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High Road to Culture in Flanders and the Netherlands
You think you know Flanders and the Netherlands. But take it from us, you haven’t seen anything yet. British journalist Derek Blyth takes you on microadventures to L-Spots, hidden and exciting places in the Low Countries.
The British have a longstanding love affair with the Duffel coat. It is named after the cloth made in a small Flemish town, though it is hard to establish a link between the town and the coat.
The overgrown Campo Santo cemetery clings to a low hill in the Ghent suburb of Sint-Amandsberg has been described as the Flemish Père Lachaise.
Heisteeg, one of the narrowest streets of Amsterdam, has sparked off a furious debate about overtourism.
Although its roots date back to 1515, Café Vlissinghe in Bruges is anything but sleepy.
Looking for exciting places in the Low Countries, British journalist Derek Blyth stumbled upon the castle where baroque painter Rubens spent the last years of his life.
The reading table is a piece of Dutch heritage that has survived in lots of cafes, including the one named after writer Harry Mulisch in Café Americain.
Amsterdam has overtaken London as Europe’ main share trading hub for the first time since the 17th century.
The only remaining medieval castle in Flanders with a virtually intact defence system faces a new threat.
Whenever Derek Blyth visits Amsterdam, he can't help but pop into the iconic Athenaeum Boekhandel. ‘Buying a book there is almost a religious experience.’
Art photographer Athos Burez tackled 'The Baths of Ostend', the famous painting by James Ensor, and gave it his own interpretation.
Abraham Ortelius’ map, inspired by Thomas More’s book, is dotted with amusing place names that suggest the whole thing was a joke.
Back in the 1960s, the Germans had their VWs, the Italians their Fiat 500s, the French the Citroën 2CVs, and the Dutch? A sensible car called the DAF.
After having stood empty for 22 years, the Antwerp Stock Exchange building or the Handelsbeurs, opened to the public again.
When in Amsterdam, Derek Blyth likes to travel by ferry. It's free and fun.
Have you ever wondered where those cargo bikes come from?
Every evening since 1928, a group of buglers has sounded the Last Post in Ypres to honour the soldiers who died in WWI in Flanders Fields.
In 2002, the Dutch poet F. Starik came up with the idea of the Poule des doods – a pool of poets who write and read a poem for the people who have no mourners at their funeral.
Utopia is not always an imaginary place. That is what Derek Blyth discovered when he entered the stunning city library of Aalst.
