Jerusalem, Israel

Closer to God


golden city
Jerusalem, placed beyond the old walls rebuilt by the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman I, from 1537 onwards.
power games
Palestinian Arab inhabitants play backgammon in an alley in the old town.
in the depths of religion
Believer investigates old scriptures in front of the Kotel, the famous Wailing Wall of Judaism.
arabic scarves
Palestinian women walk along a street in the Arab quarter, in the heart of Jerusalem's Old City.
prayers and regrets
Evenly dressed ultra-Orthodox believers pray in front of the Wailing Wall.
the houses of discord
The Damascus Gate at dusk, with the houses from the various neighborhoods of the Old City of Jerusalem completely filling the interior of the walls.
fragile balance
Arab young man holds a tray with teas and other drinks in an Arab cafe in the Old Town.
The Controversial Temple Mount
Muslim women climb the steps to the Temple Mount.
Zion view
Two Orthodox Jews enjoy the view from a balcony on the Mount of Olives.
David's soldier
IDF military walks a David flag around the Wailing Wall.
Mary Magdalene in gold
The golden domes of the monastery of Mary Magdalene.
The Monastery of Mary Magdalene
Monastery of Mary Magdalene among cypresses on the slope of Monte das Oliveiras
Jewish Neighborhood conviviality
Jews live in the shade in a courtyard in the Jewish Quarter
Al Aqsa Mosque
Muslim believers flock to Al Aqsa mosque.
Jews at the Wailing Wall
Jewish men in kippahs and traditional hats at the Wailing Wall.
Celebration of Zionism
Israel Defense Forces soldiers celebrate at the Wailing Wall.
Mount Zion
View of Mount Zion, another biblical area of ​​Jerusalem.
jewish woman
Jewish wife dressed modestly, as required by Jewish social precepts.
Secular Olive
One of the ancient olive trees on the slope of Mount of Olives.
Patriarchs
Religious patriarchs converse with the Wailing Wall in the background.
Three thousand years of history as mystical as it is troubled come to life in Jerusalem. Worshiped by Christians, Jews and Muslims, this city radiates controversy but attracts believers from all over the world.

The slow dusk is about to close another Summer Friday, when the long and serious siren of the Sabbath echoes through Cidade Velha and marks the beginning of the obligatory rest.

Driven by their faith and religious identity, a Jewish crowd descends the labyrinthine and narrow streets of Jerusalem. The movement makes the tzizits (cord fringes) of the hips of the faithful Haredim (the one used to call ultra-Orthodox).

And the same happens to peot, the curly hair that hangs from their temples as if trying to escape the confinement of the kippah and the panoply of hats (borsalinos, fedoras, shtreimels, kolpiks, trilbys etc) that crown their typical clothing, depending on the geographical origin of each sect.

Jerusalem, God, Israel, Jews at the Wailing Wall

Jewish men in kippahs and traditional hats at the Wailing Wall.

The women accompany the short pilgrimage, step after step, in simple dresses but with all the ends long, as recommended by the conduct. tzniut which requires modesty of appearance and behavior.

We did not take long to confirm the importance of blacks for the ultra-Orthodox, their color of severity that denotes fear for the sky of those who wear them, respect for God and for life and the total rejection of frivolity.

As time passes, it becomes predominant in long outfits (bekish, kapotehs e rekels) that are grouped in the male section of the Wall of Lamentations (Boiler as the Jews prefer to be called).

It does not affect the wave of celebration and generalized commotion that confronts the millenary muteness of its gigantic stones and takes over the place.

military, Wailing Wall, IDF Flag Oath, Jerusalem, Israel

Orthodox and hadi (conventional) military and faithful share their faith and solidarity in front of the Wailing Wall.

The Wailing Wall in Feast

From each of the entrances, more and more Jews flow in sympathy to the adjoining square, ready to renew their religious beliefs or celebrate the triumph of Zionism.

Euphoric groups of young soldiers from the IDF – Israel Defense Forces – in olive green uniforms arrive.

