Miami beach, USA

The Beach of All Vanities


sunny beach
Bathers spread a towel next to one of Miami Beach's lush lifeguard huts.
Muscles
Lazar Novovic and Dusan Djolevic, mentors of the street work out movement Bar Brothers and Hannibal for King, one of its inspirations, show off their physical shape at Lumus Park.
Art Deco Photo
Visitors to Miami Beach can't resist the charm of an Art Deco-era automobile in which the buildings on Ocean Drive where it is parked were erected.
by land
Band of terns on the vast sands of Miami Beach.
VIP homes
One of the many multi-million dollar mansions housed in the Miami Bay Marine Refuge.
plastic seduction
Mannequin at the entrance of a store at the base of the Congress Hotel
Hannibal Flag
Hannibal the King carries out a "flag", an exuberant movement that is very difficult to execute.
Neon hour
Lighting in Ocean Drive's hotels and bars is highlighted by the slow dusk.
Few coasts concentrate, at the same time, so much heat and displays of fame, wealth and glory. Located in the extreme southeast of the USA, Miami Beach is accessible via six bridges that connect it to the rest of Florida. It is meager for the number of souls who desire it.

It's only been twenty minutes since the “Island Queen” sailed from the Bay of Miami docks.

We passed under the large viaduct on Port Boulevard. The line of gray skyscrapers is set at our shores against the blue sky almost clear of fog or clouds.

The flag of the Land of Opportunity remains attached to the stern of the vessel but, from the angle we see it, it flutters, with its stars & stripes on an even higher plane.

We did not take long to navigate the first personal expressions of success achieved in the US fashion. “To your right is anchored Mr. Mark Cuban's fabulous yacht, which everyone should know from the “Lago dos Tubarões” program.

Thereafter, as we approach the west coast of Miami Beach, the narrator on duty does little more than announce other ships and mansions.

They are all owned by celebrities and millionaires, Americans but not only, some less exposed than others.

Miami's Countless Billion Mansions

With some ridiculous meters of vegetation separating them, the Instagram inventor's house, Ricky Martin's, followed. A mansion used by Shakira and Usher in filming of videoclips and, accordingly, one of the houses of the rapper Puff Daddy. “This is by Tomas Cramer, a German architect.” adds the narrator. “He complained that Miami was too hot.

Installed air conditioning throughout the interior. Not satisfied, he also installed a system out that cost nearly $100.000. Next is Phillip Frost's summer home, Mr. Viagra, or Mr. Blue, as he is better known. Each of the 32 palm trees you see in that garden came from Africa at a unit cost of $10.000.

The mansion only costs 60 million dollars.” The second largest house in the area belonged to Elisabeth Taylor and Eddie Fischer, one of her many husbands. In the garden, there is a black rabbit given by Michael Jackson. Others, smaller, belonged to Sylvester Stallone and David Beckham. Like the Brazilian Xuxa.

Singer Gloria Estefan's included a four million dollar recording studio. On Fisher Island, almost touching the big island of Miami Beach and accessible only by boat and helicopter, there were mansions of Tom Cruise, Jennifer Lopez, Sophia Loren, Boris Becker, so he continued to present the hostess at the microphone while the passengers, dazzled, turned now to port, now to starboard.

Miami reveals this and more. Much more, of course, than the DNA and laboratory intrigue of “Dexter” and, much earlier, from “Miami Vice” where excerpts from countless episodes were filmed in those same waters and on the docks we had before us.

Mansion, Miami beach, beach, Florida, United States,

One of the many multi-million dollar mansions housed in the Miami Bay Marine Refuge.

Obsession with Fitness at Lummus Park

It is in Miami Beach, in particular, that all the symptoms of heightened prosperity and fame or yearning to reach them wash over. We return to the dock and disembark.

Afterwards, we drive via the A1A road and bridge to the opposite coast of the big island and feel its vibrations with the soft sun of the fake local winter massaging our increasingly tanned faces.

Countless young people – others not so much – obsessed with their physical shape and appearance follow each other on the irregular walk that zigzags between the coconut trees of Lummus Park and follows the Caribbean Sea.

They do it on the run, on roller skates or on a bicycle, on advanced skateboards or towed by stray dogs.

In a stronghold of beauty and class like this privileged strip of Florida, no one wants to be weak.

Mannequin, Miami beach, beach, Florida, United States,

Mannequin at the entrance of a store at the base of the Congress Hotel

If the weather does not even invite you to stay at home, the sculptural and golden bodies of the stars serve as an unquestionable motivation for any exercise.

