In the heart of Belgium lies a treasure not found on every tourist map – the Castle of Huizingen, a hidden gem that beckons the curious eye and the adventurous drone. Last Tuesday, as the midday sun played hide and seek with the clouds, I found myself escaping the confines of office life, yearning for the embrace of the outdoors. Steering clear of routine, my drone and I stumbled upon Huizingen and its age-old castle, surrounded by meticulously curated gardens and vibrant tennis courts.
The Castle of Huizingen, standing since times long past, tells tales without words. Its spires reach for the sky, not in a plea but as a testament to the majesty of days bygone. Surrounded by a moat that mirrors the sky, the castle is an island of history floating amidst a sea of ever-changing time. Through the eye of my drone, the castle’s intricate details were brought to life. The red-brick facade held whispers of countless sunsets, each adding more depth to its hue.
Surrounding this regal structure, the plush greenery of the park served as a canvas to the bursts of yellow and white spring flowers that drew perfect circles around the central fountain. It’s a waltz of colors and life, choreographed by nature and immortalized by the bird’s eye view.
On this canvas of natural beauty, the red clay tennis courts sat like tiles, meticulously placed by an unseen hand. From above, they were not merely courts but geometric figures—rectangles within rectangles, stark white lines forming boundaries yet inviting challenges. They whispered stories of matches played, of joys and frustrations, of human endeavor under the open sky.
The contrasts are striking. The castle, a monument rooted in tradition, commands stillness, while the courts bubble with the kinetic energy of modern life. It’s a dance of the ancient and the now, the static and the dynamic, the silent stones against the thud of tennis balls.
This unexpected harmony of the past with the pulse of the present is what my lens captured—a dialogue between the castle and the courts, history and play. The red of the clay mirrored the brick of the castle, a visual echo that tied together different centuries.
Through the photographs, I invite you to see not just the castle, but the story it sits in—the green, the red, the blue of the water. It’s a narrative of place and time, of history and the heartbeat of now.
And so, in the stillness of a lunch break, the drone became my brush, the world below my canvas. The Castle of Huizingen, with its courtly neighbors, proved that beauty and discovery don’t always require extensive travel. Sometimes, they’re a drone’s flight away, waiting in the calm of a Belgian day.
I returned to the office, not with just photos, but with stories etched in pixels and the tranquility that comes from knowing that such places exist. Places where time rests and plays at the same time. The Castle of Huizingen isn’t just a location; it’s a reminder of the layered complexity and beauty of the world, seen from above.
