Antwerp’s city council has approved the concept design for the redevelopment of Koningin Astridplein or Queen Astrid Square, marking a significant milestone in the renewal of one of the city’s most central and heavily used public spaces.
Category: Experience
Italy welcomes more than 185 million visitors as tourism surges 7.1% in record year 2025
Italy’s tourism industry reached another historic milestone in 2025, with more than 185 million arrivals recorded across the country as international demand for Italian culture, cities, beaches and cuisine continued to grow strongly. New figures from the Italian Interior Ministry’s ‘Alloggiati Web’ system show that total arrivals increased by 7.1% compared with 2024, rising from…
FORMULA 1 | Barcelona-Catalunya and Belgium to rotate Grand Prix
Formula 1 secures a long-term future for the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix (formerly Spanish Grand Prix, which moves to the Madring in Madrid) and Belgian Grands Prix, with Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix confirmed until 2032, alternating with Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium.
LATVIA | 1.5 days in Riga
August 2025. We’re travelling to the Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and more specifically their respective capitals Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius. Are they interconnected by rail? Yes, but not in the most straightforward or userfriendly way possible. The Rail Baltica project should remedy this. Unsurprisingly though, this megaproject faces political and budgetary hurdles. It…
OSAKA | Namba Parks – Dōtonbori – Glico Man – Shinsaibashi
Autumn 2025. We – Sam and Danny, Michel and Wille, and Timothy – are travelling to Japan for a quite classic tour of the Land of the Rising Sun. We are flying separately as we used miles. On the planning: Tokyo, Kanazawa, Shirakawa, Osaka, and Expo 2025, Hiroshima, Himeji, Miyajima, Kyoto, Nara, Nagoya, Hakone, and…
Antwerp Queer Arts Festival 2026 unveils diverse programme, from 19 June to 16 August
queer, more edgy, more ‘alternative’, less polished, less gentrified (?) festival for LGBTQIA+ people in the summer. It runs alongside Antwerp Pride.
DENVER | RiNo Art District – Coors Field – Lower Downtown – Union Station
September 2025. After Oscar came to London in June 2024 and I joined him there for a day, I’m now going to his hometown of Denver in Colorado. My second trip to the United States in 2025, after visiting my uncle and aunt in Wilmington, North Carolina. No, Denver is is not on foreign tourists’…
LATVIA | Museum of the History of Riga and Navigation
August 2025. We’re travelling to the Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and more specifically their respective capitals Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius. Are they interconnected by rail? Yes, but not in the most straightforward or userfriendly way possible. The Rail Baltica project should remedy this. Unsurprisingly though, this megaproject faces political and budgetary hurdles. It…
ANTWERP | Antony Gormley’s ‘Geestgrond’ opens at KMSKA as the most comprehensive solo exhibition of the artist in Europe
On Saturday 23 May 2026, the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, KMSKA) will open ‘Antony Gormley. Geestgrond‘, the largest and most comprehensive solo exhibition of the legendary British artist ever staged on the European mainland.
ANTWERP | Sinksenfoor 2026 opens 23 May with new rides and extended five-week run
Antwerp‘s iconic Sinksenfoor or Pentecost Fair will return for its 2026 edition on 23 May at the Spoor Oost site in Borgerhout, offering five weeks of entertainment until 28 June. The annual event, which begins during the Pentecost weekend, transforms the 2,000-meter-long site into a vibrant festival ground featuring spectacular attractions, delicious food, and family…