Albufeira Lagoon ao Cape Espichel, Sesimbra, Portugal

Pilgrimage to a Cape of Worship


The great Lagoon of Albufeira
Disseminated Mussels
The swimmers of the Lagoon
Meander da Foz
The Sanctuary over Cape Espichel
The Cape Sanctuary
Hermitage of Memory
Mrs Maria do Carmo
the ship
The headlight
Lighthouse Keeper Baptista Pinto
The Cape Church
Cape Espichel houses
Graffitied Ruins
Night over the Sanctuary
FYA
dry boat
Advertising frame
mussel
Praia do Moinho de Baixo
From the top of its 134 meters high, Cabo Espichel reveals an Atlantic coast as dramatic as it is stunning. Departing from Lagoa de Albufeira to the north, golden coast below, we venture through more than 600 years of mystery, mysticism and veneration of its aparecida Nossa Senhora do Cabo.

On an afternoon like so many others that herald and anticipate the summer, the sequence of the tides added its contribution.

It granted a few lucky bathers the privilege of immaculate delight.

Most of it was concentrated on a community harvesting of bivalves, scattered along the muddy shores that the low tide had almost left uncovered.

Overlooking the mussel ponds that floated upstream, over deep water, close to fifteen meters that make Albufeira the deepest lagoon in Portugal.

The Delicious Meanders of Foz da Lagoa de Albufeira

A few were mainly interested in the amphibious leisure with which, in its ephemeral peculiarity, the mouth held them.

The tide went out. With it, the water of the lagoon flowed, at a reasonable speed, through the meanders that separated it from the ocean, furrowed in a vastness of alluvial sand.

A couple was enjoying watching their pet dog examine and test the stream, eager to see them again on the other side.

Another, let himself be carried away by the current, in a delicious float to the sea. Bands of children roamed and crossed the mouth over and over again, dedicated to jobs and missions that childishness promoted to epics without equal.

As the lagoon drained, the waves of the Atlantic, emerald in color, dissolved, some against the point of contact of the two bodies of water, others against the base of the dune cord that makes the beach high.

At a faster pace than the tides, planes were flying over us approaching the mouth of the Tagus and Lisbon airport.

As we explored the golden coast of the Setúbal Peninsula, we continued to follow them with our eyes. We unlocked secrets of their routes.

From Lagoa de Albufeira to Aldeia do Meco

We passed by Aldeia do Meco. Still under a faint vestige of breeze, we found its beaches with an almost shallow swell, as we had never witnessed there.

On a spring weekday, visitors could be counted on the fingers of one hand, taking in marches along the seaside, above and below the dunes of Praia do Moinho de Baixo.

There was a lack of bathers in bathing suits and nudists who, upon reaching the Estio, fill it and enjoy the Naturist Beaches of Rio da Prata, Bicas, Foz and Rebenta Bois.

From the latter, towards the south, the cliffs take over the remaining coastline, up to the headland where the Other Band plunges into the Atlantic.

And then, on the way to Cabo Espichel

This, the lonely Cabo Espichel, was the fate that awaited us.

The long ave. of the Armed Forces leaves behind the heart of Aldeia do Meco and its streets lined with restaurants and snack bars. Gradually, it ascends to the highest lands of the peninsula.

Somewhere between Pinheirinhos and Aldeia Nova, it joins Av. 25th of April aimed at Azoia. Soon, we enter the domain of the Arrábida Natural Park.

A snake zigzags more than the road. Ahead, a mother partridge is struggling to lead a brood of hesitant chicks.

Finally, in what was left of the distance, we glimpse the lighthouse that illuminates the cape. And then, the uneven U-shaped avenue, flanked by the Inns of the Sanctuary of Nª Srª do Cabo.

 The Guardian of Long ago Dª Maria do Carmo

The cruise at the entrance leaves little doubt as to the sphere of the divine that welcomes us. When we enter the church that closes the U, we quickly understand how much of a human being that divine was in charge of.

