Ilha de Mozambique, Mozambique  

The Island of Ali Musa Bin Bique. Pardon... of Mozambique


At the end of the afternoon
Fishermen on board their dhow off the north coast of Stone City.
in half shadow
Kids play in front of the façade of the Misericórdia church.
faith in line
Believers prostrate inside the mosque on Rua da Solidariedade, the largest on the Island of Mozambique.
posted data
Friends play a board game decorated with the logos of Benfica, Barcelona, ​​Sporting and the image of Cristiano Ronaldo.
islam chalked
A Muslim believer prays in front of a framework with religious and behavioral directives.
Navigation time
Fishermen in small fishing canoes in front of the São Sebastião fortress.
above the story
Passersby around the Vasco da Gama statue, in front of the island's Maritime Museum.
A good buy
Women display an octopus just bought from fishermen, near the Fortim de Santo António.
just because yes
Teenagers kiss next to an ambulance parked in front of the mosque on Rua da Solidariedade.
an avenue in pastel
Passersby on Amilcar Cabral Avenue, one of the main arteries of Cidade de Pedra.
Step by step
Muslim women pass in front of the old hospital on Ilha de Moçambique, once the oldest in southern Africa.
Embarkation-Disembarkation
Owners of dhow they look after their boats while the tide goes out.
Siro
A resident of Ilha de Moçambique retouches her mossiro mask, which was previously damaged by the inevitable sweat in these tropical latitudes.
among coconut trees
Resident talks on his cell phone, installed in front of the Fortim de Santo António church.
in the shadow of time
Couple conversing protected from the strong sun and overlooking the fortress of São Sebastião.
With the arrival of Vasco da Gama in the extreme south-east of Africa, the Portuguese took over an island that had previously been ruled by an Arab emir, who ended up misrepresenting the name. The emir lost his territory and office. Mozambique - the molded name - remains on the resplendent island where it all began and also baptized the nation that Portuguese colonization ended up forming.

Next to us, during the more than three hours of crushing on the ticket that linked Nampula to Ilha de Moçambique, a young Mozambican mother with obvious Indian genetics talks to her little daughter and puts up with her tantrums.

He always speaks to you in a haughty way, very audible to the other passengers and with a delicious post-colonial accent that is more noticeable to us than that of many Portuguese. When we reach the end of the 4km narrow bridge that connects the mainland to Ilha de Moçambique and the long and exhausting journey from Gorongous, this exuberant passenger explains to the driver where the Terrace of Quitandas is.

Mr. António, the host of this stunning guest house full of history, welcomes us.

We take rewarding showers and sleep until longer. We saw him again at the first breakfast with his company, an invigorating meal in which we talked mainly about the road trip we had been through.

A Mozambican of Portuguese origin, from well before the colonial war and independence, António tells us about his life experiences in Lichinga, the capital of the province of Niassa, and the trips that most influenced him. We talk until the magnetism of Ilha de Moçambique attracts us without appeal and sends us back to its centuries-old streets.

From the Terrace of Quitandas to the Massive Fort of São Sebastião

The imagination of the great fort, the largest in sub-Saharan Africa, built between 1558 and 1620, with stones that arrived on the island as ballasts for Portuguese vessels, seduces us. Already armed with a small map, we find it in a few minutes. Adílio and Hélio, two kids on the island, aspiring guides, make conversation with mild manners.

They follow us chatting among themselves and with neighbors they meet along the way. They use the Macua dialect. With us, a curious young Portuguese.

They end up offering us a lot of important information and a friendly company that would last until nightfall. Over the next few days, Omar, a 14 or 15-year-old street vendor of samosas, replaces them.

Fortress of São Sebastião, Island of Mozambique

Couple conversation protected from the strong sun and overlooking the fortress of São Sebastião

We contemplate the São Sebastião fortress for the first time from the tip of a small white sand, surrounded by the crystalline shores of the Indian Ocean.

