FRAGMENTS_ Portugal

January 17, 2016

FRAGMENTS_ Portugal - by Hannelore Veelaert via au pays des merveilles-22 While I’m writing this from my new home (more on that later!), my latest trip to already seems so far away even though it’s been only three weeks. As you might have seen on instagram, I traveled to Portugal to spend Christmas with my family in my parents’ holiday home and to reconnect with old friends in Lisbon, where I studied one semester. Together with my parents and sister, we enjoyed the view from their home (see the first photo, taken from my bedroom), explored medieval town Obidos and treated our dog and ourselves to a refreshing walk on the beach of Foz do Arelho.

In Lisbon I met up with Jaka to catch up on everything that happened since our last encounter, stroll through the beautiful streets of the city that I love so much, drink coffee, do some reading in my lovely room for the weekend, relax and discover new places such as Café Da Garagem, with its stunning windows that offer a breathtaking view over the city. (Speaking of discovering new places: I’ve update my city guide for Lisbon with my latest discoveries!)

After handling deadlines at work and struggling a little bit with my health, I decided to bring my film camera instead of a digital one, to give myself a true break from daily life and enjoy this beautiful country that feels like my second home to the fullest. Lisbon always manages to ease my mind, but being able to leave everything behind for a short week gave me the necessary energy right before moving into a new place.

While I’m slowly getting settled into my new home, I’m looking forward to get back to regular blogging again, especially since I still have a ton of photos and an interesting interview to share… Soon!

FRAGMENTS_ The Sahara of Lommel

November 1, 2015

lommelse sahara - by hannelore veelaert via au pays des merveilles-7 There’s a little piece of paradise in the east of Belgium: the Sahara of Lommel. After a short walk through the forest, the pine trees reveal a breathtaking view on ponds surrounded by a sand plain, making it hard to believe you’re still in Belgium. Surprisingly, this nature reserve was formed by the remnants of sand mining and pollution from a former zinc factory. Its fumes caused the old vegetation to disappear and revealed a sand plain instead. The current pine forest was planted to ensure that the sand plain wouldn’t expand and the old sand pits were filled with water, completing the stunning picture that is the Lommelse Sahara.

Although this location is often used as a background for photo shoots or movies, when my friend Lies and I visited, it was a particularly quiet day on the Sahara. Combined with the moody weather (that later cut our visit short with a hail storm), the desolate plain and forest made for quite a photogenic walk. If you’re still deciding on what to do this wonderful Sunday, I think I’ve made the decision a little easier for you… Lommel calling!

FRAGMENTS_ the belgian coast

July 5, 2015

fragments of the belgian coast - by hannelore veelaert via au pays des merveilles-3

While you are reading this, I am on my way to Portugal, to enjoy a couple of days on the countryside with my family and a weekend in Lisbon with my old friends. I’m super happy to be spending some time abroad (and in my favorite city no less), but that doesn’t mean that our own little country of Belgium has nothing to offer. Last October when the temperatures were much lower, me and my friends Eline, Lies & Anne-Sofie spent a weekend at the Belgian coast. Even though a lot of things went wrong during our little getaway (which is why we’re still referring to this trip as “the anti climax weekend”), the beauty of our Belgium seaside did not disappoint. Now that we’re experiencing a heat wave in Belgium, I wouldn’t recommend spending your time at our overcrowded coast, but these images definitely prove that us Belgians don’t need to travel far to experience a beautiful sunset and remind me that I should explore our tiny country more often.

FRAGMENTS_ architecture in Barcelona

May 19, 2015

architecture in barcelona by hannelore veelaert for au pays des merveilles

In November I made a trip to Barcelona, where I spent a couple of days with a friend and two days on my own. My friend had to head back sooner than me but I preferred to have more time off from my busy schedule in Belgium. With “Fiets & the city – Barcelona” in hand, I took the metro to Poblenou to check out their recommendations on modern architecture. Herzog and de Meuron’s Museu Blau, the natural history museum, was my favorite discovery, with it’s interesting textures and reflections. Next to Museu Blau, you can also find the Diagonal 00 Telefonica Tower (by Enric Massip-Bosch_EMBA), with its graphic lines. My last stop was Can Framis, Jodi Badia’s concrete museum which houses a collection of contemporary Catalan art. As it was Monday, both museums were closed so unfortunately my architectural field trip was limited to outside views only, but worth it anyway.

FRAGMENTS_ Montjuic

May 9, 2015

FRAGMENTS_ Montjuic by Hannelore Veelaert for Au Pays Des Merveilles
In November I made a short trip to Barcelona with my friend and textile designer Ella De Vos. We both visited the city a couple of times already, so our plan was to do absolutely nothing but relax. We needed a few days to escape our busy lives in Antwerp and a few days where nothing was planned but drinking coffee or wine and eating tapas seemed perfect to us.

One particular day, we decided to be a little more adventurous, so we followed this book‘s advice and rented bikes to ride up to Montjuic. ~~Maybe~~ Definitely a little too ambitious for someone who doesn’t work out regularly (the hill is really steep), so we decided to make stops on the way up instead of on the way down, like our city guide recommended. This still is quite an effort, but the views you get along the way definitely make up for it.

ROTTERDAM & BREDA

January 31, 2014

via au pays des merveilles Chassé Park Apartments, Breda, by XDGA

Right before I’m leaving on another short visit to the Netherlands (this time I’m going for the opening my friend’s photography exhibition called The Dwarf Empire, a tip for those of you who are in the neighborhood in the next weeks), I’m sharing these photos from Rotterdam and Breda with you. Since this was a short trip with my office, we divided our time between eating and checking out architecture. Not bad if you ask me.

COLD MORNING

November 22, 2013

cold mornings via au pays des merveilles photos by me

This is what I wake up to when it’s cold but sunny outside… My new home is slowly looking more and more like a home (you already got a sneak peek at the bottom of this post), I promise I’ll give a little tour when it’s somewhat finished! (Who am I kidding, an interior is never finished, right?)

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WATERSCAPES

May 31, 2013

au pays des merveilles

Most of these photos, you have already seen in different blogposts, but I wanted to gather all of them together and share them in one post. While in Portugal, I became fascinated with the river and the ocean and how the water always looks so different in every photo, how much strength the waves could have, beating down on you while you are trying to keep standing up in the breakers, the water pulling on pushing on your legs and the sand swallowing your feet a little bit more with every passing wave. Living so close to the ocean and always having a view at the river Tejo around the corner, really changed how the city felt. I miss having such openness and immensity so close.

au pays des merveilles

all photos by me

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