A square steeped in folklore. Whether you visit during the Ghent Festivities in the summer or come to the weekly flea market, there is always something going on here. It is a real hotspot for bargain hunters at the weekend. And in mid-July, it is the epicentre of the Festivities with a capital F. The main stage at St James’ Church gets the whole city rocking! Ghent Festivities Sint-Jacobs, the popular square around the stately St James’ Church, has been the centre of the Ghent Festivities for decades. This was where the festivities were given a new lease of life in 1969 at Café Trefpunt, by the folk singer Walter De Buck. An old Ghent tradition was reborn. What started out as a small affair among artists around St James’ has grown into an event that takes over the entire city centre, thanks to support from Ghent city council. The ten-day, non-stop party is packed with folklore, street theatre, puppet shows, and music, and has now grown into one of the biggest street parties in Europe! Before and after the Ghent Festivities, the local atmosphere is never far away at Bij Sint-Jacobs. Every Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning, this lively square is taken over by trinkets, baubles, small antiques and old junk. The flea market is a real Ghent tradition. And the market is so firmly rooted in Ghent culture that a whole host of vintage and curiosity shops have moved into the streets around the Romanesque church of St James, beside the famous antiques gallery, Gallery St-John. Bij Sint-Jacobs is the absolute place to be for collectors! The mighty St James’ Church stands in the middle of the square. A rough, Romanesque fortress of God. Its imposing architecture, dating back to the 12th century, may be the reason that this old church is still standing. It has survived desecrations and an iconoclasm. It has been damaged, scarred and then repaired, restored and extended time and again. That has led to an interesting mixture of styles. The architecture is Romanesque with Gothic and Baroque elements. It is a genuinely remarkable piece of religious architecture.

This series of grottoes, 40 kilometres southeast of Bari, are the biggest ones in Italy. They are 3 kilometres long and 71 meters deep and include long underground passages and deep caves covered with hundreds of stalactites and stalagmites formed over thousands of years by water erosion of the calcareous rock.

Örnsköldsvik is located in the northern part of the High Coast of Sweden. The landscape here is varied with coast and cliffs, inland and forest. In Örnsköldsvik’s archipelago, you will find twenty major and many smaller islands scattered in the sea. Names like Ulvön and Trysunda are worth remembering. Fishing villages, fermented herring, smoked whitefish, rocks, birds and sailing are some of the things you will experience here in Västernorrland County.

Walking through the Historic Centre of Partenkirchen, each step leads you further into long ago times. Follow the tracks of the fresco painter Heinrich Bickel who decorated the „Fraundorfer“ Inn at Ludwigstraße with a gorgeous typical country wedding. Nearby, you will also find the local Werdenfels Museum. Miraculously, the former merchant’s building was not impaired by the Big Blaze of 1865. Nowadays, history and ancient customs of the Werdenfels Region are exhibited in the five-storyed house.