We stop in front of a kind of outdoor gym that groups bars of different heights, walls, tires and some other mobile auxiliary equipment.

Dedicated bodybuilders from different groups attend it in an unstable relationship, far from harmony.

We approach and engage them in conversation, when their cycle of repetitions and rest allows. Once some initial mistrust was overcome and at your pace, we realized the dynamics of your relationship.

Lazar Novovic and Dusan Djolevic were studying in the US when they met through a friend.

The Calisthenic Movement of the Bar Brothers and Hannibal the King

supporters of street workout, focused on transforming their lives, found a motivational video by Hannibal for King, a street bodybuilder from New York idolized in the USA and around the world.

A strong inspiration to create the Bar Brothers, their own movement of well-being and determination in today's international life.

Bar Brothers, Miami beach, beach, Florida, United States,

Lazar Novovic and Dusan Djolevic, mentors of the street work out movement Bar Brothers and Hannibal for King, one of its inspirations, show off their physical shape at Lumus Park.

We are lucky to find the three of them together.

Lazar and Dusan are busy filming a video with Hannibal and, at the same time, doing their own exercises. It is Hannibal who we photograph the most and who dedicates most of his time to us. “My story is curious: I broke my hands very seriously.

The doctors told me I would never be able to use them properly again. I ignored them and followed an alternative treatment that included a series of calisthenics exercises.

At a certain point, I found myself addicted to these exercises and highly motivated by the progress.

Hannibal's Intense and Exercised Life

I took exercise to the extreme, shaped my entire body and started creating motivational videos to help other people reach difficult goals. Today, I travel the world showing what I do and inspiring other athletes.

Don't think it's easy. I have two wives, three daughters and only one son.

When I'm in New York I live surrounded by women. To get away with it, I go out with my son, but even so, I'm always hearing accusations for living with other fit women…”

We asked Hannibal the King for one last photo.

Hannibal shows us an extreme position known as a flag, with his body stretched out horizontally using one of the side bars as an axis.

Hannibal the King, Miami beach, beach, Florida, United States,

Hannibal the King carries out a “flag”, an exuberant movement that is very difficult to execute.

Afterwards, we said goodbye to him and the group, wondering if it wouldn't be a good idea to better prepare ourselves for our travels, to follow at least part of his techniques and teachings.

The Long Caribbean Beach of Miami Beach

The morning comes to an end. The beach directly opposite is made up and lifeguards are replaced at the end of the first shift of the day.

They ensure the continuity of your Bay Watch from the top of the typical lifeguard huts of these places, so exuberant and in a good mood that foreign bathers surround them one after the other with mobile phones at the ready and determined to photograph themselves with them as a souvenir.

Bay Watch cabin, Miami beach, beach, Florida, United States,

Bathers spread a towel next to one of Miami Beach's lush lifeguard huts.

We are already well out of the cyclone season and not even the wind that is felt affects the gentleness in which the Caribbean Sea unfolds.

All the huts have purple flags hoisted, which intrigues us.

We asked a bathroom on the cabin's porch what the color means.

He answers us with a haughtiness and dryness that we have become accustomed to from those who have a place of authority in the USA, however insignificant it may be: “Jellyfish, we detected a few jellyfish in the water”.

We contemplate the nearby sea dotted with figures. The fact that it is a family nuisance and, we would like to believe, small, does not deter us from a well-deserved dive. While we splash in the water, advertising zeppelins fly over us.

Offshore, a barge navigates that displays advertisements on a panel.

We thought we knew the bathing universe in depth. We should have predicted that on a beach in the US, something new would appear.

Royal terns, Miami beach, beach, Florida, United States,

Band of terns on the vast sands of Miami Beach.

Ocean Drive and Surrounding Area, Miami Beach Art Deco

But if Miami Beach innovates, it does so with an entrepreneurial respect for its historic heritage. We return to the interior of the island in the late afternoon.

We were housed in The Hall, a boutique hotel that had adapted one of Miami Beach's 1200 Art Deco structures (the largest concentration in the world), most built between 1923 and 1943.

Around, several others stood out for the architecture of the time.

In particular, Park Central, between 6th and 7th street, a frequent stop for classic Hollywood stars: Clark Gable, Rita Hayworth, Carole Lombard and the like, characters that match the golden age of some colorful jalopies parked there under Valet Parking.