Due to the persistent pandemic, Dª Maria do Carmo remained seated at her post, protected by an acrylic that safeguarded her view.

“Look, you can't take pictures!” he recalled, with redoubled emphasis, each time visitors pretended they hadn't noticed the ban on the door.

“This is it, every day, do you believe? collapsed, with us, when he realized that, despite having cameras, we respect the rules and wait for a special authorization already requested from the Diocese.

“See, there are even some who come here and, when they realize they can't take pictures, they immediately sulk. After all, what do you come here for?”

Despite the frequent arrivals and departures of believers and visitors, it gives us the feeling that Dª Maria do Carmo would be better off with a stable and conversational company.

Our unexpected interest in church affairs, the credentials with which we arrived from the City Hall of Sesimbra, generate confidence in her.

They urge her to engage in a good-natured and almost unceremonious conversation.

“This here has always been complicated.”, explains the guardian, as an introduction to a cascade of complications and misadventures, some of which she was the protagonist. Others that she saw happen and others that she didn't even see.

“After the 25th of April, it was a complete mess.” the lady, from the north of the country, tells us, referring to the long period in which opportunist people in the area took the sanctuary from the Church and refused to vacate it.

“I think it was only towards the end of the 80s or even the beginning of the 90s that things calmed down and the government sent the GNR here to run with these people.”

Some time later, IPPAR was in charge of recovering and maintaining the sanctuary, but this is so isolated here. It has not been easy."

The isolation and lack of protection of the sanctuary of Nª Srª do Cabo made it possible, for example, to steal one of the church bells.

And, as if that weren't enough, when a plague of theft of sacred art spread through Portugal, the loss of a recently restored Saint Anthony.

Discovering the Sanctuary of Nossa Senhora do Cabo

It was one of two saints nestled on either side of the altar and the gilded statue of the Virgin Mary, one level below Christ on the cross and the coat of arms of Quinas that interposes between Mother and Son.

More than half a millennium ago, Maria justified the monumental homage that we dedicated ourselves to exploring. According to Dª Maria do Carmo, a believer in Mary and in miracles, assures us, the Virgin did not allow, for more than one occasion, that an image of her was stolen.

“Once, the car in which they were going to transport her broke down right here on the way out. They decided to bring her back. In another, when the thieves were getting ready to take her away, Santa turned her back on them. In the haste and distress in which they committed the crime, they could not recognize where she was and gave up.”

Legend has it that the Saint appeared in 1410.

On that date, an image of him was found on the cliffs of Pedra da Mua.

Pedra da Mua, later also celebrated for the almost miraculous preservation of sauropod dinosaur footprints that, it is estimated, more than 145 million years ago, passed by to bathe in the ocean off the coast.

The actual recognition of the apparition made official the importance of the image found and the Pedra da Mua.

Still in the XNUMXth century, a chapel was built with the function of guarding the image, allowing the believers to praise it.

in the current zone Sesimbra, in and around Lisbon and to the west of the capital, the number of faithful and pilgrims increased significantly. The saloia zone founded its own believing community, the Círio Saloio.

At first, several houses were built around the chapel, intended to accommodate them.

From 1715 to 1757, these improvised houses replaced the Casas dos Círios, a set of guesthouses on the north side, built to accommodate the butlers who arrived in charge of ensuring the bodo, complemented by townhouses and establishments that traded in more convenient trades.

At a certain point, the Church and the Crown considered that the chapel, now known as Ermida da Memória, in itself, was below the religious grandeur of the Apparition.

The Extension of the Sanctuary from the small Ermida

Accordingly, between 1701 and 1707, during the reign of D. Pedro II, they dictated the construction of the Church of Nossa Senhora do Cabo that Dª Maria do Carmo is responsible for guarding.

Over time, they enriched and supplied the sanctuary, the Opera House (now in ruins), the Mãe d'Água and the Cabo Espichel Aqueduct.

