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The last serf village in Europe
As you drive from Málaga airport through the Málaga mountains into the interior of Andalusia, just before the Antequera junction where the roads branch off to Seville, Córdoba and Granada, a compact...
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The Koubba
The history of Morocco is a succession of capitals. The successive dynasties, having overthrown the previous one, always create a new capital in their own tribal territory, spectacularly humiliating...
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Motherland from below. Photos by Dmitry Markov
“They say I photograph «Russia without embellishment». But I find that quite superficial. I feel it more accurate that I photograph «the average Russia», because this is what Russia looks like beyond...
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Hagia Sophia through the back door
In July 2020, Turkish President Erdoğan restored by decree the mosque status of the Hagia Sophia Cathedral, which was transformed into a mosque in 1453, after the capture of Constantinople, and then...
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Luck
At dusk I am standing in front of the Staatsbibliothek with two large bags of loan books on my shoulders. I’m looking on my mobile which bus comes first. I hear a shy voice behind me: “Would you like...
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The living Sardinian Stone Age
Sòrgono is a long village between the mountains of Barbagia in Sardinia. In fact, it is the gate of Barbagia. The narrow gauge railway from Cagliari – a former miner’s railway – also struggles up to...
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El latido de la Edad de Piedra en Cerdeña
Sòrgono es un pueblo grande en las montañas de Barbagia, Cerdeña. Es, de hecho, la entrada a Barbagia. El ferrocarril de vía estrecha que lo une a Cagliari, antaño una línea minera, aún se esfuerza en...
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The gates of the dead
Gubbio is the most beautiful medieval town in Italy. If the view from the Montefeltro Garden on the side of Monte Ingino, above the town hall, does not convince you, then you must believe the signs...
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Giorgoba
Para Gyuri San Jorge es el patrón de Georgia. Más aún, Georgia lleva su nombre. O más exactamente: el exónimo persa Gorgân usado para Georgia –que significa «tierra de lobos»– fue transformado en esta...
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Giorgoba
To Gyuri Saint George is the patron saint of Georgia. What’s more, Georgia got its name from him. Or more exactly: the Persian exonym Gorgân used for Georgia – which meant “land of wolves” – was...
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Armenian Saint George
Saint George is an important patron saint not only of Georgians but also of Armenians. What is more, his body was also buried in an Armenian church, in Mughni, from where it – or at least his skull –...
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Spirits in Tusheti
From Omalo, the central village of Tusheti, it is a two-hour ride on horseback to Shenako. The winding road first descends steeply into the valley of the Pirikita Alazani river, then, after crossing...
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The last journey of Lady Veruna
Germany, like Austria and Hungary, has its own Danube Bend, which is protected by monuments typical of German history and culture: on the west, Europe’s oldest brewery, and on the east, the Kelheim...
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Jashideley!
The Tibetan greeting is “tashi delek”, which roughly translates as “may luck come!” However, in the dialect (or language) of Kham province, which once belonged to Eastern Tibet and now is part of the...
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Burial in the sky
I love cemeteries, those museums not mentioned in guidebooks, which often tell a different kind of history than the official one. Their stones have often been written with different letters, in a...
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Andachtsbilder from Krumau
The Regional Museum of Český Krumlov occupies three floors of the Baroque building of the former Jesuit seminary founded in 1650. The lower two floors house temporary exhibitions. The visitor only...
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Dartsedo / Kangding, the gateway of Tibet (Traveling in Kham 2)
Traveling in Kham• Jashideley!• Burial in the sky• Kangding, the gateway of Tibet• The Love Song of Kangding• The monastery of Tagong• The Buddhas of Drakgo Traditionally, five roads led from Tibet to...
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The Love Song of Kangding
Traveling in Kham• Jashideley!• Burial in the sky• Kangding, the gateway of Tibet• The Love Song of Kangding• The monastery of Tagong• The Buddhas of DrakgoKangding’s best-known cultural product is the...
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The monastery of Tagong (Traveling in Kham 3)
Traveling in Kham• Jashideley!• Burial in the sky• Kangding, the gateway of Tibet• The Love Song of Kangding• The monastery of Tagong• The Buddhas of Drakgo The monastery of Tagong (Lhagang in Tibetan)...
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The Buddhas of Drakgo (Traveling in Kham 4)
Traveling in Kham• Jashideley!• Burial in the sky• Kangding, the gateway of Tibet• The Love Song of Kangding• The monastery of Tagong• The Buddhas of Drakgo The city of Drakgo, in Chinese Luhou, is...
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Christmas in Kashan
Christmas? In Kashan?? At the edge of the Iranian desert?? Maybe rather in Isfahan, among the Armenians of New Julfa, or with the Assyrian Christians in Tabriz or Tehran… But the title is no mistake,...
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The towers of the Himalayas (Traveling in Kham 5)
Traveling in Kham• Jashideley!• Burial in the sky• Kangding, the gateway of Tibet• The Love Song of Kangding• The monastery of Tagong• The Buddhas of Drakgo• The towers of the Himalayas The peoples of...
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The flood and the monkey
Where should I begin this sprawling story, with its hundreds of tiny swarming figures? Perhaps at the most tangible place, the royal palace of Lijiang.Lijiang is a beautiful little town, the “Venice...
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Nomadic wedding in Tibet (Traveling in Kham 6)
We are trudging out of the town of Garzê. What the heck causes traffic jam in such a small town, whose wide streets immediately open onto the Shanghai-Lhasa national highway? At one point, the traffic...
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