Around this time, three fishermen are launching canoes into the water. Soon they round the most amphibious edge of the fortress and disappear behind.

We left that bathing corner. We pass in front of a fashion store called “Uso Africano. There, a group of friends play on a board decorated with symbols of Benfica, Barcelona, ​​Sporting and an iconic CR7 painting in each corner of the square.

Traditional game from the island of Mozambique

Friends play a board game decorated with the logos of Benfica, Barcelona, ​​Sporting and the image of Cristiano Ronaldo.

Hélio and Adílio know that the fort is outside their area of ​​influence and are following the hobby. Instead, a seller of old coins made with the guard of the monument guides us to accompany us without having to pay the entrance fee.

The Baron of Arms of the Portuguese Crown insinuates himself at the top of the old portal through which we pass. As we walk along the wide adarves, we surrender to the reminiscence of the Portuguese feats of other times.

The Outstanding Anchorage of Vasco da Gama

Vasco da Gama arrived on the island in 1498, when he wanted to complete the sea route to India of spices. After months of sailing along the wild coast of Africa, he was surprised to see how civilized the place was, said to be an important commercial hub and a kind of naval shipyard then populated by Swahili and black inhabitants, ruled by a vassal emir from the neighbor's sultan Zanzibar.

The emir responded to Ali Mussa bin Bique, with variations of this name over time: Musa ibn Bique, Ali Musa Biki, Ali Mussa bin Bique and others. Whatever his grace, the Portuguese were quick to return and remove him from his post.

Until 1507, they established a port and a kind of naval base blessed by the Chapel of Nossa Senhora de Baluarte. It has long been considered the dean colonial building of the Southern Hemisphere. Later in the XNUMXth century, the “City of Stone” of the new settlers became the capital of Portuguese territory in East Africa.

Fishermen on the beach near the Fort of São Sebastião, Ilha de Moçambique

Fishermen in small fishing canoes in front of the São Sebastião fortress.

The fort we skirted protected from attacks by Dutch rivals an intense missionary activity and the trade in slaves, spices and gold. Thereafter, infrastructure continued to increase and enriched the colony. They included what was considered for many years the largest hospital in sub-Saharan Africa.

Portuguese Heritage in Contrast with Mozambican Ethnicities

Over time, Ilha de Moçambique was divided between a nuclear area that concentrated the imposing historic buildings: the Cidade de Pedra, and an adjacent residential area, full of low-rise and humble fishermen's houses: Makuti, the term quimoane that defines the covering made of flat coconut leaves.

Return from the fort along Av. dos Continuadores. We enter the Cidade de Pedra, in front of the Palace and Chapel of São Paulo, now colored with a predominant red of white friezes that, despite being worn by the tropical sun and sea air, contrast with the blue sky.

Vasco da Gama Statue, and Maritime Museum, Ilha de Moçambique

Passersby around the Vasco da Gama statue, in front of the island's Maritime Museum.

Built in 1610 as a Jesuit college, the palace later welcomed the governor. Today, it is the Maritime Museum of Ilha de Moçambique. To match, a superb Vasco da Gama statue in front of its main façade looks out over Mossuril Bay. As would happen in browser time, dhow colorful ones are anchored on the gentle coastline below.

The São Paulo Palace opens onto another square bordered by the Misericórdia church and impressive colonial mansions. Of these, the Terrace of Quitandas is one of the most impressive.

This particular corner temple houses a crucifix carved in the style of Maconde art. It continues to welcome masses and the faith of the Christian inhabitants, a minority on this island of Mozambique, who have long been a part of Islam.

Misericórdia Church, Ilha de Mozambique

Kids play in front of the façade of the Misericórdia church.

We cut to Amílcar Cabral Avenue. We walk, dragged along by a tide of students in blue and white uniforms who, on their way home from school, converse with great care. A part of them follows in the shadow of the street's arcades. Others prefer the middle of the road, which is bordered by the surrounding houses, by old mansions that succeed each other in different pastel shades.