Despite centuries-old logistical difficulties, the Cult of Our Lady of the Cape remains alive and in good health.

Apart from the faith it arouses, there are several historians and authors who dedicate extensive studies, explanatory publications and others, romanticized to it.

In these parts, not only the Sanctuary of Nª Srª do Cabo Espichel illuminates Humanity.

The Providencial Lighthouse of Cabo Espichel

Arriving at three o'clock in the afternoon, the lighthouse keeper Baptista Pinto welcomes us at the entrance of the lighthouse where he lives, dressed in a uniform in shades of blue.

We accompany him on a tour of the base of the lighthouse, keeping an eye on curious machinery, including an old marble refrigerator that weighed tons.

We climbed 135 stone steps and 15 iron steps to the top of the 32-meter tower.

There, lighthouse keeper Pinto shows us the ingenious but simple operation of the lighting system, which is regularly maintained but not very problematic.Cape Espichel, Lighthouse keeper Baptista Pinto, Sesimbra,

He explains to us how the lighthouse was providential for vessels sailing offshore, but not only. Until the last years of the century. In the XNUMXth century, the Portuguese coast was so lacking in lighthouses that foreign ships called it “black coast”.

From then on, the Marquis of Pombal dictated the construction of a national network that includes the Cabo Espichel lighthouse, completed in 1790, one of the oldest in Portugal.

As we explore the surrounding promontory, we once again become aware of the passage of planes and how, it was right there above, that they curved towards the Tagus basin and made their way to Lisbon airport. We discussed this fact with Baptista Pinto.

Enthusiastic by our interest, the lighthouse keeper confirms that the light from the lighthouse spread not only over the Atlantic Ocean but into the sky.

It helped pilots to follow the safest routes to old Portela and to other destinations.

Just as the Sanctuary of Cabo Espichel for centuries has led believers to follow the paths of the Divine.

 

WHERE TO STAY IN SESIMBRA:

Four Points By Sheraton Sesimbra

Four Points Sesimbra

Phone: +351 21 051 8370

Sesimbra, Portugal

A Village Touched by Midas

It's not just Praia da California and Praia do Ouro that close it to the south. Sheltered from the furies of the West Atlantic, gifted with other immaculate coves and endowed with centuries-old fortifications, Sesimbra is today a precious fishing and bathing haven.
Pico Island, Azores

Pico Island: the Azores Volcano with the Atlantic at its Feet

By a mere volcanic whim, the youngest Azorean patch projects itself into the rock and lava apogee of Portuguese territory. The island of Pico is home to its highest and sharpest mountain. But not only. It is a testament to the resilience and ingenuity of the Azoreans who tamed this stunning island and surrounding ocean.
São Miguel, Azores

São Miguel Island: Stunning Azores, By Nature

An immaculate biosphere that the Earth's entrails mold and soften is displayed, in São Miguel, in a panoramic format. São Miguel is the largest of the Portuguese islands. And it is a work of art of Nature and Man in the middle of the North Atlantic planted.
Santa Maria, Azores

Santa Maria: the Azores Mother Island

It was the first in the archipelago to emerge from the bottom of the sea, the first to be discovered, the first and only to receive Cristovão Colombo and a Concorde. These are some of the attributes that make Santa Maria special. When we visit it, we find many more.
Terceira Island, Azores

Terceira Island: Journey through a Unique Archipelago of the Azores

It was called the Island of Jesus Christ and has radiated, for a long time, the cult of the Holy Spirit. It houses Angra do Heroísmo, the oldest and most splendid city in the archipelago. These are just two examples. The attributes that make Terceira island unique are endless.
Flores Island, Azores

The Atlantic ends of the Azores and Portugal

Where, to the west, even on the map the Americas appear remote, the Ilha das Flores is home to the ultimate Azorean idyllic-dramatic domain and almost four thousand Florians surrendered to the dazzling end-of-the-world that welcomed them.
Castro Laboreiro, Portugal  

