At the conclusion of my recent day-trip to Brussels I had about 15 minutes to expand my portfolio of pictures taken on the magnificent Grand-Place. Here is a selection:
If you recall from this post, I took a day-trip to Brussels from Amsterdam on my recent Dutch journey. That allowed me not only to spend time with my eldest child who was studying in Brussels at the time, but also to take a look at UNESCO World Heritage sites…
Van Nelle Factory is the newest Dutch addition to the UNESCO list, having been inscribed just last year. Its recognition stems from its pioneering place in industrial architecture. The couple of interior pictures at the official link above suggest elements of interest but I doubt I would come here at…
Windmills. I suspect this is the likeliest image to form in anyone’s head after hearing the word “Holland”. Not surprisingly, there is a World Heritage site in Netherlands which is mainly about windmills. Kinderdijk is recognized by UNESCO as yet another example of Dutch ingenuity in the art of water…
Rietveld Schröder House is a small family house, built in 1924, that is recognized as one of the icons of the Modern Movement in architecture. It is one of the smallest – if not the smallest – UNESCO World Heritage sites you can see, but it definitely leaves an impression.…
Schokland is technically another polder (or part thereof), but it has a different history and a different look to what we earlier saw at Beemster. To an unsuspecting eye, it looks like a nature preserve, part woods, part fields, with a few minor points of interest. In its past, it…
Another testament to the Dutch conquest of their watery homeland, Wouda Steam Pumping Station is the largest installation of its kind and has been in operation for almost a century. Recognized by UNESCO as the engineering and architectural masterpiece, it can still carry out its functions of managing the excess…
As I decided to cover all World Heritage sites in Netherlands on my recent trip, I could not bypass Wadden Sea. It would be my first UNESCO site in the “Nature” category – I admit that I am more architecturally- and culturally-inclined and my travel destinations are almost never nature-centric.…
Having had my fill of boisterous city scene in Amsterdam, I spent the last few days in Netherlands driving around the country in pursuit of my World Heritage obsession – and more serene locales. Netherlands, as the name implies, has a large portion of its territory barely above or even…
Brussels is within the speed-train-enabled day-trip range from Amsterdam and I used one of the days on my recent trip to hop on the train to meet up with my eldest, who had been studying in Brussels for all of the spring semester. Since I am now a self-proclaimed opportunistic…
One day while in Amsterdam, I rented a bicycle and rode an hour out of town in search of my next UNESCO World Heritage site. Defense Line of Amsterdam is recognized on the UNESCO list as the unique system of fortifications based on water control. The ring of 40-plus armed…
One of the main reasons Netherlands was chosen as the destination for my recent photographic trip was the fact that Amsterdam had been among the worst-photographed major cities on my past travels (as lamented in my favorite sights Amsterdam entry several years ago). Wandering all over the city for several…
Famous gardens are often places of unparalleled enchantment. As you move through the grounds, your prevalent feeling is the desire to linger in each nook and cranny for ever and ever, to let the sculpted harmony of nature and architecture immerse you in their alternate reality of serenity and surpassing…
Edinburgh is a town after my own heart, a vibrant place full of eye-catching architecture. As our point of entry (and exit) on the whisky trip, it was a not-to-miss destination. I am again left to lament the brevity of our stay in town – a single afternoon – but…
My high-school history curriculum included something on the Utopians of 18th-19th centuries, and although I could no longer recall the particulars the name of Robert Owen was definitely familiar to me. So it was not only for opportunistic reasons that I planned a visit to New Lanark on our journey…
I expect to be entirely opportunistic and non-discriminating in my pursuit of UNESCO World Heritage sites in the foreseeable future. If I am in the vicinity of one with time to spare, I intend to visit it, regardless of what it represents. Which I now understand can throw up a…
This serial UNESCO World Heritage site contains 14 properties, all inscribed together in 2013. We have visited a single one among them and it was in 2008, which makes it one of more borderline entries on my personal roster. The villas and gardens are recognized for the ground-breaking ways they…
As with a couple of other grand churches, we specifically targeted Cologne Cathedral as a stop of interest on our first journey around Germany. One of the most impressive Gothic churches in the Christendom, it is recognized on the UNESCO list both for what it represents artistically and as a…
Of the four properties listed in this UNESCO World Heritage site we can claim reasonable familiarity with two. As unabashed lovers of medieval castles that we are, we planned on seeing at least one of the group of castles in Northern Wales as a definite part of our itinerary when…
I first visited Greenwich Park and climbed up to the Royal Observatory on a business trip to London in 2000. A few years into that decade, as we officially resided within the borders of the Royal Borough of Greenwich, this World Heritage site became the one we undoubtedly visited most…