The Adventures and Misadventures of Luís de Camões on the Island of Mozambique

On the parallel and marginal street of Combatentes, the house where Luís de Camões lived preserves a similar plaster. By restoring, it degrades before our eyes.

Camões lived on the Island of Mozambique between 1567 and 1569. Goa and he settled down for some time in the expectation that his friend Diogo do Couto would find him there and help raise money for the ticket to Lisbon. On the island, it will have ended “The Lusiads” before having the work edited in the capital of the Empire.

It is even possible that Barbara “that captive who has me captive” was a black slave she met there. She would most likely be Mozambican and would have left her with deep disgust.

We left the poet's house given over to erosion. We continue down Rua dos Combatentes towards the southwest of the island. Along this other coastal road, the Cyan Indian Ocean finds its limit in an old colonial wall. Just a few meters away, the wall gives way to the cove and the gentle beach that serve as recreation for the Makutian district of Areal.

Fishermen trade fish, octopus and cuttlefish with some young housewives. Two of them, wrapped in hijabs and lush capulanas stay with the molluscs. They show us the triumph of bargaining and point to their afternoon tasks.

Residents display fish, island of Mozambique

Women display an octopus just bought from fishermen, near the Fortim de Santo António.

Neighborhood kids take advantage of this short interaction and surround us. "akunha! akunha!” (Whites! Whites!) shout determined to claim the photographic attention of their contentment.

We negotiated the rest of the walk around Ilha de Moçambique with as much patience as possible. To the vicinity of the Fortim de Santo António and the colony of leafy and stiff coconut trees that accompany it.

Mussiro, the Sun Mask and Mozambican Beauty

Nearby, a group of women are peeling beans in a mild cavaqueira. One of them, older, protects herself from the sun with an exuberant mossiro mask. Mossiro is the natural sunscreen of these parts, made from a plant substance used for centuries by the “muthiana prays”, the beautiful girls from the Nampula region.

Proudly, the lady gives us permission to photograph her but is warned by the others that part of the mask has dissipated. “Come with me” urges us. "Let's get this straight!"

We follow it through the stone, clay and cane houses of Bairro do Areal. We are accompanied by dozens of neighbors excited by the unexpected expedition. Arriving at her house, she enters. She returns shortly afterwards with a casual beauty kit, sits down and reconstitutes the mask as best she knows how.

A resident of the island of Mozambique composes a moss tree mask, Mozambique

A resident of Ilha de Moçambique retouches her mossiro mask, which was previously damaged by the inevitable sweat in these tropical latitudes.

We, enjoyed and recorded that fascinating face art. Until the lady shows us the perfect work, we thank her and we all return to the starting point.

A few hundred meters away, with the southern end of the island at the edge, we come across the long bridge that joins it to the mainland. An employee in uniform controls the gate that determines the passage of traffic to and fro. During breaks, chat in the shade of your cabin.

Island of Mozambique: Legacy of Islam and Slavery

We reversed the path, now along Solidarity Street, which runs along the western edge of Makuti's houses. We pass the door of the local RENAMO headquarters. Then, through a port of deep-sea fishermen left to work. Then, for the largest mosque on the island, green and white, as suggested by Muslim precepts.

the call of the muezzin place soon appealed for the new communion of Muslim men with Allah.

Muslim believers on the island of Mozambique

Believers prostrate inside the mosque on Rua da Solidariedade, the largest on the Island of Mozambique

Somewhere there, Rua da Solidariedade becomes Rua dos Trabalhadores. At the fish market, as usual, vendors and vendors hold dramatic and noisy discussions that amuse the most spirited passersby.

We listen to them almost as far as the entrance to the Jardim da Memória, where, on the contrary, the topic discussed can only be taken seriously.

From the end of the XNUMXth century to the turn of the XNUMXth century, and for most of that time, despite the Portuguese Crown, Ilha de Moçambique remained a slave warehouse which processed the trafficking of natives from East Africa mainly to the Indian Islands off Mozambique or to the north (Mauritius, Reunion Island, Madagascar, Seychelles) but also for the Brazil.