From Castro de Laboreiro to Raia da Serra Peneda - Gerês

We arrived at (i) the eminence of Galicia, at an altitude of 1000m and even more. Castro Laboreiro and the surrounding villages stand out against the granite monumentality of the mountains and the Planalto da Peneda and Laboreiro. As do its resilient people who, sometimes handed over to Brandas and sometimes to Inverneiras, still call these stunning places home.
Sistelo, Peneda-Gerês, Portugal

From the "Little Portuguese Tibet" to the Corn Presidia

We leave the cliffs of Srª da Peneda, heading for Arcos de ValdeVez and the villages that an erroneous imaginary dubbed Little Portuguese Tibet. From these terraced villages, we pass by others famous for guarding, as golden and sacred treasures, the ears they harvest. Whimsical, the route reveals the resplendent nature and green fertility of these lands in Peneda-Gerês.
Campos do GerêsTerras de Bouro, Portugal

Through the Campos do Gerês and the Terras de Bouro

We continue on a long, zigzag tour through the domains of Peneda-Gerês and Bouro, inside and outside our only National Park. In this one of the most worshiped areas in the north of Portugal.
Montalegre, Portugal

Through Alto do Barroso, Top of Trás-os-Montes

we moved from Terras de Bouro for those of Barroso. Based in Montalegre, we wander around the discovery of Paredes do Rio, Tourém, Pitões das Júnias and its monastery, stunning villages on the border of Portugal. If it is true that Barroso has had more inhabitants, visitors should not miss it.
Porto Santo, Portugal

Praised Be the Island of Porto Santo

Discovered during a stormy sea tour, Porto Santo remains a providential shelter. Countless planes that the weather diverts from neighboring Madeira guarantee their landing there. As thousands of vacationers do every year, they surrender to the softness and immensity of the golden beach and the exuberance of the volcanic sceneries.
Pico do Arieiro - Pico Ruivo, Madeira, Portugal

Pico Arieiro to Pico Ruivo, Above a Sea of ​​Clouds

The journey begins with a resplendent dawn at 1818 m, high above the sea of ​​clouds that snuggles the Atlantic. This is followed by a winding, ups and downs walk that ends on the lush insular summit of Pico Ruivo, 1861 meters away.
Paul do Mar a Ponta do Pargo a Achadas da Cruz, Wood, Portugal

Discovering the Madeira Finisterre

Curve after curve, tunnel after tunnel, we arrive at the sunny and festive south of Paul do Mar. We get goosebumps with the descent to the vertiginous retreat of Achadas da Cruz. We ascend again and marvel at the final cape of Ponta do Pargo. All this, in the western reaches of Madeira.
Terra Chã and Pico Branco footpaths, Porto Santo

Pico Branco, Terra Chã and Other Whims of the Golden Island

In its northeast corner, Porto Santo is another thing. With its back facing south and its large beach, we unveil a mountainous, rugged and even wooded coastline, dotted with islets that dot an even bluer Atlantic.
Graciosa, Azores

Her Grace the Graciosa

Finally, we will disembark in Graciosa, our ninth island in the Azores. Even if less dramatic and verdant than its neighbors, Graciosa preserves an Atlantic charm that is its own. Those who have the privilege of living it, take from this island of the central group an esteem that remains forever.
Corvo, Azores

The Unlikely Atlantic Shelter on Corvo Island

17 km2 of a volcano sunk in a verdant caldera. A solitary village based on a fajã. Four hundred and thirty souls snuggled by the smallness of their land and the glimpse of their neighbor Flowers. Welcome to the most fearless of the Azorean islands.
São Jorge, Azores

From Fajã to Fajã

In the Azores, strips of habitable land at the foot of large cliffs abound. No other island has as many fajãs as the more than 70 in the slender and elevated São Jorge. It was in them that the jorgenses settled. Their busy Atlantic lives rest on them.
Funchal, Wood