Art Deco, Miami beach, beach, Florida, United States,

Visitors to Miami Beach can't resist the charm of an Art Deco-era automobile in which the buildings on Ocean Drive where it is parked were erected.

In our view, one of the most opportunistic and irritating commercial pests in the US

With sunset setting in and bathers returning from the sand to the realm of concrete and asphalt, we find ourselves attracted by the call of Ocean Drive.

The neons of the Boulevard, Colony and Starlite hotels soon devour the daytime pastel tones of the buildings and seize the color of that glamorous marginal avenue.

Thus, they signal the reopening of the crazy nightlife of the neighbourhood.

Miami beach, beach, Florida, United States, Ocean Drive

Lighting in Ocean Drive's hotels and bars is highlighted by the slow dusk.

Soon, bars like Churchill's Pub – run by the UK – attract a heterogeneous horde of recycled punks, curious hipsters and metalheads or whatever kind of fans of the bands that play live there without any coherence of gender or notoriety.

Something similar happens at the Liv, despite being housed inside the Fontainebleu hotel and, as such, far more exclusive than Churchill's or Nikki Beach, this one, based in several cabins and equipped with bars tiki on the sand of SoBe Beach, South Beach of Miami Beach.

At that time, the most visible excitement is still that of a growing line of island visitors who want to photograph themselves in front of the famous Miami Beach clock/thermometer on the threshold of Lumus Park.

HOW TO GO

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Key West, USA

The Tropical Wild West of the USA

We've come to the end of the Overseas Highway and the ultimate stronghold of propagandism Florida Keys. The continental United States here they surrender to a dazzling turquoise emerald marine vastness. And to a southern reverie fueled by a kind of Caribbean spell.
Florida Keys, USA

The Caribbean Stepping Stone of the USA

Os United States continental islands seem to close to the south in its capricious peninsula of Florida. Don't stop there. More than a hundred islands of coral, sand and mangroves form an eccentric tropical expanse that has long seduced American vacationers.
Miami, USA

A Masterpiece of Urban Rehabilitation

At the turn of the 25st century, the Wynwood neighbourhood remained filled with abandoned factories and warehouses and graffiti. Tony Goldman, a shrewd real estate investor, bought more than XNUMX properties and founded a mural park. Much more than honoring graffiti there, Goldman founded the Wynwood Arts District, the great bastion of creativity in Miami.
Little Havana, USA

Little Havana of the Nonconformists

Over the decades and until today, thousands of Cubans have crossed the Florida Straits in search of the land of freedom and opportunity. With the US a mere 145 km away, many have gone no further. His Little Havana in Miami is today the most emblematic neighborhood of the Cuban diaspora.
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.
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.
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.
Phi Phi Islands, Thailand

Back to Danny Boyle's The Beach

It's been 15 years since the debut of the backpacker classic based on the novel by Alex Garland. The film popularized the places where it was shot. Shortly thereafter, the XNUMX tsunami literally washed some away off the map. Today, their controversial fame remains intact.
Boracay, Philippines

The Philippine Beach of All Dreams

It was revealed by Western backpackers and the film crew of “Thus Heroes are Born”. Hundreds of resorts and thousands of eastern vacationers followed, whiter than the chalky sand.
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.
Grand Canyon, USA

Journey through the Abysmal North America

The Colorado River and tributaries began flowing into the plateau of the same name 17 million years ago and exposed half of Earth's geological past. They also carved one of its most stunning entrails.
Mount Denali, Alaska

The Sacred Ceiling of North America

The Athabascan Indians called him Denali, or the Great, and they revered his haughtiness. This stunning mountain has aroused the greed of climbers and a long succession of record-breaking climbs.
Juneau, Alaska

The Little Capital of Greater Alaska

From June to August, Juneau disappears behind cruise ships that dock at its dockside. Even so, it is in this small capital that the fate of the 49th American state is decided.
Monument Valley, USA

Indians or Cowboys?