The Portuguese Slavery Traffic, on the Zanzibarian Path

The trafficking was already carried out by Arab slavers based in Zanzibar operating in northern Mozambique. There, with the connivance of Muslim Muslim leaders and other ethnic groups, they captured large contingents of indigenous people around Lake Niassa and went down the coast to sell them.

By seizing the island, the Portuguese forced their participation in this traffic, keeping the captives and sending them from there to their final destinations. Located right on the edge of the Indian Ocean, the Jardim da Memória was built to recover the atrocious reality of that colonial era.

When we visit it, we cross history from the days of Ali Musa Bique towards the independence of Mozambique. The island, we unraveled it until we could no longer. Then we traveled to an unavoidable historical sister: Ibo, in the Quirimbas archipelago.

More about Ilha de Moçambique on the respective page of UNESCO.

Ibo Island a Quirimba IslandMozambique

Ibo to Quirimba with the Tide

For centuries, the natives have traveled in and out of the mangrove between the island of Ibo and Quirimba, in the time that the overwhelming return trip from the Indian Ocean grants them. Discovering the region, intrigued by the eccentricity of the route, we follow its amphibious steps.
Pemba, Mozambique

From Porto Amélia to the Shelter Port of Mozambique

In July 2017, we visited Pemba. Two months later, the first attack took place on Mocímboa da Praia. Nor then do we dare to imagine that the tropical and sunny capital of Cabo Delgado would become the salvation of thousands of Mozambicans fleeing a terrifying jihadism.
Table Mountain, South Africa

At the Adamastor Monster Table

From the earliest times of the Discoveries to the present, Table Mountain has always stood out above the South African immensity South African and the surrounding ocean. The centuries passed and Cape Town expanded at his feet. The Capetonians and the visiting outsiders got used to contemplating, ascending and venerating this imposing and mythical plateau.
Ibo Island, Mozambique

Island of a Gone Mozambique

It was fortified in 1791 by the Portuguese who expelled the Arabs from the Quirimbas and seized their trade routes. It became the 2nd Portuguese outpost on the east coast of Africa and later the capital of the province of Cabo Delgado, Mozambique. With the end of the slave trade at the turn of the XNUMXth century and the passage from the capital to Porto Amélia, Ibo Island found itself in the fascinating backwater in which it is located.
Bazaruto, Mozambique

The Inverted Mirage of Mozambique

Just 30km off the East African coast, an unlikely but imposing erg rises out of the translucent sea. Bazaruto it houses landscapes and people who have lived apart for a long time. Whoever lands on this lush, sandy island soon finds himself in a storm of awe.
Príncipe, São Tomé and Principe

Journey to the Noble Retreat of Príncipe Island

150 km of solitude north of the matriarch São Tomé, the island of Príncipe rises from the deep Atlantic against an abrupt and volcanic mountain-covered jungle setting. Long enclosed in its sweeping tropical nature and a contained but moving Luso-colonial past, this small African island still houses more stories to tell than visitors to listen to.
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.
Lüderitz, Namibia

Wilkommen in Africa

Chancellor Bismarck has always disdained overseas possessions. Against his will and all odds, in the middle of the Race for Africa, merchant Adolf Lüderitz forced Germany to take over an inhospitable corner of the continent. The homonymous city prospered and preserves one of the most eccentric heritages of the Germanic empire.
Enxame Mozambique

Mozambican Fashion Service Area

It is repeated at almost all stops in towns of Mozambique worthy of appearing on maps. The machimbombo (bus) stops and is surrounded by a crowd of eager "businessmen". The products offered can be universal such as water or biscuits or typical of the area. In this region, a few kilometers from Nampula, fruit sales suceeded, in each and every case, quite intense.
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.
Elmina, Ghana