Portal to a Nearly Tropical Portugal

Madeira is located less than 1000km north of the Tropic of Cancer. And the luxuriant exuberance that earned it the nickname of the garden island of the Atlantic can be seen in every corner of its steep capital.
Ponta de Sao Lourenco, Wood, Portugal

The Eastern, Somehow Extraterrestrial, Madeira Tip

Unusual, with ocher tones and raw earth, Ponta de São Lourenço is often the first sight of Madeira. When we walk through it, we are fascinated, above all, with what the most tropical of the Portuguese islands is not.
Vale das Furnas, São Miguel

The Azorean Heat of Vale das Furnas

We were surprised, on the biggest island of the Azores, with a caldera cut by small farms, massive and deep to the point of sheltering two volcanoes, a huge lagoon and almost two thousand people from São Miguel. Few places in the archipelago are, at the same time, as grand and welcoming as the green and steaming Vale das Furnas.
Residents walk along the trail that runs through plantations above the UP4
City
Gurué, Mozambique, Part 1

Through the Mozambican Lands of Tea

The Portuguese founded Gurué in the 1930th century and, from XNUMX onwards, flooded it with camellia sinensis the foothills of the Namuli Mountains. Later, they renamed it Vila Junqueiro, in honor of its main promoter. With the independence of Mozambique and the civil war, the town regressed. It continues to stand out for the lush green imposing mountains and teak landscapes.
Host Wezi points out something in the distance
Beaches
Cobue; Nkwichi Lodge, Mozambique

The Hidden Mozambique of the Creaking Sands

During a tour from the bottom to the top of Lake Malawi, we find ourselves on the island of Likoma, an hour by boat from Nkwichi Lodge, the solitary base of this inland coast of Mozambique. On the Mozambican side, the lake is known as Niassa. Whatever its name, there we discover some of the most stunning and unspoilt scenery in south-east Africa.
Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique, Wildlife, lions
safari
NP Gorongosa, Mozambique

The Heart of Mozambique's Wildlife Shows Signs of Life

Gorongosa was home to one of the most exuberant ecosystems in Africa, but from 1980 to 1992 it succumbed to the Civil War waged between FRELIMO and RENAMO. Greg Carr, Voice Mail's millionaire inventor received a message from the Mozambican ambassador to the UN challenging him to support Mozambique. For the good of the country and humanity, Carr pledged to resurrect the stunning national park that the Portuguese colonial government had created there.
Annapurna Circuit, Manang to Yak-kharka
Annapurna (circuit)
Annapurna 10th Circuit: Manang to Yak Kharka, Nepal

On the way to the Annapurnas Even Higher Lands

After an acclimatization break in the near-urban civilization of Manang (3519 m), we made progress again in the ascent to the zenith of Thorong La (5416 m). On that day, we reached the hamlet of Yak Kharka, at 4018 m, a good starting point for the camps at the base of the great canyon.
Alaskan Lumberjack Show Competition, Ketchikan, Alaska, USA
Architecture & Design
Ketchikan, Alaska

Here begins Alaska

The reality goes unnoticed in most of the world, but there are two Alaskas. In urban terms, the state is inaugurated in the south of its hidden frying pan handle, a strip of land separated from the contiguous USA along the west coast of Canada. Ketchikan, is the southernmost of Alaskan cities, its Rain Capital and the Salmon Capital of the World.
Tibetan heights, altitude sickness, mountain prevent to treat, travel
Aventura

Altitude Sickness: the Grievances of Getting Mountain Sick

When traveling, it happens that we find ourselves confronted with the lack of time to explore a place as unmissable as it is high. Medicine and previous experiences with Altitude Evil dictate that we should not risk ascending in a hurry.
Big Freedia and bouncer, Fried Chicken Festival, New Orleans
Ceremonies and Festivities
New Orleans, Louisiana, United States

