This little village in County Kerry is nicknamed “The Little Whirlpool,” and it’s so peaceful it’s no wonder it was a favorite holiday destination for Charlie Chaplin and his family.
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Comic Relief
Author: Bertrand Hauger
Bertrand Hauger is a graduate of La Sorbonne Nouvelle school of bilingual journalism, and joined Worldcrunch after working briefly as a reporter in a local newspaper in his native eastern France. He now serves as Worldcrunch’s deputy editor-in-chief and director of content.
ISTANBUL — In our divided existences, everyone lives their own reality, with their own priorities. Right now, the demand that this city’s Hagia Sophia museum be transformed into a mosque has suddenly become the singular issue for a certain segment of the Turkish population. The Anatolia Youth Association announced a gathering at the iconic location […]
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Let It Slide
Some of you won’t know what I’m talking about — but when you’re using a projector, sometimes you come across a slide that was misplaced in the carousel, or a photo that was taken vertically. Which means that your audience (family members in my case) all tilt their heads sideways at the same time. And […]
The wind instrument this snake charmer is playing is called a pungi. I brought one back as a present for my then 6-year-old grandson, who — since there aren’t that many cobras in France — tried to charm earthworms with it.
TEHRAN — A member of the Iranian Parliament’s cultural affairs committee says he and his colleagues are “firmly opposed” to any Iranian legislator attending the World Cup in Brazil “for any reason” — primarily because the country should save money. In response to chatter about sending certain members to the global soccer event, Hojjatoleslam Seyyed […]
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Thai Superstition
The overwhelming majority of Thailand’s people are Buddhists. Yet almost everyone there believes in fortune-telling — palm-reading, tarot cards, you name it. Not being the superstitious kind, I didn’t personally consult this “maw du,” but he looks like he means serious business.
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World Cup Aside, Brazil’s Economy Stinks
If Brazil wants to attain ambitious development goals, it needs radical reforms to its insular economy and inefficient public administration.
There is a more than three-decade-long clash of cultures between Egypt’s secular establishment and Iran’s post-revolution clerical regime. The brief interlude following the election of Muslim Brotherhood President Mohammed Morsi was, alas, too brief to notice any significant change. But all eyes in Tehran were back on Egypt this past weekend for the inauguration of […]
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The Little Reindeer Girl
Had this adorable young girl really come down from her remote Lapland to sell her reindeer hides in Helsinki? I suspect that even 46 years ago, Finns understood that folklore sells well with tourists.
BEIJING — Recent acts of violence in China have prompted the country to step up its anti-terrorism measures, leading the Beijing government, for example, to give police more authority to use force to stop a terror attack. The capital’s public security bureau has given anti-terror units twice the normal amount of bullets, Beijing News reports. […]
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Meaningful Lake
Sure, Italy’s Lake Como is beautiful. And Hungary’s Lake Balaton is impressive too. But nothing compares to Guatemala’s Lake Atitlan and its three volcanoes. Its name comes from the Mayan language this fisherman’s ancestors spoke, and means “the place where the rainbow gets its color.” As if that weren’t poetic enough, locals call the lake […]
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They Name Horses, Don’t They?
Let me introduce Bébert, my uncle and godfather, back from plowing his field in my ancestors’ village of Chaignay — just north of Dijon in eastern France. Let me also introduce Bayard and Marceau, the two draft horses. Back then, it was customary to name horses after legendary figures such as Napoleonic commanders Kléber or […]
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Ghosts Of Winter Past
Were these the ghosts of relatives of Catherine the Great, chatting in front of Saint Petersburg’s Winter Palace? Probably more likely employees of the city’s visitor center, as the residence of the Russian Tsars and emperors is now home to one of the largest and oldest museums in the world, the Hermitage.
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Stop And Smell The Roses
There’s a very famous Festival of Roses every year in the Kalaat M’Gouna oasis, near Ouarzazate in southern Morocco. But it’s held in May, not October, so unfortunately it smelled more of camel than flowers when we traveled there.
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German TV Explores Sex Among Seniors
Curious about the sex lives of the over-70 crowd? Even intimate relations among 50-somethings is usually not talked about. And teens? Now all is revealed on German television.
Protesters from the political far-right denounced the funeral honors bestowed on the last Polish communist dictator, General Jaruzelski. But with him gone, their cause may disappear too.
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Who Watches The Watchmen?
These two watchmen, with their lamps and bludgeons, were on their way to their day jobs at Den Gamle By (“the Old Town“), an open-air historic musem and major touristic attraction in Aarhus, Denmark’s second largest city.
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Stride Specialist
Visitors to Beijing should plan to see the changing of the guard in front of the Mao Mausoleum on Tiananmen Square. The marching is very distinct from Greek Evzones or Danish guards.
