Gate

Spotted in the rural area around the village of Schoonoord.

Gate

Walking in the Hondsrug area near the villages of Odoorn and Exloo. Signs explain that it's free to walk here though people are warned to keep a safe distance to cattle.

Sneek Waterpoort

So this is the Sneek Waterpoort (Water Gate) I mentioned in my previous posts. I stood on the middle of a bridge taking this photo to include some of the pretty flower baskets that were still hanging on the side. There on the left is the same bridge that you saw on yesterday's photo -here opened as well as you can see. The Waterpoort was built in 1613, after a defensive wall had been built around Sneek in the 15th and 16th century. The gate formed a part of the city walls, but when large parts of these were taken down in the 18th century, it was decided to leave the Waterpoort as it was.

Above the gate, which originally would have had wooden fences, is a gallery, and above that were the quarters of the gatekeeper. On each side is an octagonal tower. (info from Wikipedia)
The gate is listed as a National Heritage Site, or Rijksmonument in Dutch.

I'm linking to Weekend Reflections.

Chicken crossing

A sign outside the gate of a house in Haren. We didn't see any chickens by the way :)

Génestet church

The nice thing about a historical town is that there are small alleys to find and hidden inner yards to discover if you look well. In Delft we found this gate with a medallion portrait picturing the clergyman and poet P.A. de Génestet, who worked in the Remonstrant church that was named after him and that we found behind the gate.

The Génestet church is a neo-renaissance building from 1896, designed by L. Couvée and built on the site of a so-called 'secret church' from 1639. A secret -or clandestine- church ("schuilkerk" in Dutch) was a house of worship used by religious minorities, and was tolerated on condition that it was discreet and not conducted in public spaces. Clandestine churches were commonly built inside houses or other buildings, and do not show a public facade to the street.

Donkey's Gate

Last week I showed you the 'Blacksmith's Gate', this is the 'Ezelpoort' or 'Donkey's Gate'. There are in total 4 medieval city gates left in Bruges. This one was built in 1297, then rebuilt in 1369. Alterations were carried out between the 14th and 17th centuries. The last restoration was in 1991-1993.

This is a view from the other side. Nowadays the gate is only used by pedestrians and cyclists.
If I wouldn't know better I'd say it looks more like a castle! Including it's own swans in the canal :)

Impressive gate

This gate on the grounds of the Crazy Horse Memorial in the Black Hills, South Dakota, impressed me more and more on each step that I came closer..,

...because of all the details!