IGNANT Hashtag - Colour Coding

iGNANT are a multidisciplinary online magazine that feature art, design, travel and architecture in the most tasteful way possible, they also just happen to be " Berlin Based" as well. I recently started  following them on Instagram due to their content brightening up my feed every so often, when I came across something they title as their weekly Hashtag projects. Iv never quite been one to enter Instagram competitions, but this one really got me inspired. Withing minutes of reading the brief, I grabbed my camera and went scouring the streets of Berlin , looking at each color that passed me by in a more artistic and "color coded" way. I must admit, I became quite obsessed after a day or two and even had my boyfriend submit some of my images on his account, needless to say neither of us won or were 1 of the 10 of the featured submissions.

Unplanned Italy

As I run all the photographic memories of this beautiful and history rich country through my head, I am tempted to leave you with nothing more than these images. Of course, I was lucky enough in that I had the best guide, and seeing the city by scooter. Apart from all the ice cream and espressos that we consumed, another one of our guilty pleasures was going around on the scooter and letting the fresh breeze from the ride cool us off. Every single street of the city has a story to tell, and I struggled to put my camera down (even taking a few sneaky shots whilst on the back of the scooter)

From Rome we took a bus to Siena  where we stayed for three days and ate like kings. It was here that I got the first few glimpses of all the rolling hills of the Tuscan region and the ever so beautiful Piazza del Campo. We road tripped to the coastal town of Santo Stefano, and swam in clear blue sea's on Giglio Island. Not a single part of our trip was planned, and  in true adventurous style much of our accommodation along the coast entailed last minute camping with all of a tent and mattress.

As we literally ate away our 'budget' and the camping got the better of us, we headed to the mountain regions of Mount Amiata and his hometown of Abbadia San Salvatore. We were treated to true Italian home cooked meals, and exploring more of what Tuscany had to offer. Most of the time I had my head stuck out of the window and my mouth wide open in awe. The entire region, and I mean absolutely all of it, is like a beautiful painting.

Borneo-Sporenburg

Now that my 'stint' in Holland is very close to its due date, there was still one last thing in Amsterdam I had my heart on seeing. Before I had left South Africa, I was reading 'False Flat: Why Dutch Design is so Good’. A good chunk of one of the books chapter was dedicated to Borneo-Sporenburg, a new take on traditional Dutch canal housing designed by West8 Architects. I had set aside some time in my day to see it, and actually had some trouble locating the dock itself. Turns out, I was pretty much in front of it, I just had to lower my expectations in reality from the perfectly cropped images I had seen in the design books and blogs.

‘Two peninsulas in the eastern part of the Amsterdam docks, were to be exploited for water-related activities, as well as2500 low-rise dwelling units, with a density of 100 units per hectare. For anew interpretation of the traditional Dutch canal house, West 8 suggested new types of three-storey, ground-accessed houses deviating from the usual terraced house in being strongly oriented to the private realm by incorporating patio sand roof gardens. By repeating this type in a great variety of dwelling modes and with maximum architectural variation, an animated street elevation emerges with a focus on the individual. At a larger scale, a delicately balanced relationship exists between the repetition of the individual dwellings, the roof scape and the great scale of the docks. Three immense sculptural blocks take their place as landmarks in the vast expanse of houses.’-West8 Architects

 

An eager beaver and beach burn

 After all the rain we had been experiencing the past couple of days (seriously, three days non stop), I leapt at the opportunity to visit the beach on seeing the weather report read anything other than rain.

 

The train from Bergen op Zoom to Vlissingen is about a hour away, and a leisurely stroll to the beach town's boulevard from the station. There was a nice cool breeze blowing,  cooling the day of. This however concealed the fact that it was actually sweltering hot, and as I lay on the beach ( thinking I'm getting a sweet tan), I was in fact being scorched.

 

However,my body's reddened (or lobster like)  appearance didn't last very long. Overnight I managed to become tanned once again after a whole year of missing out on summer and it's safe to say I am no longer a pasty European.

 

ANTWERP TAKE TWO

I managed to fit in a sneaky bike ride to Antwerp from my new town of Bergen op Zoom this past weekend. It's a mere 38 km by bike and went by somewhat quickly (it takes about 2 hours along the bike paths) . The bike ride on my journey back was a different story though. Biking against wind is not an ideal condition in my eyes and I suppose you could say I am still recovering from the trip. Regardless, I feel quite chuffed at the few photos I managed to take of Antwerp in full swing of spring

SPRING IN MY STEP

There's nothing better than seeing all the blossoms bloom in the springtime, especially after my first European winter (which in actual fact wasn't even as cold as it usually is) . Its all quite strange experiencing the spring season in March and April when back in South Africa, it usually comes around  in September. Regardless, there isn't a sunny day that passes where I don't have my camera in hand, ready to photograph all the beautiful flowers blossoming ,being sold or being sat amongst. I also haven't yet had the chance to see the tulips at Keukenhof, so this is my version...