The First Jackpot of the Portuguese Discoveries

In the century. XVI, Mina generated to the Crown more than 310 kg of gold annually. This profit aroused the greed of the The Netherlands and from England, which succeeded one another in the place of the Portuguese and promoted the slave trade to the Americas. The surrounding village is still known as Elmina, but today fish is its most obvious wealth.
São Tomé and Principe

Cocoa Roças, Corallo and the Chocolate Factory

At the beginning of the century. In the XNUMXth century, São Tomé and Príncipe generated more cocoa than any other territory. Thanks to the dedication of some entrepreneurs, production survives and the two islands taste like the best chocolate.
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.

Machangulo, Mozambique

The Golden Peninsula of Machangulo

At a certain point, an ocean inlet divides the long sandy strip full of hyperbolic dunes that delimits Maputo Bay. Machangulo, as the lower section is called, is home to one of the most magnificent coastlines in Mozambique.
Vilankulos, Mozambique

Indian Ocean comes, Indian Ocean goes

The gateway to the Bazaruto archipelago of all dreams, Vilankulos has its own charms. Starting with the elevated coastline facing the bed of the Mozambique Channel which, for the benefit of the local fishing community, the tides sometimes flood, sometimes uncover.
Maputo National Park, Mozambique

The Wild Mozambique between the Maputo River and the Indian Ocean

The abundance of animals, especially elephants, led to the creation of a Hunting Reserve in 1932. After the hardships of the Mozambican Civil War, the Maputo PN protects prodigious ecosystems in which fauna proliferates. With emphasis on the pachyderms that have recently become too many.
Tofo, Mozambique

Between Tofo and Tofinho along a growing coastline

The 22km between the city of Inhambane and the coast reveal an immensity of mangroves and coconut groves, here and there, dotted with huts. Arrival in Tofo, a string of dunes above a seductive Indian Ocean and a humble village where the local way of life has long been adjusted to welcome waves of dazzled outsiders.
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.
Inhambane, Mozambique

The Current Capital of a Land of Good People

It is a fact that such a generous welcome led Vasco da Gama to praise the region. From 1731 onwards, the Portuguese developed Inhambane until 1975, when they bequeathed it to the Mozambicans. The city remains the urban and historical heart of one of Mozambique's most revered provinces.
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.
Believers greet each other in the Bukhara region.
City
Bukhara, Uzbequistan

Among the Minarets of Old Turkestan

Situated on the ancient Silk Road, Bukhara has developed for at least two thousand years as an essential commercial, cultural and religious hub in Central Asia. It was Buddhist and then Muslim. It was part of the great Arab empire and that of Genghis Khan, the Turko-Mongol kingdoms and the Soviet Union, until it settled in the still young and peculiar Uzbekistan.
Host Wezi points out something in the distance
Beach
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.
Lion, Elephants, PN Hwange, Zimbabwe
safari
PN Hwange, Zimbabwe

The Legacy of the Late Cecil Lion

On July 1, 2015, Walter Palmer, a dentist and trophy hunter from Minnesota killed Cecil, Zimbabwe's most famous lion. The slaughter generated a viral wave of outrage. As we saw in PN Hwange, nearly two years later, Cecil's descendants thrive.
Annapurna (circuit)
Annapurna Circuit: 5th - Ngawal a BragaNepal

Towards the Nepalese Braga

We spent another morning of glorious weather discovering Ngawal. There is a short journey towards Manang, the main town on the way to the zenith of the Annapurna circuit. We stayed for Braga (Braka). The hamlet would soon prove to be one of its most unforgettable places.
A Lost and Found City
Architecture & Design
Machu Picchu, Peru

The City Lost in the Mystery of the Incas

As we wander around Machu Picchu, we find meaning in the most accepted explanations for its foundation and abandonment. But whenever the complex is closed, the ruins are left to their enigmas.
Bungee jumping, Queenstown, New Zealand
Aventura
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.
Tiredness in shades of green
Ceremonies and Festivities
Suzdal, Russia