Jerusalem, God, Israel, Israel Defense Forces military

An IDF military breaks spontaneous formation to look for something or someone

Students join them yeshiva, off from his studies of the log and the talmud.

According to the fourth commandment of the Hebrew scriptures, the Sabbath suggests the veneration of God's commitment to the people of Israel (Exodus 31:13-17), the celebration of the day he rested after completing Creation (Exodus 20:8-11) and the end of the seven weekly days of slavery to which the Israelites were subjected in Egypt (Deuteronomy 5:12-15) until the rescue led by Moses.

In a multifaceted and even contrasting way, these determinations are strictly adhered to. They impress us as any Gentile who sees himself following these events.

On a first front, some Haredim they swing by the wall, or cling to it and even kiss it in their unconditional effort to invoke the divine.

Jerusalem god, Israel, Prayers and lamentations at the Wailing Wall

Evenly dressed ultra-Orthodox believers pray in front of the Wailing Wall.

This line is followed by others in which, installed on chairs, also equipped with prayer books, the Haredim – and occasional tradition (conventional believers) repeat the divine prayers.

The sound they emit merges with that of many parallel conversations. It generates a buzz that serves as a background to the revelry carried out further back by soldiers and students.

Embraced, they form a circle in which they dance and sing in chorus or straying under the victorious wave of the Israeli flag.

group of recruits in circle, wall of mourning, oath flag IDF, Jerusalem, Israel

Group of recruits celebrates their entry into the Israel Defense Forces.

The Millennial and Complex Origin of the Wailing Wall

Some 2000 years ago, the builders of the Western Wall could never have foreseen or understood that their modest creation would be promoted to the most important religious sanctuary of the Jewish people.

Part of a project ordered by Herod some twenty years before the birth of Christ, to please Caesar, the wall contributed to the remodeling of the Second Temple – built by Cyrus II of Persia on the same site as the Temple of Solomon.

This remodeling was considered by many Jews a profanation as it disrespected the model revealed by God to David, the second king of the United Kingdom of Israel.

The desecration proved to be just one of the hardships the Jews had to endure under the Roman yoke. When Titus Flavius ​​crushed the first of his revolts against the empire in AD 70, the temple and the three walls that protected it were devastated.

As was much of Jerusalem.

A few years later, Hadrian (the successor of Titus Flavius) named the city Aelia Capitolina. He condemned the Jews once more to exile.

The destruction of the temple and the renewal of the diaspora – substantiated over the centuries by the invasion of successive peoples from what had been their homeland – condemned Jewish religious life to an era of chaos.

For many, this era only ended with the founding of the state of Israel.

In 617 AD, the Persians took the city from the Romans. Faced with an imminent Christian revolt, they allowed the Jews to return to rule for three years.

During this period, returnees avoided the Temple Mount area for fear of stepping on their sanctum sanctorum, accessible only to high priests.

According to the rabbinical texts compiled in the meantime, the sechina, (divine presence) would never have deserted the ruins of the outer wall.

Jerusalem god, Israel, In the depths of religion

Believer investigates old scriptures in front of the Kotel, the famous Wailing Wall of Judaism.

Accordingly, the faithful made them their sanctuary.

They started to pray there.

The Muslim Era that Uprooted the Jews. And the Controversial Dome of the Rock

Two decades later, the city surrendered to the armies of Caliph Omar. For four hundred and sixty-two years, the designs of the city were left to the Muslims. Between 688 and 691, Muslims erected the Dome of the Rock for the purpose of protecting a slab that was sacred to both Islam and Judaism.

According to the texts of the Koran, the Dome of the Rock would be in the place from which the prophet Mohammed would have departed towards heaven, to take his place beside Allah. Jerusalem is therefore the third holiest city, after Mecca and Medina.

According to Jewish scriptures, the Dome of the Rock was indeed the center of the world, the exact spot where Abraham prepared to sacrifice one of his sons.

The purposes of the work's mentor, Caliph Abd al-Malik, proved to be both pious and strategic. The sacralization of Jerusalem had long since become tripartite.

