After all that whining about the Riviera Maya, you might suspect that I dragged myself with a long face through the Yucatan for five weeks. Couldn’t be further from the truth. Even though we only discovered a small piece of Mexico, it left us craving to see more of this land of cacti and cartels, mescal and peyote, Maya and Aztec, spicy candies and delicious food, Frida Kahlo and pint-sized, moustachioed guys with funny sombreros playing mariachi. After the lament, the eulogy. These are the reasons why we adore the Yucatan peninsula.
Continue Reading →Tag: city trip
Sillamäe: the most Russian place in Estonia
Things get out off hand around half past ten. The manager of Baar Randevuu, whose frizzy hair looks a bit like that of an alpaca, throws out a female customer. The woman brushes the mud off her dress, a scanty garment so kitsch that only a Russian would wear it outside of the carnival season, and shouts back loudly. Suka! Blyat! Now, our knowledge of the Russian language is rather limited, but it doesn’t seem that she’s thanking the manager for the fine evening out. During her tirade, vodka fumes escape that could make an elephant end up in a drinking coma. Welcome to Sillamäe, the most Russian place in Estonia.
Continue Reading →Tangier, Morocco: European ambiance, African chaos
“Upon arrival in Tangier, most travel guides advise you to make immediate plans to leave, if you haven’t already. They are right: Tangier is a first-degree shithole.”
A book called 101 places not to visit catches my eye in the library of Pärnu, according to its cover “your essential guide to the world’s most miserable, ugly, boring and inbred destinations.” The book promises to teach you how to spot biological hazards and radioactivity and how to avoid marriage to locals desperate to escape.
Because we haven’t returned from Morocco very long ago, I quickly browse to the pages about Africa. In addition to the above sentence, this anti-travel guide knows that Tangier is “culturally as interesting as a service station, minus the handy plastic and the kitchen roll dispensers.”
Continue Reading →5 things to do in Marrakesh, Morocco
Marrakesh is a loud, chaotic, messy, disordered jumble of streets and alleys…
In other words, a great city.
The petit taxi opens its door near the El Badi Palace and we inhale the atmosphere of Marrakesh. Quite literally. Our nostrils fill with the familiar smell of gasoline, exhaust fumes and sewer. Marrakesh transports us to Indonesia, to the Kraton in Yogyakarta for example. Unlike Agadir – knocked to the ground by an earthquake – Marrakesh largely retained its classic Moroccan character, at least within the old walled medina.
Continue Reading →9 Things to do in and around Xela, Guatemala
Xela has it – the city surprises people and attracts them to stay longer. Its architecture is grand, and life is bustling and exciting.
Chances are that, when you first arrive here from other parts of Guatemala or Belize, all you want to do is walk around and suck it all in. And walking in the city is excellent, every turn leads to a new square or a building that you didn’t even think could exist anywhere in Guatemala.
There are quiet little parks with a couple of benches to enjoy the sunshine, a theatre and big city squares that remind you of a mini Times Square. At least, if you have been away from big cities for a while. In the evenings it’s all lit up, and during the daytime, magnificent blue volcanoes frame the town. Continue Reading →