September 2023. Oriol and I are flying to Toulouse for a road trip in Occitania and (French) Catalonia. We include the Principality of Andorra, which I can finally tick off the bucket list, and Llívia, Spain‘s exclave in France. Besides Toulouse we visit Mont-Louis, Villefranche-de-Conflent, Perpignan and Carcassonne.
Tag: San Marino
HOLLAND | A walk in Rotterdam
For years, I have been celebrating my birthday abroad, unless it was impossible due to COVID-19 restrictions. In June 2023, Steve and I went to Rotterdam in the Netherlands in a deal combining a dinner at Restaurant Fred and an overnight stay at Marriott Rotterdam including a champagne breakfast.
RAINBOW EUROPE MAP AND INDEX 2023 | These are the LGBTQIA+ friendly and LGBTQIA+ unfriendly countries in Europe
Trans and intersex rights at the forefront of positive change for LGBTQIA+ people in Europe, the 2023 Rainbow Map and Index by ILGA-Europe finds. Despite intense anti-LGBTQIA+ attacks in several countries, equality is still advancing across Europe.
ILGA-EUROPE | 2022 deadliest rise in homophobic and transphobic violence in over a decade
Twelve years into annually reporting on the human rights situation of LGBTQIA+ people, Europe’s leading LGBTQIA+ equality organisation finds that pervasive hate speech across the region has led to life or death consequences.
RAINBOW EUROPE MAP AND INDEX 2022 | These are the LGBTQIA-friendly and LGBTQIA-unfriendly countries in Europe
As democracy in Europe comes under growing pressure, the annual ILGA-Europe Rainbow Map and Index identify steps forward on LGBTI rights in several countries.
Passenger Locator Form to mostly disappear, except if you enter Belgium from outside the European Union, including stopovers
On Friday 4 March 2022, the Consultative Committee of Governments in Belgium has announced a major relaxation of coronavirus countermeasures in the Kingdom under Code Yellow. You will only need to wear a face mask on public transport (train, tram, bus, metro) and in hospitals or other collective care facility. This ‘almost back to normal’…
Political and governmental homophobia and transphobia in Europe not necessarily backed by public opinion
A report from ILGA-Europe, the leading LGBTQI organisation in Europe and Central Asia finds that amid a rise in official anti-LGBTI rhetoric fuelling a wave of hate crime in every country in Europe, there is a growing institutional resolve to tackle hatred and exclusion.
Geographic Centre of the European Union of the 15
April 2021. As COVID-19 still rages and we still live under coronavirus countermeasures, Oriol and I were looking fore hiking trails. As a long-time follower of Denzil‘s Discovering Belgium, I looked for inspiration on his hiking and nature blog and settled for ‘A 23 km hike around Viroinval‘.
Liechtenstein
Luxembourg, Vatican City, Monaco, San Marino, Singapore, Baarle-Hertog / Baarle-Nassau, Neutral Moresnet, Malta, Gibraltar. I love-love-love microstates, small nations and other quirks of geopolitical history.
Belgium to allow leisure travel within European Union and Schengen Area from 19 April
COVID-19 | The updated Ministerial Decree of Minister of the Interior Annelies Verlinden (CD&V) confirms leisure travel outside Belgium and within the European Union and the Schengen Area will be allowed from 19 April. That is after the Easter School Holiday.