Jerusalem God, Israel, Power Games

Palestinian Arab inhabitants play backgammon in an alley in the old town.

It worried him, above all, that the growing influence of the Christians and of the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher, seduced the Arab minds.

The governor thus ordered that his rotunda be used as a model, but not the dreary interiors and austere stone facades.

Instead, he decorated the mosque with glittering mosaics and verses from the Koran, while the dome was covered in solid gold to shine like a beacon for Islam.

Jerusalem, God, Israel, f

Muslim believers flock to Al Aqsa mosque.

In visual terms, the goal was achieved. Centuries later, the golden structure still stands out from the stone houses of the Old Town.

Despite the political-military supremacy of the Jewish state, the Dome of the Rock is, today, one of the great symbols of Jerusalem and one of the most photographed buildings on the face of the Earth.

It stands out like no other building in the city in the panoramic view from Monte das Oliveiras.

Jerusalem, God, Israel, Dome of the Rock

The Dome of the Rock even more golden by the sunset light to the west of Jerusalem.

The Rise of Christianity and Successive Crusades

About a millennium after the birth of its messiah in Bethlehem, Christianity had expanded. It became a solid religion, headquartered in Rome, branching out into countless believing kingdoms and territories, from the Middle East to the far west of Europe.

At that time, Jerusalem had come to be seen as holy by Christians as well. Accordingly, multinational crusader armies traveled from the four corners of Europe, in multiple waves. They were encouraged by the sacred reconquest of the Muslims.

Its achievements never long withstood the overwhelming responses of Islam. fall of acre, in 1291, the Holy Land went back to “infidel” hands.

Jerusalem god, Israel, Arab scarves in the Christian Quarter

Palestinian women walk along a street in the Arab quarter, in the heart of Jerusalem's Old City.

This was followed by integration into the Ottoman Empire (1516) which lasted until the end of World War I.

During this long period, the wall – which coexisted on the Temple Mount with the Dome of the Rock – became a place of pilgrimage that Jews visited to mourn their former loss.

Thus it became popularized as “the Lamentations”.

But the unfolding of the epic was far from stopping there. In the years to come, the peoples and religions that shared and disputed Jerusalem continued to intersect in history.

fragile balance

Arab young man holds a tray with teas and other drinks in an Arab cafe in the Old Town.

As we saw it happen, day after day, on your streets.

The Christian Mausoleum of the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher

While the Dome of the Rock shines in the company of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Western Wall receives countless lamentations, Christianity's holiest site in the Old City, the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher, has spent centuries withdrawn in the poignant memory of Jesus' last hours.

From very early in the morning (opens to the public at 4.30 am), pilgrims from the four corners of the world enter its complex and dark structure, determined to praise the sacrifice of the messiah there.

We see them cross themselves and their most distinguished objects, leaning over the Stone of Unction, the slab on which the body of Christ was prepared for burial by Joseph of Arimathea, the Jewish senator who obtained permission from Pilate to remove him from the cross.

Then, go up a small staircase and access Mount Calvary. There they find Golgotha ​​(the supposed site of the crucifixion) and, in a small Greek chapel, the stone that supported the cross.

At the imposing roundabout of the basilica, they line up in a line under the deep gaze of Orthodox priests and wait for their turn to glimpse the Altar of the Crucifixion.

Holy Sepulcher, Jerusalem, Christian churches, the door of the aedicule

Orthodox priest at the entrance to the Aedicule.

The Historical Depth Complexity of Jerusalem

Like the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher – which is much larger than the façades suggest – Jerusalem also deceives us about its size and wealth.

Five or six days went by without the Cidade Velha being properly explored and before we realized the magnitude of what there is to discover around.

Most visitors access the interior of Suleiman's walls through the Jaffa Gate. It is the same door that General Edmund Allemby crossed when consummating the allied triumph over the Ottoman Empire in World War I.

Shortly before, among many sensible statements and some braggadocio, an arsonist proclaimed: "Today, the Crusades are over." For some reason it went down in history as the Bloody Bull. 