Iconic Western filmmakers like John Ford immortalized what is the largest Indian territory in the United States. Today, in the Navajo Nation, the Navajo also live in the shoes of their old enemies.
Talkeetna, Alaska

Talkeetna's Alaska-Style Life

Once a mere mining outpost, Talkeetna rejuvenated in 1950 to serve Mt. McKinley climbers. The town is by far the most alternative and most captivating town between Anchorage and Fairbanks.
Las Vegas, USA

Where sin is always forgiven

Projected from the Mojave Desert like a neon mirage, the North American capital of gaming and entertainment is experienced as a gamble in the dark. Lush and addictive, Vegas neither learns nor regrets.
Navajo nation, USA

The Navajo Nation Lands

From Kayenta to Page, passing through Marble Canyon, we explore the southern Colorado Plateau. Dramatic and desert, the scenery of this indigenous domain, cut out in Arizona, reveals itself to be splendid.
Death Valley, USA

The Hottest Place Resurrection

Since 1921, Al Aziziyah, in Libya, was considered the hottest place on the planet. But the controversy surrounding the 58th measured there meant that, 99 years later, the title was returned to Death Valley.
San Francisco, USA

San Francisco Cable Cars: A Life of Highs and Lows

A macabre wagon accident inspired the San Francisco cable car saga. Today, these relics work as a charm operation in the city of fog, but they also have their risks.
Mauna Kea, Hawaii

Mauna Kea: the Volcano with an Eye out in Space

The roof of Hawaii was off-limits to natives because it housed benevolent deities. But since 1968, several nations sacrificed the peace of the gods and built the greatest astronomical station on the face of the Earth.
Amboseli National Park, Mount Kilimanjaro, Normatior Hill
Safari
Amboseli National Park, Kenya

A Gift from the Kilimanjaro

The first European to venture into these Masai haunts was stunned by what he found. And even today, large herds of elephants and other herbivores roam the pastures irrigated by the snow of Africa's biggest mountain.
Mount Lamjung Kailas Himal, Nepal, altitude sickness, mountain prevent treat, travel
Annapurna (circuit)
Annapurna Circuit: 2th - Chame a Upper BananaNepal

(I) Eminent Annapurnas

We woke up in Chame, still below 3000m. There we saw, for the first time, the snowy and highest peaks of the Himalayas. From there, we set off for another walk along the Annapurna Circuit through the foothills and slopes of the great mountain range. towards Upper Banana.
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.
Passengers, scenic flights-Southern Alps, New Zealand
Adventure
Aoraki / Mount Cook, New Zealand

The Aeronautical Conquest of the Southern Alps

In 1955, pilot Harry Wigley created a system for taking off and landing on asphalt or snow. Since then, his company has unveiled, from the air, some of the greatest scenery in Oceania.
orthodox procession
Ceremonies and Festivities
Suzdal, Russia

Centuries of Devotion to a Devoted Monk

Euthymius was a fourteenth-century Russian ascetic who gave himself body and soul to God. His faith inspired Suzdal's religiosity. The city's believers worship him as the saint he has become.
Casario de Ushuaia, last of the cities, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina
Cities
Ushuaia, Argentina

The Last of the Southern Cities

The capital of Tierra del Fuego marks the southern threshold of civilization. From Ushuaia depart numerous incursions to the frozen continent. None of these play and run adventures compares to life in the final city.
young saleswoman, nation, bread, uzbekistan
Meal
Fergana Valley, Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan, The Nation That Does Not Lack Bread

Few countries employ cereals like Uzbekistan. In this republic of Central Asia, bread plays a vital and social role. The Uzbeks produce it and consume it with devotion and in abundance.
Dances
Culture
Okinawa, Japan

Ryukyu Dances: Centuries old. In No Hurry.

The Ryukyu kingdom prospered until the XNUMXth century as a trading post for the China and Japan. From the cultural aesthetics developed by its courtly aristocracy, several styles of slow dance were counted.
Bungee jumping, Queenstown, New Zealand
Sport
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.
Traveling
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.
Fort São Filipe, Cidade Velha, Santiago Island, Cape Verde
Ethnic
Cidade Velha, Cape Verde

Cidade Velha: the Ancient of the Tropico-Colonial Cities

It was the first settlement founded by Europeans below the Tropic of Cancer. In crucial times for Portuguese expansion to Africa and South America and for the slave trade that accompanied it, Cidade Velha became a poignant but unavoidable legacy of Cape Verdean origins.

