You say the Earth is round ?

Tangier is probably the most European city of Morocco, not only for its location or its history (it has been an international city during most of the first half of 20th century). There's a feeling that here Maghreb and Europe blend together.

After a couple of days in the city, there are a couple of places which are easily reachable on day trips. The most popular is Kutna Hora. The main attraction there is the ossuary.

NICE !

Following some friends' advices, I went to Cappadocia after Pamukkale. Well... it's definitely worth it ! The landscapes are just amazing. There are Fairy chimneys all around the village of Goreme and their color is continuously changing.

When traveling in the Greek islands, I got used to enjoy the views with only a bunch of happy few. This time is over ! Turkey is the land of huge organized tours all year long! This was especially obvious in Ephesus.

With such a historical background, I expected to see a lot of ruins all around. However, Athens is like most major modern European cities : there are traffic jams, noise, pollution and tourist shops. However, the Acropolis makes up for any of the previous inconvenience.

Israel 2009

Time for spiritual matters ! Hang on to your Star of David, your cross, your star & crescent, your Hamsa, your kippa, your rosary, your tablets of law, your Torah, your Bible, your Koran... call your prophet friends and lets dive in Jerusalem (Al-Quds), the Holy city of the 3 monotheist religions.

When you arrive in Jerusalem, you can immediately notice that it's totally different from any other city you've visited before, at least in the historical center. In some cities, historical center means that there's a couple of 200 year-old buildings. Here, we're talking about 3000 years of History in this city only ! And they haven't been quiet years... What half of Humanity calls culture or civilization comes from here (for better or for worse). Indeed, the sense of Spirituality is overwhelming when you walk around this tiny area, even if you're not religious at all.

Jordan 2009

It had been 4 days since I arrived in Jordan and I was still in Amman, using it as a base camp to explore the roman ruins of Jerash and the Dead Sea. Then I was incredibly lucky to find a guy who knew a guy whose cousin was a taxi driver who planned to go all the way from Amman down to Petra (3 hour drive) to pick up a rich and eccentric British tourist. Anyway, he was willing to give a lift to 4 travelers for as less as 5€ each !!! I know it sounds dubious but that's a true story!

That taxi driver was such a joke ! I wish I had taken some photos while he was dancing while driving, listening to a traditional tune on the radio (another true story). Luckily for us it was early enough (5-6am) to be almost the only ones on the road We finally arrived in Wadi Musa, the closest village from the amazing Petra.

What else can we do on a late autumn sunny day than visiting a huge subterranean graveyard !

Despite the terribly scary reports on the French suburbs (though fair & balanced), I decided to venture last week end outside the safer walls of Paris. I miraculously returned unharmed !

In a small town called Versailles, I stumbled upon a house which belonged to a locksmith (according to local people). Apparently, he was pretty successful in business...

Day 175

Hoy fui a visitar 2 sitios arqueológicos Incas de la región de Cusco : Moray y las salineras de Maras. De nuevo, intenté no visitar los a través de un tour organizado pero con los medios de transportes públicos. Pues no era la mejor idea que tuve en este viaje ! No me costó mucho dinero (casi nada en realidad) pero sí mucho tiempo. Lo bueno es que pude disfrutar de unos hermosos paisajes, lo malo es que tuve que andar muchísimo, a veces bajo la lluvia y siempre a más de 3000m sobre el nivel del mar.