From Porta de Jaffa, it's always going down to anywhere in the four districts in the interior: the Jewish, the Armenian (smallest), the Muslim and the Christian. We found that each of these neighborhoods has its own life and dynamics.

Jerusalem God, Israel, The Houses of Discord

The Damascus Gate at dusk, with the houses from the various neighborhoods of the Old City of Jerusalem completely filling the interior of the walls.

And, with the exception of the confused intersection between the Christian and the Muslim, they seem to us to be easy to identify, especially the Jew who constitutes a real world apart.

From Theodor Herzl's Zionist Appeal to Israel's Declaration of Independence

At the turn of the 20.000th century, the Zionist movement inspired by the Austro-Hungarian Jewish journalist Theodor Herzl boosted the return of the Diaspora to Palestine as never before. The population installed there amounted to almost XNUMX people. The Jewish Quarter was never entirely Jewish.

On the contrary, a significant part of the homes and stores were rented by their occupants to waqfs, Muslim properties for religious and charitable purposes.

On May 14, 1948, the day before the end of the British Mandate of Palestine, Israel declared independence.

Jerusalem, God, Israel, Israeli Defense Forces Military

IDF military walks a David flag around the Wailing Wall.

It was immediately attacked by various Muslim nations in what became known as the Arab-Israeli War or War of Independence.

The nearly 2000 Jews who resisted the escalation of the conflict in the Jewish quarter were surrounded. They were forced to leave, expelled by Jordanian troops.

The Six-Day War that Returned Jerusalem to the Jews

At that time, Cidade Velha was on the other side of the demarcation line. The neighborhood remained under Jordanian jurisdiction until the 1967 Six Day War, when a determined and heavily armed Israeli army conquered the entire Old City and destroyed the Mughrabi (Moroccan) neighborhood adjacent to the Western Wall.

In the hangover, they would also be expropriated, and about 6.000 Muslim inhabitants evicted. In 1969, Zionist authorities established the Jewish Quarter Development Company, with the aim of rebuilding the former Jewish quarter.

Jerusalem, God, Israel, Jewish Woman

Jewish wife dressed modestly, as required by Jewish social precepts.

As a result, unlike its neighbors to the north, the Jewish Quarter is, in its own way, modern and, above all, residential, built in new stone, equipped with playgrounds for children, infrastructure for wheelchairs and a or another security technology well-disguised by the seemingly historic look.

Another difference that we detected in three periods is that it is lived and visited almost only by the Hebrew community and foreign visitors.

Jerusalem, God, Israel, Jewish neighborhood conviviality

Jews live in the shade in a courtyard in the Jewish Quarter

We explore it in order to absorb the most genuine Jewish mysticism in its streets and synagogues (especially the Hurva and the Ramban).

Also determined to devour the delicious snacks of the resident bars: the shoarmas pitas, humus and falafel, just to mention the most popular.

The New Mt Zion Sacred Miscellany

We left the Jewish Quarter. We cross the Armenian, cross the Zion Gate and arrive at Mount Zion. There lies a new confluence of the sacred which, not to vary, involves the three great Abrahamic religions.

Mount Zion concentrates an eclectic mix of monuments and stories: in a purely biblical field, it is the place of David's tomb, it hosted the Last Supper (there is the Upper Room) and the eternal sleep of the Virgin Mary.

Jerusalem, God, Israel, Mount Zion

View of Mount Zion, another biblical area of ​​Jerusalem.

Less old than the previous characters but eternally heroic for Jews and for the world, Oskar Schindler also rests there.

From the top of Zion, we make our way to the Kidron Valley (of which the Jehoshaphat Valley is part) is the oldest section of Jerusalem with archaeological remains dating back more than four millennia.

At the end of a lonely walk through the parched and deep outskirts of Jerusalem where the legendary City of David was founded, we come across the tombs attributed to Absalom (third son of David) and the prophet Zechariah.

