After reading this description about Parc de Bercy, I couldn’t wait to explore this Parisian park. It didn’t really live up to my expectations, maybe because I had my hopes up too high, maybe because I didn’t have much time to really discover this park since I was meeting up with Marijke later, but I did end up with some photos I’m pretty satisfied with. Maybe next time I’m in Paris, I’ll give it another shot when I have more time on my hands!
When it comes to bookshops in Paris, the most famous is without a doubt Shakespeare & Co. But if you make the effort to walk two streets further, The Abbey Bookshop is what you find. This Canadian bookshop sells probably the same english literature (I am not sure since I didn’t feel like standing in line to enter Shakespeare & Co), but is much more quiet and I didn’t encounter one single tourist here… Here you can explore thousands of books, stacked on bookshelves or piled up against the walls, while enjoying a cup of tea or coffee offered by the owners. Definitely a must-visit when you’re a bookworm visiting Paris.
One thing I was really looking forward to during my trip to Lisbon, was visiting the cinema on the rooftop again. After I discovered this wonderful place, I made a habit of going every week to have a cheap vegetarian diner with a great view over the city, watch a free movie, catch up with my friends and meet new people. Unfortunately school (and the cold weather) got in the way and by the end of my 5 months in Lisbon, it had been weeks, if not months, since the last time I was there, so this was definitely on my list when I came back to Lisbon for a week. Unfortunately, the weekly event changed from cinema la em cima, on the rooftop of an apartment building, to cinema la em baixo, in RDA69. (Here you can also get your bike repaired and on Sunday they serve delicious pizzas for only 2 euros.) Since it was way too hot to sit inside, we had our delicious meal on the streets. Despite the change of location the atmosphere and the people are still amazing, and as usual I ran into some familiar faces. Definitely a must-go if you’re ever in the city! You can find more info about the cinema here.
Because it was so hot while I was in Lisbon, I spent most of my days in the park or on the beach, reading, taking a nap or having a picnic with some friends. These are some photos of an afternoon with my friend Lisa and her friends from faculty at Jardim da Estrela. We brought the slack line and a guitar and enjoyed the beautiful park. (Including the crazy guy riding around on his bike with his stereo blasting…) Going through these photos while I’m studying makes me miss these carefree days even more…
At Flower Power in Lisbon (calçada do combro 2), you can eat and drink between the most gorgeous flower arrangements – not so suprising since this café / restaurant is part of a flower shop. Both the beautiful decorations and the artwork changes regularly, so you’ll never be bored if you come to this place regularly. Oh and the food is pretty good too, so you don’t have to come here only for the wonderful interior and the view at the famous elevador da bica right across the street.
Since this little café in Lisbon was close to my home and on the way between my apartment and the metro to the university, this was my go to place to work on my thesis (or the blog, because yes, this place has free wifi) while enjoying a cup of (cheap!) coffee and the company of likeminded friends. But Café Tati has more to offer than free wifi and a cosy interior, they also have an extensive book collection and if you keep an eye on their facebook page, you’ll notice they regularly organize jazz concerts, which are tested and approved by yours truly. The food is very tasty and affordable as well, so if you’re in Lisbon, I recommend you to enjoy at least one drink here. (Rua da Ribeira nova 36)
When you take the small candle lit corridor that leads you to this hidden gem, you will find an indoor basket court and next to it, the entrance to Primeiro Andar (Rua das Portas de Santo Antão, nº110 in Lisbon). With it’s cosy sofa’s and occasional concerts, you’ll find yourself right at home here. For more Lisbon tips, take a look here.
The Fabrica Features shop is located above the united colors of benetton shop at rua garret 83. This place that caught my attention before, but I never really understood how to get to that fourth floor. That is, until someone told me you actually had to go into the benetton shop and take the elevator up. So, in my last week, I finally managed to visit this more or less hidden gem. Here you find beautiful pieces of art and all kinds of items that would make wonderful gifts for dear friends. (Seriously, how amazing are those sea shell headphones at photo four?) Fabrica Features Lisboa blogs here about their new products and exhibitions.
Zazou is the place to go if you are looking for authentic portuguese products. Wether it’s sardines, soap, wine, ceramics or paper ware, this place will have something you like! And if you’re tired from walking Lisbon’s hills, you can always take a seat in their café. I haven’t actually tried this myself, but seeing all the products the shop carries, it should be good! You can find this lovely bazar slash café at calçada do correio velho 7, Lisbon.
all photos by me
The LOSTin café has appeared on the blog before, but this place is so beautiful I thought it deserved another post. LOSTin has the most beautiful terrace with an amazing view over Lisbon, perfect for spending hot days in one of their cute sofas with a glass of fresh juice.
