On a crisp, wintry day on Belgium's far-western coast, Gunther Vanbleu rides his draft horse down the sandy beach and into the shallow waters. As the bright yellow of Vanbleu's anorak stands out against the waves, under the water, his draft horse - characterized by its powerful hindquarters - pulls a chain along the sand, causing a vibration that sends shrimp jumping into an outstretched net. The coastal village of Oostduinkerke is the last place in the world where horseback shrimp fishing is still practiced - today as a UNESCO-recognised centuries-old tradition rather than a commercial enterprise. FILE PHOTO: Gunther Vanbleu, 49, a Belgian shrimps fisherman with 10 years of experience, rides his carthorse named Martha to haul a net out of the sea to catch shrimps during low tide...
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Hundreds of competitors, many dressed up as pirates, nuns, animals or vegetables, climbed into carved-out pumpkins and paddled them around a pond in northern Belgium, in an annual relay race. The race in Kasterlee started in 2008 after local growers decided they needed to find a different use for their 400-plus kg (880-pound) pumpkins besides turning them into soup, and it has grown in popularity, said local Pumpkin Society chairman Paul Boonen. Contestants compete during the Pumpkin Regatta, an annual pumpkin boat relay race, in the Belgian town of Kasterlee, Belgium October 23, 2022. REUTERS/Bart Biesemans This year, after a two-year break for COVID-19, it was fully booked inside three days with 65 teams of max four who took turns the week before Halloween to manhandle a fleet ...
Read MoreGalerie Templon has kicked off the new season in Brussels with the return of Philippe Cognée for his newest series, Eye of the Storm The French painter Philippe Cognée, famous for his inimitable blurred wax technique, unveils a series of fifteen canvases flirting with abstraction. Created over the last year during the pandemic and keeping pace with the successive waves of lockdown, these new series alternate indoor and outdoor scenes. Views of a deserted but strangely serene studio contrast with a number of large impetuous landscapes, drenched in a nature bubbling over with life. Philippe Cognée has long used his painting to explore the shifting contemporary perception of the most ordinary features of our environment, from motorways and supermarkets to anonymous hotel rooms and ...
Read MoreGiant balloons will be back with a sneak peek into Korean comics world From 10 September to 10 October 2021, the 12th edition of the Brussels Comic Book Festival will be held in an exceptional new format: a month-long festival punctuated by exhibitions, events and original meetings. With a fun exhibition, a treasure hunt, guided tours and book signings, there will be something for all ages and tastes. And, to top it all off, the giant balloons will return, to a few strategic locations. 10 September will mark the start of a month-long celebration of the ninth art in Brussels. This special edition of the Brussels Comic Strip Festival will be full of surprises. It will be an invitation to travel, starting with a flight to South Korea - the festival's guest of honour-on the occasion...
Read MoreRare collection of an 83-year-old now spreads in four houses at Grand-Hallet in Belgium The colourful tins piled high around Belgian collector Yvette Dardenne used to contain goods ranging from chocolates, toffees, coffee and rice to tobacco, talc and shoe polish, and come from as far away as India. Vintage lithographed tin boxes, part of a huge collection of almost 60,000 pieces started 30 years ago by Yvette Dardenne, 83, from Belgium, who is describing herself as a "buxidaferrophile", are seen at her house in Grand-Hallet, Belgium August 5, 2021. REUTERS/Yves Herman Yvette Dardenne, 83, has accumulated almost 60,000 vintage tin boxes from all over the world since starting her collection some 30 years ago. The collection, which now occupies four houses, all began with a Cote...
Read MoreFrom 10 September to 10 October 2021, the Comic Strip Festival is back with a special month-long edition, punctuated by numerous activities in various locations in the Belgian capital, Brussels. This year, artist Bastien Vivès has designed the magnificent poster for this edition, a design featuring hero Corto Maltese, which takes you on a journey. Exhibitions, treasure hunts, signing sessions, there will be something for everyone. Not to mention the unmissable Atomium Awards. FILE PHOTO: Stripfeest - Comic Book Festival Parc de Bruxelles - Warandepark ©visit.brussels/Eric Danhier This year, to offer visitors a fantastic experience, while complying with the health regulations in force, the Comic Strip Festival will be celebrated over one whole month. Four wonderful weeks to travel th...
Read MoreThe World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), Basque Culinary Center (BCC), VISITFLANDERS and the city of Bruges have announced new dates for the 6th UNWTO World Forum on Gastronomy Tourism. Held under the theme ‘Gastronomy Tourism: Promoting Rural Tourism and Regional Development’, the Forum will take place 31 October - 2 November 2021 in Bruges, Belgium. The event will focus on the contribution of gastronomy tourism to social and economic integration. It will also highlight its untapped potential for job creation, regional cohesion and sustainable growth. Building on UNWTO’s work on advancing innovation across the tourism sector, the Forum also represents a unique opportunity for experts from across the growing field of gastronomy tourism to share new ideas and best practices and pl...
Read MoreBrussels’ cavernous basilica is one of the largest churches in the world but COVID-19 rules allow only 15 people at a time to attend mass there, the same limit applied to much smaller religious venues in Belgium. Dozens of worshippers of different religions and clergy demonstrated in the centre of the Belgian capital on Sunday calling for a change to the rules. Parishioners, who can only gather in a group of maximum of 15 people at the same time in the building, attend a mass in the Belgium's national Koekelberg basilica, one of the largest churches in the world, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Brussels, Belgium February 21, 2021. REUTERS/Johnny Cotton “Here, more than in any other building in Belgium, this law is an incredible absurdity,” said the Catholic ba...
Read MoreThe exotic animals are confined to small paddocks, the acrobats have been grounded, and the clowns aren’t able to make an audience laugh anymore. The coronavirus has brought the curtain down on the Zavatelli Circus, at least for the time being. Unable to travel or perform across Europe, the French family-run operation is waiting out the pandemic in a car park in the southern Belgium town of Gembloux - and quickly running out of funds to feed its animals. An employee of the Zavatelli Circus owned by the French family Dubois, walks with a camel in a parking lot in Gembloux, Belgium November 26, 2020. REUTERS/Yves Herman “For us, the confinement is very difficult because we are not working. We have no cash flow,” said circus director Kevin Dubois. The Zavatelli Circus typicall...
Read MoreOn October 24th, a surprising new place of art will open, a stone's throw from WIELS, Brussels’ contemporary art center. The public will have the chance to discover Galila’s P.O.C, a collection organized around a multitude of heterogeneous themes and presented in the form of a cabinet of curiosities. Galila, the passionate lady of the house, will guide the visitors through her phantasmagoric world. Galila’s P.O.C is also engaging with the local community by working on an educational project in two neighbouring buildings. Artists: Rina BANERJEE, Pascale MARTHINE TAYOU, Jim LAMBIE, Dionyssopoulos PAVLOS, Kristof KINTERA, Jean-Luc VILMOUTH, OPAVIVARA, Michael DELUCIA, Faig AHMED An exceptional collection Galila started collecting about 15 years ago. From the very first moment, it ha...
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