The Suzdal Cucumber Celebrations

With summer and warm weather, the Russian city of Suzdal relaxes from its ancient religious orthodoxy. The old town is also famous for having the best cucumbers in the nation. When July arrives, it turns the newly harvested into a real festival.
fortress wall of Novgorod and the Orthodox Cathedral of Hagia Sophia, Russia.
Cities
Novgorod, Russia

Mother Russia's Viking Grandmother

For most of the past century, the USSR authorities have omitted part of the origins of the Russian people. But history leaves no room for doubt. Long before the rise and supremacy of the tsars and the soviets, the first Scandinavian settlers founded their mighty nation in Novgorod.
Obese resident of Tupola Tapaau, a small island in Western Samoa.
Lunch time
Tonga, Western Samoa, Polynesia

XXL Pacific

For centuries, the natives of the Polynesian islands subsisted on land and sea. Until the intrusion of colonial powers and the subsequent introduction of fatty pieces of meat, fast food and sugary drinks have spawned a plague of diabetes and obesity. Today, while much of Tonga's national GDP, Western Samoa and neighbors is wasted on these “western poisons”, fishermen barely manage to sell their fish.
Culture
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.
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.
Eternal Spring Shrine
Traveling

Taroko George

Deep in Taiwan

In 1956, skeptical Taiwanese doubted that the initial 20km of Central Cross-Island Hwy was possible. The marble canyon that challenged it is today the most remarkable natural setting in Formosa.

Camel Racing, Desert Festival, Sam Sam Dunes, Rajasthan, India
Ethnic
Jaisalmer, India

There's a Feast in the Thar Desert

As soon as the short winter breaks, Jaisalmer indulges in parades, camel races, and turban and mustache competitions. Its walls, alleys and surrounding dunes take on more color than ever. During the three days of the event, natives and outsiders watch, dazzled, as the vast and inhospitable Thar finally shines through.
portfolio, Got2Globe, Travel photography, images, best photographs, travel photos, world, Earth
Got2Globe Photo Portfolio
Portfolio Got2globe

The Best in the World – Got2Globe Portfolio

History
napier, New Zealand

Back to the 30s – Old-Fashioned Car Tour

In a city rebuilt in Art Deco and with an atmosphere of the "crazy years" and beyond, the adequate means of transportation are the elegant classic automobiles of that era. In Napier, they are everywhere.
Terra Nostra Park, Furnas, São Miguel, Azores, Portugal
Islands
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.
Masked couple for the Kitacon convention.
Winter White
Kemi, Finland

An Unconventional Finland

The authorities themselves describe Kemi as “a small, slightly crazy town in northern Finland”. When you visit, you find yourself in a Lapland that is not in keeping with the traditional ways of the region.
Visitors to Ernest Hemingway's Home, Key West, Florida, United States
Literature
Key West, United States

Hemingway's Caribbean Playground

Effusive as ever, Ernest Hemingway called Key West "the best place I've ever been...". In the tropical depths of the contiguous US, he found evasion and crazy, drunken fun. And the inspiration to write with intensity to match.
Windward Side, Saba, Dutch Caribbean, Netherlands
Nature
Saba, The Netherlands

The Mysterious Dutch Queen of Saba

With a mere 13km2, Saba goes unnoticed even by the most traveled. Little by little, above and below its countless slopes, we unveil this luxuriant Little Antille, tropical border, mountainous and volcanic roof of the shallowest european nation.
Mother Armenia Statue, Yerevan, Armenia
Autumn
Yerevan, Armenia

A Capital between East and West

Heiress of the Soviet civilization, aligned with the great Russia, Armenia allows itself to be seduced by the most democratic and sophisticated ways of Western Europe. In recent times, the two worlds have collided in the streets of your capital. From popular and political dispute, Yerevan will dictate the new course of the nation.
Cachena cow in Valdreu, Terras de Bouro, Portugal
Natural Parks
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.
Campeche, Mexico, Yucatan Peninsula, Can Pech, Pastéis in the air
UNESCO World Heritage
Campeche, Mexico