Jerusalem, God, Israel, temples Valley of Kidron

Temple of Absalom on a slope in the Valley of

And the Mount of Olives. Biblical and Panoramic like No Other

At the base of its slope, the Church of All Nations and the Garden of Getsemane stand out. Right next door, in a grievous grotto, there is the tomb of the Virgin Mary, another place given over to Christian believers who renew their faith and emotion in it.

The Mount of Olives is also prolific in biblical places and monuments. At the base of its slope, the Church of All Nations and the Garden of Getsemane stand out. Right next to it, in a grievous grotto, there is the tomb of the Virgin Mary,

In the middle of the slope, we glimpse the glow of the three golden domes of the Russian Orthodox Church of Mary Magdalene, built in 1888 by Alexandre III, in memory of his mother.

Jerusalem, God, Israel, Mary Magdalene monastery

Monastery of Mary Magdalene among cypresses on the slope of Monte das Oliveiras

The Jewish cemetery occupies a good part of the Mount of Olives.

Augmented from biblical times by the Jews' desire to be in Jerusalem on Judgment Day, its endless lego of cut rock burials forms a self-contained mortuary landscape, comparable only – if far more striking – to the Muslim cemetery adjacent to Suleiman's east wall .

Night falls when we admire the yellowish and irregular houses of the Holy City from a viewpoint at the top of Monte das Oliveiras. With each passing minute, sunset turns Jerusalem more golden.

At the same time, a group of Jews Haredim, all dressed to the nines, proceeds with an encounter between the homogenized tombs of their ancestors. The vision serves us as a visual preamble to the city.

It gives it some additional mysticism that we enjoy with strong awe until night falls and Jerusalem is left to the God that all its residents and pilgrims worship.

Jerusalem God, Israel, Golden City

Jerusalem, placed beyond the old walls rebuilt by the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman I, from 1537 onwards.

The return to Jerusalem was and is, for many Jews, the best possible compensation for the diaspora.

Even so, a past with about three thousand years has proven and has proved again that, in the Holy City, history is always controversial.

It never finishes being written.

Jerusalem, Israel

Through the Belicious Streets of Via Dolorosa

In Jerusalem, while traveling the Via Dolorosa, the most sensitive believers realize how difficult the peace of the Lord is to achieve in the most disputed streets on the face of the earth.
Jerusalem, Israel

A Festive Wailing Wall

The holiest place in Judaism is not only attended by prayers and prayers. Its ancient stones have witnessed the oath of new IDF recruits for decades and echo the euphoric screams that follow.
Armenia

The Cradle of the Official Christianity

Just 268 years after Jesus' death, a nation will have become the first to accept the Christian faith by royal decree. This nation still preserves its own Apostolic Church and some of the oldest Christian temples in the world. Traveling through the Caucasus, we visit them in the footsteps of Gregory the Illuminator, the patriarch who inspires Armenia's spiritual life.
Masada, Israel

Masada: The Last Jewish Fortress

In 73 AD, after months of siege, a Roman legion discovered that the resisters on top of Masada had committed suicide. Once again Jewish, this fortress is now the ultimate symbol of Zionist determination.
Jaffa, Israel

Unorthodox protests

A building in Jaffa, Tel Aviv, threatened to desecrate what ultra-Orthodox Jews thought were remnants of their ancestors. And even the revelation that they were pagan tombs did not deter them from the contestation.
Marinduque, Philippines

When the Romans Invade the Philippines

Even the Eastern Empire didn't get that far. In Holy Week, thousands of centurions seize Marinduque. There, the last days of Longinus, a legionary converted to Christianity, are re-enacted.
Mount Sinai, Egypt

Strength in the Legs, Faith in God

Moses received the Ten Commandments on the summit of Mount Sinai and revealed them to the people of Israel. Today, hundreds of pilgrims climb, every night, the 4000 steps of that painful but mystical ascent.
Helsinki, Finland

A Frigid-Scholarly Via Crucis

When Holy Week arrives, Helsinki shows its belief. Despite the freezing cold, little dressed actors star in a sophisticated re-enactment of Via Crucis through streets full of spectators.
Pirenópolis, Brazil

