Flying

I have my reservations about flying. It's not real travel, it's the canned, claustrophobic going-from-A-to-B non-experience. I think it's ridiculous that people go to some city thousands of miles away for a day or two, just to shop, and pay hundred euros. Let them pay the real price, the price to the environment. The planet. In short, flying is bad, bad, bad.

Unless I can sit at the window.

 

Top: Malta, Dwejra Point. Below: Malta, Dwejra Point - Azure Window

The picture below was used for the latest of edition of my Malta Guidebook (in Dutch), which was published this Summer:
 Dominicusgids Malta en Gozo (latest Dutch edition)

 

New Photobook: Le Nord

We've been visiting the French north for more than ten years, to work on my Dutch-language guidebook, the Dominicusgids Noord-Frankrijk ( More info ). From the start I've been in love with the northernmost part of it, close to the Belgian border. Lille is a magnificent town, blending the best of north and south. The countryside has a pure, nostalgic charm: golden grain fields, windmills, hills, grand vistas and big skies with towering clouds. The charms of it can't always be shared in the relatively small pictures in a standard guidebook. That's why I've created a photobook (my second) wich can be ordered from Blurb.com, 80 pages of it in full colour. You can find more information and a preview of the book  here op Blurb.com. More of my Blurb books here en my "regular" books published by the Dutch publishing house Gottmer are on my website, www.ericstrijbos.nl 

 

Le Nord by Eric Strijbos | Make Your Own Book

 

Panorama in Cassel (French Flanders)

(Panorama from Mont Cassel, Dpt. Nord (59), France. 5x1 photos, original 10036 x 2446 pixel; no HDR. © Eric Strijbos 2012 All rights reserved.)

French writer Marguérite Yourcenar about French Flanders, the country where she grew up:

"Here, just like in Holland and Belgian Flanders... there are these vast flat landscapes and their big skies, where clouds constantly change those immense skies; humility and modesty, the solid countryside buildings, the beauty of rows of trees which line the horizon, the beauty of an atmosphere that constantly changes, like in some 17th century paintings, paintings that sensed the North's beauty miraculously well."

We're back. Thankfully, most of the time the weather was fine...

(View on Mont Cassel, Dept. Nord, France. © Eric Strijbos 2012 All rights reserved. )

 

Wrocław elected European cultural capital in 2016

Yesterday, the EU announced that the Polish city of Wrocław was elected European cultural capitol for 2016, together with San Sebastian (Spain) - congratulations!

Wrocław isn't Poland's prettiest city (Cracow is hard to beat), but it's a taster of Poland if you've never been there, and genuinely interesting. Old and recent history are tangible and hard too overlook, present in the city's jigsaw of contrasts: Polish against German, beautiful and ugly, old and modern, and a photographers' treat either way. Although Wrocław was a German town until 1945, you'll find a typically Polish town centre: a rectangular rynek (market place) around a colourful ratusz (town hall). Bordering it are cheerful baroque houses but also 19th century blocks from the Kaiser's era and a gaunt medieval church. Don't miss the serene, medieval neighbourhood Ostrów Tumski (see my pictures, below), the lively Rynek and the Panoroma painting of the battle of Racławice.