Campeche Upon Can Pech

As was the case throughout Mexico, the conquerors arrived, saw and won. Can Pech, the Mayan village, had almost 40 inhabitants, palaces, pyramids and an exuberant urban architecture, but in 1540 there were less than 6 natives. Over the ruins, the Spaniards built Campeche, one of the most imposing colonial cities in the Americas.
Zorro's mask on display at a dinner at the Pousada Hacienda del Hidalgo, El Fuerte, Sinaloa, Mexico
Characters
El Fuerte, Sinaloa, Mexico

Zorro's Cradle

El Fuerte is a colonial city in the Mexican state of Sinaloa. In its history, the birth of Don Diego de La Vega will be recorded, it is said that in a mansion in the town. In his fight against the injustices of the Spanish yoke, Don Diego transformed himself into an elusive masked man. In El Fuerte, the legendary “El Zorro” will always take place.
The Dominican Republic Balnear de Barahona, Balneario Los Patos
Beaches
Barahona, Dominican Republic

The Bathing Dominican Republic of Barahona

Saturday after Saturday, the southwest corner of the Dominican Republic goes into decompression mode. Little by little, its seductive beaches and lagoons welcome a tide of euphoric people who indulge in a peculiar rumbear amphibian.
Mtshketa, Holy City of Georgia, Caucasus, Svetitskhoveli Cathedral
Religion
Mtskheta, Georgia

The Holy City of Georgia

If Tbilisi is the contemporary capital, Mtskheta was the city that made Christianity official in the kingdom of Iberia, predecessor of Georgia, and one that spread the religion throughout the Caucasus. Those who visit see how, after almost two millennia, it is Christianity that governs life there.
Chepe Express, Chihuahua Al Pacifico Railway
On Rails
Creel to Los Mochis, Mexico

The Barrancas del Cobre & the CHEPE Iron Horse

The Sierra Madre Occidental's relief turned the dream into a construction nightmare that lasted six decades. In 1961, at last, the prodigious Chihuahua al Pacifico Railroad was opened. Its 643km cross some of the most dramatic scenery in Mexico.
Merida cable car, Renovation, Venezuela, altitude sickness, mountain prevent to treat, travel
Society
Mérida, Venezuela

The Vertiginous Renovation of the World's Highest Cable Car

Underway from 2010, the rebuilding of the Mérida cable car was carried out in the Sierra Nevada by intrepid workers who suffered firsthand the magnitude of the work.
Casario, uptown, Fianarantsoa, ​​Madagascar
Daily life
Fianarantsoa, Madagascar

The Malagasy City of Good Education

Fianarantsoa was founded in 1831 by Ranavalona Iª, a queen of the then predominant Merina ethnic group. Ranavalona Iª was seen by European contemporaries as isolationist, tyrant and cruel. The monarch's reputation aside, when we enter it, its old southern capital remains as the academic, intellectual and religious center of Madagascar.
Ross Bridge, Tasmania, Australia
Wildlife
Discovering tassie, Part 3, Tasmania, Australia

Tasmania from Top to Bottom

The favorite victim of Australian anecdotes has long been the Tasmania never lost the pride in the way aussie ruder to be. Tassie remains shrouded in mystery and mysticism in a kind of hindquarters of the antipodes. In this article, we narrate the peculiar route from Hobart, the capital located in the unlikely south of the island to the north coast, the turn to the Australian continent.
Napali Coast and Waimea Canyon, Kauai, Hawaii Wrinkles
Scenic Flights
napali coast, Hawaii

Hawaii's Dazzling Wrinkles

Kauai is the greenest and rainiest island in the Hawaiian archipelago. It is also the oldest. As we explore its Napalo Coast by land, sea and air, we are amazed to see how the passage of millennia has only favored it.