After an 18 months journey throughout Asia I entered Europe in Leros, Greece, where I met friends, but also some refugees from Gaza and the search and rescue crew of Open Arms. Something that made me think about life, luck and different type of journeys. Everything happens randomly. Just when I was […]
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Is Turkey just a Money Squeezing Machine?
Mass tourism, a never-ending army of tour operators and everyone’s general inclination to try and squeeze more money out of you. That’s what I have experienced in Turkey. However, the country does have some places worth seeing… I must say I didn’t expect at all Turkey to be the scene […]
Read moreGeorgia: 8,000 Years of Winemaking
A whole week of wine and food tasting, a resurrection for my body and my spirit. Here are the story and my best recommendations. I wasn’t sure at all about how long time I would spend in Georgia, and what exactly I would do. There’s a lot to discover: beautiful […]
Read moreThe Other Side of the Caspian Sea
Azerbaijan marks a dramatic change, and an imaginary line, with the landscapes and lifestyle of Central Asia’s ‘Stans’. As soon as I stepped out of the ferry that took me from Kazakhstan to Azerbaijan, the music changed. I found myself living the good life for a couple of days in […]
Read moreUzbekistan: Three Legendary Cities on the Old Silk Road
Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva are names of cities that sound like a legend for their position on the old Silk Road. But does this legendary status live up to its reputation? I was a bit disappointed, while the old forts scattered around the Uzbek desert made me dream. Alright, I’ll […]
Read moreSon-Kul’s Remedy to Travellers Apathy
The nomadic life experience and jaw-dropping beauty of the 3,000 m. high plateau in Kyrgyzstan, at lake Son-Kul, is the perfect cure to boost travellers wanderlust. When you travel for a long time, it might happen that everything starts to feel kind of already seen: just another church, just another […]
Read moreAlmaty: Central Asia’s Garden of Eden
Welcoming, culturally vibrant, and easy gateway for nature lovers. Almaty is one of those places where you will linger without really knowing why. The legend goes that Almaty is the place were all domestic apples originate, hence the name of the medieval settlement Almatu, which is a derivation of the […]
Read more… And Then You Get Invited in a Yurt for Dinner
Sometimes you end up in adventures that put your firm plans for the future, and life convictions to the test… and you lose 🙂 I arrived in Almaty after a bus odyssey of 24 straight hours through the burning Kazakh steppes without air conditioning nor sleeping seats. I finally got […]
Read moreFrom Russia to Kazakhstan
A long bus drive, a funny old lady providing food, and my eyes laid upon the immensely distant horizon of the Kazakh steppes: a border crossing and some thoughts. On my way to Rome from Vladivostok via land, I made a decisive move towards the south in Russia, as I […]
Read moreThe Contenders: Vladivostok vs Khabarovsk
Both Vladivostok and Khabarovsk claim the title of Eastern capital of Russia, but who actually deserves it? I won’t let the suspense kill you and I’ll get straight to the point: Vladivostok wins. I mean, it’s Vladivostok, the arrival point of the Trans-Siberian Railway, with China, North Korea and the […]
Read morePassion for Truth: The Master and Margarita
Bulgakov’s book has such an overflowing evocative power it’s like reading a graphic novel with strong esoteric traits. Frightening and passionate, surreal and dramatic, the tale is imbued with diabolically ironic characters, with ascetics, poets and rulers; and with the coarse reality of all human things. It would be madness […]
Read moreThose Little Japanese Oddities
Travelling in Japan can be fun just because of many small cultural differences that you notice here and there, in the way society work, in the way people act. So here is a list of oddities, from my perspective that is. None of this has to be intended as a […]
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