A Ride of Faith

Introduced in 1819 by Portuguese priests, the Festa do Divino Espírito Santo de Pirenópolis it aggregates a complex web of religious and pagan celebrations. It lasts more than 20 days, spent mostly on the saddle.
Pirenópolis, Brazil

Brazilian Crusades

Christian armies expelled Muslim forces from the Iberian Peninsula in the XNUMXth century. XV but, in Pirenópolis, in the Brazilian state of Goiás, the South American subjects of Carlos Magno continue to triumph.
Guwahati, India

The City that Worships Kamakhya and the Fertility

Guwahati is the largest city in the state of Assam and in North East India. It is also one of the fastest growing in the world. For Hindus and devout believers in Tantra, it will be no coincidence that Kamakhya, the mother goddess of creation, is worshiped there.
Shillong, India

A Christmas Selfiestan at an India Christian Stronghold

December arrives. With a largely Christian population, the state of Meghalaya synchronizes its Nativity with that of the West and clashes with the overcrowded Hindu and Muslim subcontinent. Shillong, the capital, shines with faith, happiness, jingle bells and bright lighting. To dazzle Indian holidaymakers from other parts and creeds.
Dead Sea, Israel

Afloat, in the Depths of the Earth

It is the lowest place on the surface of the planet and the scene of several biblical narratives. But the Dead Sea is also special because of the concentration of salt that makes life unfeasible but sustains those who bathe in it.
Saint John of Acre, Israel

The Fortress That Withstood Everything

It was a frequent target of the Crusades and taken over and over again. Today, Israeli, Acre is shared by Arabs and Jews. He lives much more peaceful and stable times than the ones he went through.
Tsfat (Safed), Israel

When the Kabbalah is a Victim of Itself

In the 50s, Tsfat brought together the artistic life of the young Israeli nation and regained its secular mystique. But famous converts like Madonna have come to disturb the most elemental Kabbalist discretion.
Jaffa, Israel

Where Tel Aviv Settles Always in Party

Tel Aviv is famous for the most intense night in the Middle East. But, if its youngsters are having fun until exhaustion in the clubs along the Mediterranean, it is more and more in the nearby Old Jaffa that they tie the knot.
Holy Sepulcher Basilica, Jerusalem, Israel

The Supreme Temple of the Old Christian Churches

It was built by Emperor Constantine, on the site of Jesus' Crucifixion and Resurrection and an ancient temple of Venus. In its genesis, a Byzantine work, the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher is, today, shared and disputed by various Christian denominations as the great unifying building of Christianity.
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.
Skipper of one of the bangkas at Raymen Beach Resort during a break from sailing
Beach
Islands Guimaras  e  Ave Maria, Philippines

Towards Ave Maria Island, in a Philippines full of Grace

Discovering the Western Visayas archipelago, we set aside a day to travel from Iloilo along the northwest coast of Guimaras. The beach tour along one of the Philippines’ countless pristine coastlines ends on the stunning Ave Maria Island.
The Zambezi River, PN Mana Pools
safari
Kanga Pan, Mana Pools NP, Zimbabwe

A Perennial Source of Wildlife

A depression located 15km southeast of the Zambezi River retains water and minerals throughout Zimbabwe's dry season. Kanga Pan, as it is known, nurtures one of the most prolific ecosystems in the immense and stunning Mana Pools National Park.
Thorong La, Annapurna Circuit, Nepal, photo for posterity
Annapurna (circuit)
Annapurna Circuit: 13th - High camp a Thorong La to Muktinath, Nepal

At the height of the Annapurnas Circuit

At 5416m of altitude, the Thorong La Gorge is the great challenge and the main cause of anxiety on the itinerary. After having killed 2014 climbers in October 29, crossing it safely generates a relief worthy of double celebration.
Itamaraty Palace Staircase, Brasilia, Utopia, Brazil
Architecture & Design
Brasilia, Brazil