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One last Porto tip today: this lovely coffee shop slash cocktail bar in rua das galerias de paris, where you can also find this wonderful shop. In La Bohème, we found tasty cocktails on the well designed menu card for a very fair price and we enjoyed them in a beautiful interior, of which you can see more photos here. (Unfortunately it was a bit too dark to take decent photos myself, but luckily there’s the internet to solve that!)
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During our trip to Porto (of which I told your more last week here and here), one of the things we couldn’t miss, was visiting Casa da Musica, the famous concert hall by OMA. Unfortunately we could only see the entrance hall and the café from inside, since the rest of the building was closed, but nevertheless we enjoyed it and of course I took loads of photos!
You already know I have a slight obsession with beautiful packaging (see my branding pinterest board and this, this and this post), so when I entered ‘A Vida Portuguesa‘, I thought I was in heaven. This store sells all kinds of authentic portuguese products, from sea salt to soap and from notebooks to sardines and all are wrapped in the most beautiful packaging. Unfortunately it’s a little bit expensive, and some of these items you can find cheaper in local drug stores, but the shop is beau-ti-ful and it’s fascinating to roam around and check out everything they sell. The photos from this post are taken when I went to Porto (it’s one of the shops in Rua da galeria de paris, which I talked about yesterday), but they also have a shop in Lisbon, located in a really cool old building but a lot smaller. Anyway, if you’re in Lisbon or Porto and looking for souvenirs, this is where you should go.
I’ve already posted about LX factory before and recommended it to a lot of people and everyone seemed to love it. And so did I, obviously! After the first time, I went there three weeks in a row to check out the market. The market changes every time, so this time I found an artist creating wooden boxes as wall decoration (he has more interesting one’s than the one in the photo, but unfortunately I don’t have good photos of those and I don’t know his name… bad blogger!), decorative roosters and birds (so portuguese) and tasty looking soap. Me and my friends enoyed some portuguese pasteis and coffee at café na fabrica, of which you already saw the terrace (last photo in this post), but this time I also photographed the lovely interior for you. (Good blogger!) However, these times I also wandered around the site a little bit more and discovered that the more quiet part is pretty interesting too, with lots of graffiti and interesting spaces. I really wouldn’t mind having my office here someday!
Feira da ladra, or the ‘thieves market’, is a huge flea market that is held every tuesday and saturday at Campo de Santa Clara in Lisbon. Rumor has it that if you get robbed in the city, you can find your stolen goods here and buy them back. There’s a lot of junk here, but you can also find nice bags, clothing, jewelry, furniture and other vintage treasures. Oh, and this also where I go to find cheap batteries!
Next to the market, you also find little shops here, selling gorgeous old books (like the Jules Verne series, I’m tempted to get one just because they are so beautiful, even though my portuguese is not good enough to be able to actually read them), leather backpacks and contemporary portuguese design. (By the way, you’ve already seen this market on the blog: photo two and three in this post.)
Tapada das necessidades is where during september outjazz took place. I’ve showed you this park when it was filled with people, music and a wonderful atmosphere, but when there’s no festival going on, it’s a place-to-be as well. In some places you feel like you’re in a jungle, and then there’s that old greenhouse and other abandoned buildings waiting for you to be discovered.
Whenever you’re on a miradouro (a viewpoint) in Lisbon and you look across the river, there’s Jesus staring right back at you. So together with a friend, I went on a little adventure to ‘the other side’ of Lisbon. Instead of taking the ‘normal’ road through the city up to the statue, we opted for a little bit more exploring so we walked along the river and later ventured through some abandoned buildings to get up the hill. We left a little bit too late and didn’t bring any flashlights, so it became a little bit more adventurous than we aimed for, but we made it to Cristo Rei right when they were closing, and the sweet nun let us in anyway, so we got a private nighttime view.
Chapito is another one of those places where you have to go if you’re ever in Lisbon. This circus school also houses a restaurant, including a terrace with a wonderful view and a bar where regularly a band plays on a former swimming pool which is transformed into a stage. Every sunday you can come here for live african music and in my experience, it’s always good!
One of the things I was really looking forward to when my best friend came to see me in Lisbon, was paying a visit to the CCB, or the Centro Cultural de Belém. We both love visiting museums of modern art (the fact that we spent all our money on museums when we were in Vienna says enough) so this was a must-do during her stay. The CCB was one of the most fun museums we’ve visited together: one of the artworks included a sandpit, parrots, a tent and required bare feet, while another one existed out of a room with mattresses on the floor, rock’n’roll music and projections all over. I’ll warn you right now for the photo overload, but I just couldn’t resist showing you all the wonderful art this museum has on display! Oh – and they get two thumbs up for their creative use of signage!
