Belgian Comic Strip Center in Brussels

10 January 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Museums, Exhibitions Reading Time:  7 minutes

© TADOR/cc-by-sa-3.0

© TADOR/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Belgian Comic Strip Center (French: Centre belge de la Bande dessinée; Dutch: Belgisch Stripcentrum) is a museum in Brussels, Belgium, dedicated to Belgian comics. It is located at 20, rue des Sables/Zandstraat, in an Art Nouveau building designed by Victor Horta, and can be accessed from Brussels-Congress railway station and Brussels Central Station. The building was designed in 1905 by the world-famous architect Victor Horta, in Art Nouveau style, and served as a textile department store, the Magasins Waucquez. After Waucquez’s death in 1920, the building began to languish away, and in 1970, the firm closed its doors. Jean Delhaye, a former aide of Horta, saved the building from demolition, and by 16 October 1975, it was designated as a protected monument. Still, the building was in bad shape and victim to a lot of vandalism.   read more…

Étang de Berre in Southern France

6 January 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

Mirmas-le-Vieux © Mathieu BROSSAIS/cc-by-sa-4.0

Mirmas-le-Vieux © Mathieu BROSSAIS/cc-by-sa-4.0

The Étang de Berre is a brackish water lagoon on the Mediterranean coast of France, about 25 kilometres (16 mi) north-west of Marseille. The Marseille Provence Airport is located in the southeast portion of the Étang de Berre, with its main runway extending into the water on reclaimed land.   read more…

Besançon in France

4 January 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  6 minutes

© Arnaud 25/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Arnaud 25/cc-by-sa-3.0

Besançon is the prefecture of the department of Doubs in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. The city is located in Eastern France, close to the Jura Mountains and the border with Switzerland. Capital of the historic and cultural region of Franche-Comté, Besançon is home to the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté regional council headquarters, and is an important administrative centre in the region. It is also the seat of one of the fifteen French ecclesiastical provinces and one of the two divisions of the French Army. In 2019 the city had a population of 117,912, in a metropolitan area of 280,701, the second in the region in terms of population.   read more…

Manneken Pis in Brussels

3 January 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  8 minutes

© C.Suthorn/cc-by-sa-4.0

© C.Suthorn/cc-by-sa-4.0

Manneken Pis (Dutch for ‘Little Pissing Man’) is a landmark 55.5 cm (21.9 in) bronze fountain sculpture in central Brussels, Belgium, depicting a puer mingens; a naked little boy urinating into the fountain’s basin. Though its existence is attested as early as the 15th century, it was designed in its current form by the Brabantine sculptor Jérôme Duquesnoy the Elder and put in place in 1618 or 1619.   read more…

Scicli on Sicily

2 January 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  6 minutes

© trolvag/cc-by-sa-3.0

© trolvag/cc-by-sa-3.0

Scicli is a town and municipality in the Province of Ragusa in the south east of Sicily, southern Italy. It is 25 kilometres (16 mi) from Ragusa, and 188 kilometres (117 mi) from Palermo, and has a population (2017) of 27,051. Alongside seven other cities in the Val di Noto, it has been listed as one of UNESCO‘s World Heritage Sites. The municipality borders with Modica and Ragusa. The economy of Scicli is mostly agricultural, and the area is renowned for its many greenhouses producing the primizie (“early fruits”) that are exported all over Italy.   read more…

Rue Saint-Antoine in Paris

1 January 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Paris / Île-de-France Reading Time:  9 minutes

Hôtel de Mayenne - Marc Baronnet/cc-by-sa-3.0

Hôtel de Mayenne – Marc Baronnet/cc-by-sa-3.0

Rue Saint-Antoine in Paris is one of the oldest streets in the city. It already existed in Gallo-Roman times and was part of the road from Paris to Melun. The street is very steeped in history due to its proximity to the Place de la Bastille. It is an important artery in the heart of the Marais, crossing streets typical of the district such as rue Saint-Paul, rue de Turenne, rue de Birague (which leads to Place des Vosges) and rue Beautreillis. It was finally named Rue Saint-Antoine because of the Abbey of Saint-Antoine-des-Champs, which was outside the city on the road to Château de Vincennes and was converted into a hospital in 1790.   read more…

Theme Week County Mayo – Ballina

31 December 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

Pearse Street © Milesoneill/cc-by-sa-3.0

Pearse Street © Milesoneill/cc-by-sa-3.0

Ballina (Irish: Béal an Átha, meaning ‘mouth of the ford’) is a town in north County Mayo, Ireland. It lies at the mouth of the River Moy near Killala Bay, in the Moy valley and Parish of Kilmoremoy, with the Ox Mountains to the east and the Nephin Beg mountains to the west. The town occupies two baronies; Tirawley on the west bank of the Moy River, and Tireragh, a barony within the County of Sligo, on its east banks. As of 2016, the population of Ballina was 10,171.   read more…

Kornati Islands National Park in Croatia

31 December 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks Reading Time:  8 minutes

© Sporki/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Sporki/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Kornati archipelago of Croatia, also known as the Stomorski islands, is located in the northern part of Dalmatia, south from Zadar and west from Šibenik, in the Šibenik-Knin County. With 35 kilometres (22 miles) length and 89 islands, some large, some small, in a sea area of about 320 square kilometres (124 sq mi), the Kornati are the densest archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea. From northwest to southeast (from the island of Balabra to Samograd), and from northeast to southwest (from Gangarol to Mana) they stretch for 13 km (8 miles). The name of the archipelago is the plural form of the name of the largest island, called Kornat. There are no permanent settlements in Kornati. Simple houses in well-protected coves such as Vrulje, Kravjačica, Lavsa and others are used by mainland landowners as temporary shelters. Most of the land owners are from the island of Murter and Dugi Otok.   read more…

Theme Week County Mayo – Killala

30 December 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

Street scene © geograph.org.uk - Liz McCabe/cc-by-sa-2.0

Street scene © geograph.org.uk – Liz McCabe/cc-by-sa-2.0

Killala (Irish: Cill Ala, meaning ‘the mottled church’) is a village in County Mayo in Ireland, north of Ballina. The railway line from Dublin to Ballina once extended to Killala. To the west of Killala is a Townsplots West (known locally as Enagh Beg), which contains a number of ancient forts. By the end of the 18th century, Killala had established a small sea port, where fishing was the primary activity. The town also produced coarse linens and woolen products.   read more…

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