Big Freedia: in Bounce Mode

New Orleans is the birthplace of jazz and jazz sounds and resonates in its streets. As expected, in such a creative city, new styles and irreverent acts emerge. Visiting the Big Easy, we ventured out to discover Bounce hip hop.
Entrance to Dunhuang Sand City, China
Cities
Dunhuang, China

An Oasis in the China of the Sands

Thousands of kilometers west of Beijing, the Great Wall has its western end and the China and other. An unexpected splash of vegetable green breaks up the arid expanse all around. Announces Dunhuang, formerly crucial outpost on the Silk Road, today an intriguing city at the base of Asia's largest sand dunes.
Lunch time
Markets

A Market Economy

The law of supply and demand dictates their proliferation. Generic or specific, covered or open air, these spaces dedicated to buying, selling and exchanging are expressions of life and financial health.
Saida Ksar Ouled Soltane, festival of the ksour, tataouine, tunisia
Culture
Tataouine, Tunisia

Festival of the Ksour: Sand Castles That Don't Collapse

The ksour were built as fortifications by the Berbers of North Africa. They resisted Arab invasions and centuries of erosion. Every year, the Festival of the Ksour pays them the due homage.
4th of July Fireworks-Seward, Alaska, United States
Sport
Seward, Alaska

The Longest 4th of July

The independence of the United States is celebrated, in Seward, Alaska, in a modest way. Even so, the 4th of July and its celebration seem to have no end.
Plane landing, Maho beach, Sint Maarten
Traveling
Maho Beach, Sint Maarten

The Jet-powered Caribbean Beach

At first glance, Princess Juliana International Airport appears to be just another one in the vast Caribbean. Successive landings skimming Maho beach that precedes its runway, jet take-offs that distort the faces of bathers and project them into the sea, make it a special case.
Ethnic
Viti levu, Fiji

The Unlikely Sharing of Viti Levu Island

In the heart of the South Pacific, a large community of Indian descendants recruited by former British settlers and the Melanesian indigenous population have long divided the chief island of Fiji.
View of Fa Island, Tonga, Last Polynesian Monarchy
Got2Globe Photo Portfolio
Got2Globe Portfolio

Exotic Signs of Life

Curieuse Island, Seychelles, Aldabra turtles
History
Felicité Island and Curieuse Island, Seychelles

From Leprosarium to Giant Turtles Home

In the middle of the XNUMXth century, it remained uninhabited and ignored by Europeans. The French Ship Expedition “La Curieuse” revealed it and inspired his baptism. The British kept it a leper colony until 1968. Today, Île Curieuse is home to hundreds of Aldabra tortoises, the longest-lived land animal.
Island of Goa, Island of Mozambique, Nampula, lighthouse
Islands
Goa island, Ilha de Mozambique, Mozambique

The Island that Illuminates the Island of Mozambique

Located at the entrance to the Mossuril Bay, the small island of Goa is home to a centuries-old lighthouse. Its listed tower signals the first stop of a stunning dhow tour around the old Ilha de Mozambique.

Boats on ice, Hailuoto Island, Finland.
Winter White
Hailuoto, Finland

A Refuge in the Gulf of Bothnia

During winter, the island of Hailuoto is connected to the rest of Finland by the country's longest ice road. Most of its 986 inhabitants esteem, above all, the distance that the island grants them.
Cove, Big Sur, California, United States
Literature
Big Sur, USA

The Coast of All Refuges

Over 150km, the Californian coast is subjected to a vastness of mountains, ocean and fog. In this epic setting, hundreds of tormented souls follow in the footsteps of Jack Kerouac and Henri Miller.
travel western australia, surfspotting
Nature
Perth to Albany, Australia

Across the Far West of Australia

Few people worship evasion like the aussies. With southern summer in full swing and the weekend just around the corner, Perthians are taking refuge from the urban routine in the nation's southwest corner. For our part, without compromise, we explore endless Western Australia to its southern limit.
Girl plays with leaves on the shore of the Great Lake at Catherine Palace
Autumn
Saint Petersburg, Russia