View of Fa Island, Tonga, Last Polynesian Monarchy
Got2Globe Photo Portfolio
Got2Globe Portfolio

Exotic Signs of Life

Zorro's mask on display at a dinner at the Pousada Hacienda del Hidalgo, El Fuerte, Sinaloa, Mexico
History
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.
Figure at Praia do Curral, Ilhabela, Brazil
Islands
Ilhabela, Brazil

Ilhabela: After Horror, the Atlantic Beauty

Ninety percent of the preserved Atlantic Forest, idyllic waterfalls and gentle, wild beaches live up to the name. But, if we go back in time, we also reveal the horrific historical facet of Ilhabela.
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.
Kukenam reward
Literature
Mount Roraima, Venezuela

Time Travel to the Lost World of Mount Roraima

At the top of Mount Roraima, there are extraterrestrial scenarios that have resisted millions of years of erosion. Conan Doyle created, in "The Lost World", a fiction inspired by the place but never got to step on it.
Barrancas del Cobre, Chihuahua, Rarámuri woman
Nature
Barrancas del Cobre (Copper Canyon), Chihuahua, Mexico

The Deep Mexico of the Barrancas del Cobre

Without warning, the Chihuahua highlands give way to endless ravines. Sixty million geological years have furrowed them and made them inhospitable. The Rarámuri indigenous people continue to call them home.
Sheki, Autumn in the Caucasus, Azerbaijan, Autumn Homes
Autumn
Sheki, Azerbaijan

autumn in the caucasus

Lost among the snowy mountains that separate Europe from Asia, Sheki is one of Azerbaijan's most iconic towns. Its largely silky history includes periods of great harshness. When we visited it, autumn pastels added color to a peculiar post-Soviet and Muslim life.
Soufrière and Pitons, Saint Luci
Natural Parks
Soufriere, Saint Lucia

The Great Pyramids of the Antilles

Perched above a lush coastline, the twin peaks Pitons are the hallmark of Saint Lucia. They have become so iconic that they have a place in the highest notes of East Caribbean Dollars. Right next door, residents of the former capital Soufrière know how precious their sight is.
Nelson Dockyards, Antigua Docks,
UNESCO World Heritage
English Harbor, Antigua (Antilles)

Nelson's Dockyard: The Former Naval Base and Abode of the Admiral

In the XNUMXth century, as the English disputed control of the Caribbean and the sugar trade with their colonial rivals, they took over the island of Antigua. There they came across a jagged cove they called English Harbour. They made it a strategic port that also housed the idolized naval officer.
Correspondence verification
Characters
Rovaniemi, Finland

From the Finnish Lapland to the Arctic. A Visit to the Land of Santa

Fed up with waiting for the bearded old man to descend down the chimney, we reverse the story. We took advantage of a trip to Finnish Lapland and passed through its furtive home.
Varela Guinea Bissau, Nhiquim beach
Beaches
Varela, Guinea Bissau

Dazzling, Deserted Coastline, all the way to Senegal

Somewhat remote, with challenging access, the peaceful fishing village of Varela compensates those who reach it with the friendliness of its people and one of the stunning, but at risk, coastlines in Guinea Bissau.
Engravings, Karnak Temple, Luxor, Egypt
Religion
luxor, Egypt

From Luxor to Thebes: Journey to Ancient Egypt

Thebes was raised as the new supreme capital of the Egyptian Empire, the seat of Amon, the God of Gods. Modern Luxor inherited the Temple of Karnak and its sumptuousness. Between one and the other flow the sacred Nile and millennia of dazzling history.
On Rails
On Rails

Train Travel: The World Best on Rails

No way to travel is as repetitive and enriching as going on rails. Climb aboard these disparate carriages and trains and enjoy the best scenery in the world on Rails.
U Bein Bridge, Amarapura, Myanmar
Society
u-bein BridgeMyanmar

The Twilight of the Bridge of Life

At 1.2 km, the oldest and longest wooden bridge in the world allows the Burmese of Amarapura to experience Lake Taungthaman. But 160 years after its construction, U Bein is in its twilight.
Visitors at Talisay Ruins, Negros Island, Philippines
Daily life
Talisay City, Philippines

Monument to a Luso-Philippine Love

At the end of the 11th century, Mariano Lacson, a Filipino farmer, and Maria Braga, a Portuguese woman from Macau, fell in love and got married. During the pregnancy of what would be her 2th child, Maria succumbed to a fall. Destroyed, Mariano built a mansion in his honor. In the midst of World War II, the mansion was set on fire, but the elegant ruins that endured perpetuate their tragic relationship.
Rhinoceros, PN Kaziranga, Assam, India
Wildlife
PN Kaziranga, India

The Indian Monoceros Stronghold

Situated in the state of Assam, south of the great Brahmaputra river, PN Kaziranga occupies a vast area of ​​alluvial swamp. Two-thirds of the rhinocerus unicornis around the world, there are around 100 tigers, 1200 elephants and many other animals. Pressured by human proximity and the inevitable poaching, this precious park has not been able to protect itself from the hyperbolic floods of the monsoons and from some controversies.
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.