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Lion Dies In Argentine ‘Torture Zoo’
The death of an African lion in Mendoza Zoo in Argentina has revived allegations of the zoo keeping its animals in awful conditions, said Clarín earlier this week. The lion reportedly died two weeks ago, though the zoo apparently concealed this while they investigated the cause of death. Provincial environmental authorities recently declared it had […]
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A New Chapter
There is a French saying that goes les voyages forment la jeunesse (“traveling is learning”). Well in that case, I am quite happy to keep learning, at age 84: A couple of weeks ago, I traveled back to Turkey with my family to visit one of my two granddaughters who now lives near Izmir. We […]
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Eventful Past
Don’t be fooled by the apparent peacefulness of this Icelandic plain — lots of things happened there. Not only is this valley the birthplace of the oldest parliament in the world, the Althing, but it is also located right on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, meaning that major earthquakes and volcanic eruptions can basically happen anytime.
The Brazilian Congress has passed a new law that requires no fewer than 20 percent of its civil service employees in the public sector to be of African origin. Good motives, bad policy.
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Rolex Religion
I like the symmetry in this photo, taken on the doorstep of a Hindu temple in Kathmandu. The subjects are so kindred — except for the fact that the statue isn’t wearing an expensive-looking watch.
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Bored At The Border
I remember the border between Mexico and Guatemala as being very, very quiet. This was a bit surprising considering how close it is to Tapachula, a bustling Mexican city where the state of Chiapas’ Ruta del Café (“Coffee Route”) begins.
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Pottery For The Ages
Continuing our discovery of Thailand’s inland wonders, we spent some time in Chiang Rai, where we watched local artisans make and decorate plates, bowls and vases in a traditional way.
Iran’s Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani-Fazli is blaming drug addiction for just over half of all divorces in Iran, warning that “youth addiction to drugs” is growing, the official IRNA agency reports. “The judiciary has declared that the reason for 55% of divorces is one partner being addicted to drugs,” the minister told a Tehran conference […]
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Tied To The Job
Between the 1950s and the 1970s, we witnessed how Spain’s Costa Brava gradually lost some of its charm. Such picturesque sights as this ropemaker are impossible to find nowadays.
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Slavic Soul
During our 2001 cruise on the Volga, we got to see some of the many faces of Russia, including the famously melancholic tunes that Slavic music is famous for. It’s a pity the photograph doesn’t allow you to hear the tear-jerking balalaikas and accordions.
More than 300 dead in last week’s mining disaster in Soma, rage from the people, and utter insensitivity from an Erdogan government interested only in its own fate.
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Rising From Its Ashes
Tunisia’s economy was flourishing in 1970, a time when the country was opening itself up to tourism. This was particularly clear in Sfax, the country’s second city, a large portion of which had been destroyed during World War II.
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Latitude Attitude
Unless I have a good reason for it, I don’t usually ask people to take pictures of me. Five years after this shot in Brazil, my wife Claudine and I would again cross paths with the Tropic of Capricorn, on a different continent.
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Coal Hill, Sooty View
The view of the Forbidden City from Jingshan Park’s Coal Hill is stunning. That is, when the Beijing pollution allows you to actually see something.
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Two Men In A Boat
In contrast with the imposing river that flows through Vienna and Budapest, the Danube Delta is sleepy and accessible. It was noon and the sun was high, so this Romanian fisherman decided it was as good a time as any to open a bottle — and who was I to disagree?
French photojournalist Camille Lepage was killed at the age of 26 in the Central African Republic. Despite her youth, her passing leaves a huge hole in crisis reporting. Memories from a German friend and colleague.
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The Father Of All Geysers
Not only is the Geysir geyser in southwestern Iceland one of the most impressive we’ve ever seen (sorry, Old Faithful …) but, as you may have guessed, it gave its name to the geological phenomenon.
They come from advertising agencies and the military, but have scant political experience. Eastern Ukraine’s new strongmen have one thing in common: They’re all “Friends of Vladimir.”
In Tehran — Photo: Kamyar Adl As Iran approaches another long, scorching summer with possible water shortages, the Energy Ministry is telling millions of Iranians to make cautious use of their air-conditioning systems because each could use up to 200 liters of water a day, the newspaper Jaam-e Jam reported. The Ministry characterized it as […]
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Old But Gold
Considering the remarkably preserved state of these stone elephant bas-reliefs, you would never guess that Anuradhapura, one of Sri Lanka’s ancient capitals, is actually among the oldest cities in the world. Perhaps that’s what this Buddhist monk was thinking about too?
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See You Later, Alligator
It’s a small crocodile — and a small world too: We had already crossed paths with this lady handling a baby crocodile at Victoria Falls’ nature sanctuary, four years earlier … in Ecuador!
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Big Bay, Small Statue
We once spent a month in Brazil, which allowed us to see many areas of different cities — including, here, Guanabara Bay in Rio de Janeiro. On top of the highest mountain in the photo is the tiny statue of Christ the Redeemer. It is actually about 30 meters high, which gives you a fair […]