The former convent, Convento da Ordem do Carmo, and it’s church were severely damaged during the earthquake in Lisbon in 1755. Until this day, the ruins of the Igreja do Carmo, are the biggest proof of the earthquake. Nowadays, it’s an archeological museum which you can visit for only €2,50 if you’re a student. In my opinion, you don’t have to go there to see the ‘archeological treasures’, but just to enjoy these breathtaking ruins.
My best friends’ visit happened to coincide with Open House Lisboa, an event where you can take a tour in several buildings in Lisbon. As we’re both architects, we couldn’t let this opportunity pass by. There was just one tiny problem: we expected it to be similar to ‘dag van de architectuur’ in Flanders (you can see some photos of last year’s edition here), where you’re free to visit any building at any time. So we didn’t subscribe in advance to see any buildings, with the result that we just explored a few buildings from the outside. So here’s the first batch of photos, from the champalimaud centre for the unknown, which is a research centre for neurosciences and oncology.
Every tuesday, the residents of an appartment building somewhere in Lisbon open their doors to everyone who’s interested. You go through the building and take the fire escape to the roof of the building. Here you’ll have an amazing view over the city, get a vegetarian meal for only 3 euros, meet wonderful people and watch an interesting movie. In short, you’ll have a great evening! I’m sorry for the bad quality of these photos by the way, they could’ve been so much better if I wouldn’t have slipped on one of Lisbon’s slippery sidewalks when it was raining (and thus even more slippery!), as I broke my 50 mm lens when I fell… Lisbon gives and takes I guess!
It took me two weeks before I finally had time to spend a day at the beach, but when I finally found an appartment and got settled, I enjoyed it even more. With a few friends, we spent an entire day at praia guincho, one of the more beautiful beaches near Lisboa. Despite the cold when it was getting later, we stayed there until sunset. So worth it!
Last Sunday, I made a trip to LX factory, an old industrial site which is now a creative island. Here you can find wonderful shops, nice restaurants and bars, architects, fashion designers, advertising agencies, artists, photographers and so on. And on top of that, each sunday the LX market takes place, where you can find both vintage and new treasures.
As I told you last week: it’s about time I start showing you where to go in my hometown (okay, in the city 12 km next to my hometown), instead of always rushing of to other cities or countries. In part one, I showed you Hasselt’s one and only vintage shop, this time we’re getting some culture and something to eat!
I’m always off to Brussels, Antwerp or cities in faraway countries and sometimes I forget where I come from. Close to home there’s some good stuff to be found as well!
Over 20 photos in one post isn’t too much, or is it? Sometimes I just can’t help it, sometimes I really can’t kill my darlings! (Oh wait, you should’ve seen the amount of photos I started with…) A few weeks ago, me and some friends paid a visit to our Belgian king, or much rather the gigantic greenhouses in his even more gigantic garden. The royal greenhouses of Laeken are wonderful and certainly a must-see, too bad they are only open for the public during the month of April and you’re not allowed to visit all of the domain, only a specific route is public.
YARD is a lovely boutique / gallery in Leuven, offering gorgeous stuff from various young designers and artists, so if you’re looking for a unique addition to your wardrobe, an original gift or a one-of-a-kind piece of art, this is where you should be! For more info, you can take a look at their website or webshop.
One day of our stay in Lisbon, was spent at the Expo Park. In 1998, the world exposition was held in Lisbon, with the theme ‘The Oceans, a Heritage for the Future’. Nowadays you can walk through the park, take a look at the pavilion of Portugal by Alvaro Siza (pictured above, but if you take a look here, you might get abetter idea of how impressing this building is), the trainstation by Calatrava, enjoy the ‘vulcanic’ fountains and so on. We had a great time and there were lots of gorgeous things to see, so expect a picture-heavy post!
(picture by my father)
One of the many places you must certainly visit when staying in Lisbon is the castelo de São Jorge. The ruins of this castle offer an amazing view over the city and taking a walk through the castle while running into the many peacocks that enjoy it’s garden is a great way to spend a sunny afternoon.
Last weekend, the ‘Museum Aan de Stroom’ (or simply the MAS), was opened in Antwerp with the expected festivities. I didn’t make it to the opening, but a few weeks ago, we already payed a visit to the MAS for one of our courses. Here are a few pictures!
all pictures taken by me
Recently I took a little roadtrip along with 50 other architecture students to Frankfurt. I will show you all of the pictures soon, but this building diserves a post of it’s own. On our way to Frankfurt, we stopped by the most beautiful museum I’ve ever been to. Seriously,if you ever get the chance, please visit the Kolumba Art museum of the Archoiocese of Cologne. It’s designed by Peter Zumthor and the architecture is mindblowing, all of us walked around in awe and totally forgot about what time we had to be back at the bus and where we would find a meal before we got there.
all pictures taken by me
all photos by me