Brasília: from Utopia to the Capital and Political Arena of Brazil

Since the days of the Marquis of Pombal, there has been talk of transferring the capital to the interior. Today, the chimera city continues to look surreal but dictates the rules of Brazilian development.
Aventura
Boat Trips

For Those Becoming Internet Sick

Hop on and let yourself go on unmissable boat trips like the Philippine archipelago of Bacuit and the frozen sea of ​​the Finnish Gulf of Bothnia.
Bertie in jalopy, Napier, New Zealand
Ceremonies and Festivities
Napier, New Zealand

Back to the 30s

Devastated by an earthquake, Napier was rebuilt in an almost ground-floor Art Deco and lives pretending to stop in the Thirties. Its visitors surrender to the Great Gatsby atmosphere that the city enacts.
Vilanculos, Mozambique, Dhows travel along a canal
Cities
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.
Fogón de Lola, great food, Costa Rica, Guápiles
Lunch time
Fogón de Lola Costa Rica

The Costa Rica Flavour of El Fogón de Lola

As the name suggests, the Fogón de Lola de Guapiles serves dishes prepared on the stove and in the oven, according to Costa Rican family tradition. In particular, Tia Lola's.
Maiko during cultural show in Nara, Geisha, Nara, Japan
Culture
Kyoto, Japan

Survival: The Last Geisha Art

There have been almost 100 but times have changed and geishas are on the brink of extinction. Today, the few that remain are forced to give in to Japan's less subtle and elegant modernity.
Swimming, Western Australia, Aussie Style, Sun rising in the eyes
Sport
Busselton, Australia

2000 meters in Aussie Style

In 1853, Busselton was equipped with one of the longest pontoons in the world. World. When the structure collapsed, the residents decided to turn the problem around. Since 1996 they have been doing it every year. Swimming.
Entrance porch in Ellikkalla, Uzbekistan
Traveling
Uzbekistan

Journey through the Uzbekistan Pseudo-Roads

Centuries passed. Old and run-down Soviet roads ply deserts and oases once traversed by caravans from the Silk RoadSubject to their yoke for a week, we experience every stop and incursion into Uzbek places, into scenic and historic road rewards.
Efate, Vanuatu, transshipment to "Congoola/Lady of the Seas"
Ethnic
Efate, Vanuatu

The Island that Survived “Survivor”

Much of Vanuatu lives in a blessed post-savage state. Maybe for this, reality shows in which aspirants compete Robinson Crusoes they settled one after the other on their most accessible and notorious island. Already somewhat stunned by the phenomenon of conventional tourism, Efate also had to resist them.
Got2Globe Photo Portfolio
Got2Globe Portfolio

life outside

Banks Peninsula, Akaroa, Canterbury, New Zealand
History
Banks Peninsula, New Zealand

The Divine Earth Shard of the Banks Peninsula

Seen from the air, the most obvious bulge on the South Island's east coast appears to have imploded again and again. Volcanic but verdant and bucolic, the Banks Peninsula confines in its almost cogwheel geomorphology the essence of the ever enviable New Zealand life.
Camiguin, Philippines, Katungan mangrove.
Islands
Camiguin, Philippines

An Island of Fire Surrended to Water

With more than twenty cones above 100 meters, the abrupt and lush, Camiguin has the highest concentration of volcanoes of any other of the 7641 islands in the Philippines or on the planet. But, in recent times, not even the fact that one of these volcanoes is active has disturbed the peace of its rural, fishing and, to the delight of outsiders, heavily bathed life.
Hikers walk on snowshoes in the Urho Kekkonen National Park
Winter White
saariselka, Finland

Through the (not so) highlands of Finland

West of Mount Sokosti (718m) and the immense Urho Kekkonen National Park, Saariselkä has developed as a nature escape hub. Having arrived from Ivalo, it is there that we set up base for a series of new experiences and adventures. Some 250 freezing km north of the Arctic Circle.
On the Crime and Punishment trail, St. Petersburg, Russia, Vladimirskaya
Literature
Saint Petersburg, Russia

