Breaking Down Baku Azerbaijan’s Glittering Oil Palace
According to a tweet from the Finance Minister, Azerbaijan’s non-oil-and-gas sector grew to 9.6% of GDP in 2023. That…
Category: Travel Dispatches
Dahar: One of the Best Regions in North Africa
I’m by no means an expert in North Africa, but as my trip in Tunisia reached a half-way point,…
Modernity Without Progress or Tradition
In Tunisia I can only say that I observed a strange society that had seemingly severed most links to…
Cultural Salesmanship in the Developed and Developing Worlds
The degree to which a nation or a people hang onto their cultural characteristics, particularly those they developed in…
Ever Been to Tunisia?
On certain occasions, one simply must visit a country which one has no knowledge of. Scrolling through plane tickets…
Rain in the Desert
PC: Andrew Corbley © Regarding the human experience, I always say that it’s best and most productive when you…
The Mountains of Hash: and Other Matters of Colonial Gossip
Morocco is not all narrow souks and sleepless nights. It is also a country of unique natural beauty. With…
The Souk’s Tangled Webs Weave Winding Lanes and Lies
Amid the souks of Morocco, and for all the Islamic world for that matter, one’s normal lie-dar is rarely…
Morocco: Where Dreams Lie Thicker than the Leaves
To Morocco. At last I have arrived in the country of Choukri; the country of Bowles; that most famous…
Andalusian Adventures
The beauty of southern Spain is comprised of many things which I love dearly. Chief among these delights were…
Oh, It’s Just Another Walled Medieval City on a Hill
In Umbria, a place of extraordinary beauty lies, as things so often do in Italy, at the top of…
Sitting on the Buckle of Italy
We all know how much Italy looks like a boot. This August I traveled right across where the laces…
Move Over New Zealand Tuscany is the Shire
“In his heart I think Frodo is still in love with the Shire. The woods, the fields, distant rivers,”…
Musings on the Slavosphere
Ukraine is one of those countries that, like so many parts of Europe, once belonged to one people, and…
Wide and Worthy Kiev (or Kyiv as the Ukraine Language calls it)
Kyiv! Oh wide and worthy city, forgive me for almost passing you by. As brilliant as any capital city…
Touring the Carpathians — an Almost Perfect Forest I Thought
As I mentioned before and will quickly reiterate again, the Carpathian Mountains is the third longest mountain chain in…
Here I Am (Ukraine) Stuck in the Middle With You
Some countries are more eager to see COVID-19 recede into history than others. On the back of immense frustration…
There is an Opportunity this Spring to Go Back in Time
I knew when the possible implications of the rapidly spreading coronavirus back in February became clear, that I didn’t…
Another Lake, Another Great Day in Lombardia
While often characterized as both the industrial and financial engine block of the Italian peninsula, there is great natural…
Hunting for Porcini Mushrooms in the Mountains of Piedmont
On a gloomy, cloudy morning in the Italian region of Piemonte, I climbed into a car with my uncle…