A deep dive into unusual places around the world
Imagine a time when there was a whole panoply of gods and goddesses, each with their own godly specialty: some were capable of bringing victory in war, some favourable winds at sea, others could induce love. These were more relatable gods. They roamed the earth, meddled in human affairs, and even had their own volatile emotions and petty squabbles. Nemesis[…]
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Still under a haze of jet lag, we’re sitting in the living room of our Antalya apartment when we see a skinny black cat make a fantastic leap from the patio handrail to the top of the wall-mounted on-demand heating unit. The handrail is only a couple of inches wide and made of smooth, satiny metal, and somehow this cat[…]
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The cliffs of southern Europe are home to thousands of lizards: brown lizards with green backs, green lizards with iridescent blue backs, even a blue lizard that is only found on the most distant of the three monoliths off the shore of Capri Island. They are incredible creatures: able to jump across chasms many times their own length, and to[…]
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For the next month, we are staying in Sant’Agnello, a place famous in the 18th and 19th centuries as a place for Bourbon princes and Russian millionaires to escape the “crowds” of Sorrento. The region still attracts the rich and famous, and it’s easy to see why: a dramatic coastline rising high above clear, blue-green waters; richly coloured, ornate buildings; charming shops;[…]
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So, what’s it like to spend most of December and January in a little Sicilian seaside town? If you are someone who likes to soak up culture over cappuccinos and cornettos on sunny terraces in cute Italian towns, San Vito lo Capo is not the place to come. The town itself is not quaint or cute, or rich in history.[…]
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It is a little over a week before Christmas and we are heading out to the farmers’ market around the corner from our San Vito AirBnb. It must be 20° C outside and the air has a softness that only occurs near the sea. As we leave the house in t-shirts, a lady in her forties wearing a thick pink sweater[…]
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We arrived in the village of Torroja del Priorat under the cover of a cool, dark night. Thankfully. Perhaps in the dim light, none of the townsfolk saw what came next. We had been driving for over five hours, en route from Madrid. Following directions provided by Google Maps, the roads had narrowed steadily, slowly funneling us toward our destination.[…]
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Kinshasa, 2007. The sprawling, chaotic jumble of streets, shacks, cars, people, animals; the ever-present odour of burning garbage in the humid air; the litany of security restrictions. After working for a month with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in Kinshasa, I confess that I jumped at an unexpected opportunity to transfer to Lubumbashi, D. R. Congo’s second largest city. “Lubum”, as[…]
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“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past, I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone, there will be nothing. Only I will[…]
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Jamón (Ham) First of all, since I reeled you in with the ham photo, man, they love their ham here. You might even say they are in love with their ham after reading what this website has to say about it: The story of Jamón Ibérico ham is steeped in mystery and romance. The ancient oak pastures of Spain, the[…]
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