On the Trail of "Crime and Punishment"

In St. Petersburg, we cannot resist investigating the inspiration for the base characters in Fyodor Dostoevsky's most famous novel: his own pities and the miseries of certain fellow citizens.
lagoons and fumaroles, volcanoes, PN tongariro, new zealand
Nature
Tongariro, New Zealand

The Volcanoes of All Discords

In the late XNUMXth century, an indigenous chief ceded the PN Tongariro volcanoes to the British crown. Today, a significant part of the Maori people claim their mountains of fire from European settlers.
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.
Praslin Island, Cocos from the Sea, Seychelles, Eden Cove
Natural Parks

Praslin, Seychelles

 

The Eden of the Enigmatic Coco-de-Mer

For centuries, Arab and European sailors believed that the largest seed in the world, which they found on the coasts of the Indian Ocean in the shape of a woman's voluptuous hips, came from a mythical tree at the bottom of the oceans. The sensual island that always generated them left us ecstatic.
Sigiriya capital fortress: homecoming
UNESCO World Heritage
Sigiriya, Sri Lanka

The Capital Fortress of a Parricide King

Kashyapa I came to power after walling up his father's monarch. Afraid of a probable attack by his brother heir to the throne, he moved the main city of the kingdom to the top of a granite peak. Today, his eccentric haven is more accessible than ever and has allowed us to explore the Machiavellian plot of this Sri Lankan drama.
Visitors to Ernest Hemingway's Home, Key West, Florida, United States
Characters
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.
Surf Lesson, Waikiki, Oahu, Hawaii
Beaches
Waikiki, OahuHawaii

The Japanese Invasion of Hawaii

Decades after the attack on Pearl Harbor and from the capitulation in World War II, the Japanese returned to Hawaii armed with millions of dollars. Waikiki, his favorite target, insists on surrendering.
church, our lady, virgin, guadalupe, mexico
Religion
San Cristóbal de las Casas a Campeche, Mexico

A Relay of Faith

The Catholic equivalent of Our Lady of Fátima, Our Lady of Guadalupe moves and moves Mexico. Its faithful cross the country's roads, determined to bring the proof of their faith to the patroness of the Americas.
Train Kuranda train, Cairns, Queensland, Australia
On Rails
Cairns-Kuranda, Australia

Train to the Middle of the Jungle

Built out of Cairns to save miners isolated in the rainforest from starvation by flooding, the Kuranda Railway eventually became the livelihood of hundreds of alternative Aussies.
Bright bus in Apia, Western Samoa
Society
Samoa  

In Search of the Lost Time

For 121 years, it was the last nation on Earth to change the day. But Samoa realized that his finances were behind him and, in late 2012, he decided to move back west on the LID - International Date Line.
Young twin women, weavers
Daily life

Margilan, Uzbequistan

A Tour of Uzbekistan's Handicraft Fabrics

Located in the far east of Uzbekistan, in the Fergana Valley, Margilan was one of the essential stops on the Silk Road. Since the 10th century, the silk products produced there have made it stand out on maps; today, haute couture brands compete for its fabrics. More than just a prodigious center of artisanal creation, Margilan values ​​and cherishes an ancient Uzbek way of life.
Aerial view of Malolotja waterfalls.
Wildlife
Malolotja Nature Reserve, eSwatini

Malolotja: the River, the waterfalls and the Grandiose Nature Reserve

A mere 32km northeast of the capital Mbabane, close to the border with South Africa, we ascend into the rugged, showy highlands of eSwatini. The Malolotja River flows there as the waterfalls of the same name, the highest in the Kingdom. Herds of zebras and antelopes roam the surrounding pastures and forests, in one of the most biodiverse reserves in southern Africa.  
Full Dog Mushing
Scenic Flights
Seward, Alaska

The Alaskan Dog Mushing Summer

It's almost 30 degrees and the glaciers are melting. In Alaska, entrepreneurs have little time to get rich. Until the end of August, dog mushing cannot stop.