Golden Days Before the Storm

Aside from the political and military events precipitated by Russia, from mid-September onwards, autumn takes over the country. In previous years, when visiting Saint Petersburg, we witnessed how the cultural and northern capital was covered in a resplendent yellow-orange. A dazzling light that hardly matches the political and military gloom that had spread in the meantime.
Cahuita, Costa Rica, Caribbean, beach
Natural Parks
Cahuita, Costa Rica

An Adult Return to Cahuita

During a backpacking tour of Costa Rica in 2003, the Caribbean warmth of Cahuita delights us. In 2021, after 18 years, we return. In addition to an expected, but contained modernization and hispanization of the town, little else had changed.
Ostrich, Cape Good Hope, South Africa
UNESCO World Heritage
Cape of Good Hope - Cape of Good Hope NP, South Africa

On the edge of the Old End of the World

We arrived where great Africa yielded to the domains of the “Mostrengo” Adamastor and the Portuguese navigators trembled like sticks. There, where Earth was, after all, far from ending, the sailors' hope of rounding the tenebrous Cape was challenged by the same storms that continue to ravage there.
Earp brothers look-alikes and friend Doc Holliday in Tombstone, USA
Characters
tombstone, USA

Tombstone: the City Too Hard to Die

Silver veins discovered at the end of the XNUMXth century made Tombstone a prosperous and conflictive mining center on the frontier of the United States to Mexico. Lawrence Kasdan, Kurt Russell, Kevin Costner and other Hollywood directors and actors made famous the Earp brothers and the bloodthirsty duel of “OK Corral”. The Tombstone, which, over time, has claimed so many lives, is about to last.
Unusual bathing
Beaches

south of Belize

The Strange Life in the Black Caribbean Sun

On the way to Guatemala, we see how the proscribed existence of the Garifuna people, descendants of African slaves and Arawak Indians, contrasts with that of several much more airy bathing areas.

Bathers in the middle of the End of the World-Cenote de Cuzamá, Mérida, Mexico
Religion
Yucatan, Mexico

The End of the End of the World

The announced day passed but the End of the World insisted on not arriving. In Central America, today's Mayans watched and put up with incredulity all the hysteria surrounding their calendar.
Executives sleep subway seat, sleep, sleep, subway, train, Tokyo, Japan
On Rails
Tokyo, Japan

Tokyo's Hypno-Passengers

Japan is served by millions of executives slaughtered with infernal work rates and sparse vacations. Every minute of respite on the way to work or home serves them for their inemuri, napping in public.
Tombola, street bingo-Campeche, Mexico
Society
Campeche, Mexico

A Bingo so playful that you play with puppets

On Friday nights, a group of ladies occupy tables at Independencia Park and bet on trifles. The tiniest prizes come out to them in combinations of cats, hearts, comets, maracas and other icons.
Women with long hair from Huang Luo, Guangxi, China
Daily life
Longsheng, China

Huang Luo: the Chinese Village of the Longest Hairs

In a multi-ethnic region covered with terraced rice paddies, the women of Huang Luo have surrendered to the same hairy obsession. They let the longest hair in the world grow, years on end, to an average length of 170 to 200 cm. Oddly enough, to keep them beautiful and shiny, they only use water and rice.
Devils Marbles, Alice Springs to Darwin, Stuart hwy, Top End Path
Wildlife
Alice Springs to Darwin, Australia

Stuart Road, on its way to Australia's Top End

Do Red Center to the tropical Top End, the Stuart Highway road travels more than 1.500km lonely through Australia. Along this route, the Northern Territory radically changes its look but remains faithful to its rugged soul.
Bungee jumping, Queenstown, New Zealand
Scenic Flights
Queenstown, New Zealand

Queenstown, the Queen of Extreme Sports

In the century. XVIII, the Kiwi government proclaimed a mining village on the South Island "fit for a queen".Today's extreme scenery and activities reinforce the majestic status of ever-challenging Queenstown.