PRAGUE CITY GUIDE - PART 2

If you're anything like me, you will love the fact that you can sleep late on a Saturday morning in Prague. The locals, as well as tourists, only really start to show their faces from noon onwards.  We however managed to pull ourselves out of our hotel room  by 10 AM, getting our day started with a cup of coffee and a pastry in the park. If you're feeling a bit lazy, there is the Funicular Railway that will take you all the way to the top of the hill to the Petrin Tower, or you could get some fresh air and brave the steep hills on foot like we did. It really is worth it to go up the tower and check out the view (which is surprisingly not crowded with tourists) and see the city from all angles.
 

 

Its great to wander through the forests of Petrin Hill and exit through a different gate than the one you came in with. The steps leading up to Prague Castle were within walking distance from us and we braved yet another steep set of stairs to reach our destination. There is an abundance of tourists pacing all over the place, leaving us with but a mere glimpse of the area (and more than enough time in my opinion). I was fascinated by all the old Czech woman walking around in their best church attire and managed to sneakily photograph them in all their glory. If you're feeling peckish, try the traditional Balkan pastry, a Trdelnik. In English its translated as 'sweet bread' and are baked fresh on a daily basis and served 'natural' - with powdered sugar, or with Nutella.

 

 

The remainder of the afternoon gave us some time to make our way to DOX, the centre for contemporary art, situated just outside the city. A 20 minute tram ride will get you there, for which we didn't even have to scan our ticket in, so didn't bother buying one back.  The centre is relatively new but had some interesting exhibitions showcasing propaganda posters and a 'Pharmatopia' installation by Marek Schovanek.

If youre planning on eating out for dinner, there are plenty of restaurants to choose from, many of them being commercial eateries targeting tourists. We opted for the less touristy Leone and Anna, a quaint restaurant in the Mala Strana area not far from our hotel with a quiet atmosphere, great music and good food. Their Goulash was not quite to my liking but their service was impeccable. What's great about the city is you can go for evening strolls at any time of the night followed by a cup of hot chocolate to get the feeling back in your fingers and toes. T centre of The Old Town Square boasts several street musicians sitting in t-shirts ( even in the winter) playing a wide array of musical instruments whilst tourists half heartedly listen to their melodies and sip on their Glühwein from the street vendors.

 

PRAGUE CITY GUIDE- PART 1

One of the most romantic and picturesque cities I have visited thus far, and a major bonus that I got to explore the city with someone I had become particularly close to. I've never written a city guide to the places I've been to before,  so I suppose now is as good a time as any.

The easiest way to get from the airport to the centre of Prague is by cab. The AAA taxis wont rip you off and only charged us about 500 Czech Koruna's. There are plenty of buses and trams leading into the city centre, but after a long flight and the days events, its nice to spoil yourself with a relaxing chauffeured ride home. We stayed in the Belvedere suite of Residence Thunovska, a family owned building with really affordable rooms and views overlooking the red bricked roofs that Prague is so well renowned for. The apartments are located in the Mala Strana area which is out of the hustle and bustle of the touristic city centre, but less than 5 minutes walk to some of the main attractions. The area has a great old world charm to it and we found ourselves taking evening strolls across Charles bridge and the steps leading up to Prague castle on more than one occasion.

We lazily woke up on our first morning in Prague, greeted by the blinding sunshine beaming through the bedroom windows (a nice change from all the grey skies and rain in Holland). On each of the mornings of our stay in Prague we only really managed to get our day started by 10:30 and found ourselves with more than enough time to explore, so don't wear yourselves out getting up early. We walked though the streets of the old town, passing countless souvenir and marionette stores, and gradually making our way to the old town square. The ever popular Prague Astronomical Clock is amongst one of the old buildings surrounding the square, as are the hundreds of tourists and commercial restaurants.  Absinthe is also a huge attraction in Prague and  the traditional Czech way of preparing and serving the drink is by burning a sugar cube into the liquid, diluted with water and served hot with a pitcher of water on the side. Al says it tastes like shampoo, I cant help but to agree...

 

Because of the 70 % alcohol of the absinthe we had stupidly tasted before lunch, we quickly found retreat at Jo's Bar  for their speciality Czech dish of goulash in bread to sober us up. A tasty dish that somewhat resembles a stew, eaten from the inside out. We managed to sneak in a late afternoon nap from all the days walking followed by a light dinner at Luca Lu, an ever so colourful and eclectic café without the swarm of tourists...