Second paragraph of third ‘plek’:
| Het Nederlandse West 8, Urban Design & Landscape Architecture, tekende voor de voetgangersbrug die een smalle duinenstrook verbindt met de Uitkerkse polders, een eeuwenoud weidelandschap, waar veel vakantiehuisjes en caravans staan. Op het eerste gezicht ziet de brug eruit alsof wind en golftoppen een enorme lading afvalhout langs de vloedlijn hebben gedeponeerd. De omkisting van een overboord geslagen scheepsvracht? De lambrisering van een verwoeste scheepska-juit? Wie zal het zeggen? | The Dutch firm West 8, Urban Design & Landscape Architecture, designed the footbridge that connects a narrow strip of dunes with the Uitkerkse polders, a centuries-old meadow landscape dotted with holiday cottages and caravans. At first glance, the bridge looks as though the wind and wave crests have deposited a huge pile of driftwood along the high-water mark. The hull of a ship’s cargo that has washed ashore? The panelling of a wrecked ship’s hull? Who can say? |
I got this for F a few Christmases ago, a guide to 111 “crazy places” in Belgium. I was already familiar with a few of them – the Vlooybergtoren, Baarle, the church in Borgloon that isn’t there, the Atomium, Rédu. We’ve been inspired also to try and find a couple more thanks to the book – the cubes of Herne were a success, but the Post-Imdustrial Pagodas had been destroyed in 2021. Reading the whole book has given me a couple more ideas.
Most of the places mentioned are simply large and odd works of public art, with a few cases of usable architecture and one or two bits of natural landscape. Useful for anyone planning occasional excursions around Belgium. The text is in Dutch, but the photographs need little explanation and the locations are clearly given, with a map at the end.
The author has also published lists of 222 equally crazy places in the Netherlands, and a less ambitious but presumably longer list of 1000 things to do in the Netherlands. I’m glad that he also turned his attention southwards. You can get De gekste plek van België here.
