first excursion we picked Monsaraz, a cozy fortified village on the right margin of the river Guadiana near the border of Spain. Which is about a 1hr drive …

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Genève un après-midi culturel

Quoi faire when the sky is heavy and you’re longing for some brain food.Visit a museum. Or even better, visit 2 museums!Musée d’Art et d’Histoire and MAMCO it is.The clock on the Musée d’Art et d’Histoire’s facade is actually a counter, counting down to the end of the world. To be more precise, the extinction of the sun. Switzerland is not really known for its museums, nor are they numerous, but sometimes you still get surprised. Our first visit was so-so, but the second one was yippie.The building itself has a lot of grandeur but the collection is missing an …

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SARDINIA #1

An island. Mediterranean sea. Belongs to Italy, so great food and nice weather. The above bullet points were on our wish list, but only four out of five checkboxes ticked because…..During the first 3 days of our holiday i couldn’t stop thinking about the Creedence Clearwater Revival song “Who’ll stop the rain”. Luckily our hotel Petra Segreta had a wellness area and an outdoor swimming pool. Raindrops on your head while swimming feels a bit exotic and refreshing at the same time. Not to worry about the bad weather we decided to explore the nearby city Olbia. In all honesty, …

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ÉVORA

Picture this. You’re having a lunch in a cosy classic restaurant in a city which breaths history and you hear ‘Dueling banjos’ from the movie ‘Deliverance’.When you ask the waiter about the music choice he answers that he plays Grand theft auto and this song is used in that game. Since then this Portuguese man is a big fan of country music. No fado for this cowboy. At another point, we were entertained by a gang of buskers while enjoying our apéro. Music and good life seems to blend very well. Évora is a charming medium-sized city and the historic …

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RüGEN

Leaving Hamburg behind and heading for some fresh air, nature and salt on our skin. We stranded at Rügen. An island just off the Pomeranian coast of the Baltic Sea, and the largest island in Germany covering over 900 square km. I honestly didn’t knew Germany actually had an island. But what i do know now: ‘we have to plan a second visit’. Although the weather was rather cloudy the atmosphere on the island was beyond mystique. The horizon blended very well with the grey sky thanks to the soft tone day light. Especially when you walk at the end …

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BETHLEHEM

Only 20 mins driving and you’ll find yourself in a different world.By coincidence we bumped into a simpatico taxi driver at the Lion’s gate. He was not only a good driver but also an entertaining tour guide. Later on we also discovered he was a friend of the former police commissioner of Bethlehem. Israel does its best to discourage you to visit Palestine. They know very well tourism is a steady flow of currency and money is what Palestines are lacking of. And they like to keep it that way. I’m not asking for a life without a battle. Peace …

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HARAM AL-SHARIF aka HAR HABAYIT

A golden landmark in the Old City center. It’s very easy to spot the Dome from far away. It sparkles & glitters in the sunlight, covered with 80kgs of gold foil. But kind a difficult to visit the area. Out of 12 entrances only 1 acces gate is opened to the public. Mughrabi gate -check upfront the time table as opening hours varies- is the only entrance for non-muslims next to the Western Wall. All others are controlled by heavy armoured Israeli police officers. We tried several other entrances but were summoned to retrace our steps on every attempt. The …

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Historic art