Worldcrunch
The fishermen“s wives of yore used to wear seven colorful petticoats; some say to represent the seven waves in a set, others say to keep warm while awaiting their husbands’ return. In the late 1950s, these women working at Nazaré“s seafood market already considered it folklore, as they found it doubtlessly easier to carry their […]
In the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra, tourists can no longer take photographs or roam under the 3rd-century Arch of Triumph. The terrorists of the Islamic State blew it up in October last year using dynamite.
On the western Indonesian island of Sumatra, this man was using a bamboo ladder to harvest sap from a tree, which would then be processed into sugar at the local refinery.
Although it’s close to Petra, one of humanity’s architectural wonders, this pyramid in Wadi Rum was actually carved by Mother Nature.
Not only is the Great Stupa, in the ancient Sri Lankan capital of Anuradhapura, considered an architectural marvel, but it is one of the holliest places for Buddhists, as the shrine is believed to contain relics of Buddha.
A lot of history happened in this room, the United Nations Security Council Chamber in New York. When I went there, the Big Five and the 10 other members had just voted on resolutions about arms embargo in Rwanda, sanctions against Serbia and Montenegro and humanitarian aid in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
By the start of the 1970s, some new technology had made it to the bottling line of this cognac distillery in southwestern France. Nevertheless, production was still very much a traditional affair: The famous brandy must be distilled twice in copper pot stills and aged at least two years in oak barrels.
Oia church, on the Greek island of Santorini, is a one-picture summary of the surrounding Cyclades islands, with its whitewashed walls and its blue dome.
The surface of Emerald Lake, in Canada’s Yoho National Park, was so still that it took me a couple of seconds to figure out whether this slide was upside-down when I came across it last week.
This kite looked a bit lonely, flying on its own in the gray skies above Tiananmen Square.
This Indian camel (or dromadaire, as we call them in French) had just been for a refill at the watering trough, drinking its usual 20 gallons at a time. Just so you know, contrary to popular belief, the water is not stored its hump, but in its bloodstream.
Drinking from a traditional Catalan porró wine pitcher is rather challenging: Imagine drinking wine from a watering can, and your lips are never supposed to touch the pitcher … ¡Salud!
There was no wholesaler, no packaging and no shipping between producer (these K’iche” vendors, of Mayan descent) and consumer (me) of bananas on the famous Guatemalan market of Chichicastenango.
Before going there, I imagined Iceland“s roads to be in a rather rough state. But its main ring road was actually in good condition: Not a dot was missing from its center line.
The Schönbrunn Palace, formerly the summer residence of successive Austrian monarchs, is one of the country’s most majestic Baroque designs. It even features a Gloriette (a “little glory”), a building whose rooftop overlooks the magnificent gardens.
The fine sandy beaches of Nazaré, in western Portugal, are probably as big a tourist draw as the painted boats and the fishermen’s traditional costumes.
I’ve already told you how my wife and I liked to wander off the beaten path and picnic somewhere nice. This time we’d picked a vast meadow — only to discover that the place was next to a cemetery, which apparently had a little problem with upkeep … Bon appétit!
Italian craftsmen shared their know-how with Indian lapidarists who were then able to execute the exquisite inlaid marble of the Taj Mahal. And the more I look I at it, the more the iconic Indian mausoleum reminds me of the Florence Cathedral.
In Cappadocia, these fairy chimneys date back to the 4th century, drawing curious tourists from around the world. But some of the ancient troglodyte structures still serve as people’s homes.
This big plant we came across in Guadeloupe is nicknamed “traveller’s tree,” supposedly because its sheaths can hold rainwater. But the murky and foul-smelling water this one held made me glad I never was that thirsty.
This procession of trucks loaded with sugar canes was on its way to the processing plant. Belize, the tiny country in Central America, still relies heavily on its sugar and rum exports.
In the barren plains of Hungary, one of these csikós wranglers was getting ready to perform the “Puszta-five”: riding five horses at the same time while standing on their bare backs.
If you ever get lost in London, you can always turn to a member of the local police force — or as they call them, “bobby.”
These beautifully fortified walls protect the old medina quarters of Fes, the “Mecca of the West.”
This looks like Rome’s Colosseum, but is actually the Arena of Nîmes in southern France. When I took this picture, archeological digging was still taking place in the Roman amphitheatre, which nowadays serves as a concert venue.
In Sunda Kelapa, the old port of Jakarta, Indonesian dock workers were busy unloading pinisis, these traditional two-masted ships.
No wonder this alligator looked so thirsty: The lush swamps of Avery Island are next to Louisiana“s Tabasco hot sauce factory.
In the foothills of the Atlas Mountains, this Moroccan boy was selling lizards by the roadside. I wasn’t the only one who thought this improbable scene would make for a good photograph.
Gstaad is home to one of the largest ski areas in the Alps. The breathtaking mountainous views — not to mention Switzerland“s advantageous fiscal regime — draw in the rich and famous from around the world.
It was so hot on the shores of the Baltic sea that August that we had to look for shade everywhere we could, just like this street piper in Riga, Latvia.
The only thing missing from this picture of a Buddhist temple on the island city-state of Singapore is the intense scent of incense these worshippers were burning.
I took this photo from the window of the classroom in the early days of my career as a high school philosophy teacher in my hometown in eastern France. Back then, before traffic lights arrived in town, policemen with their white staffs were still in charge of keeping the traffic flowing.
BašÄaršija square is one of the landmarks of Sarajevo’s old town, where everybody comes to sit around and talk and drink. But we tourists know it as “the Pigeon Square”.
I bet this city worker wished his “office” faced the other way, so he could gaze upon the citadel of Victoria, on Gozo, Malta“s second-largest island.
Dunrobin Castle in the Highlands of Scotland is one of the oldest inhabited houses in the country. This stately French Renaissance castle was used as a boarding school but opened to the public in 1973, just five years before we visited it.
In the northwest corner of the Portuguese island of Madeira, the contrast between the serene, warm lava pools and the ocean waves crashing in when the wind rises is simply stunning.
The geese in southwestern France would produce what may be the country’s most controversial, yet scrumptious, delicacy: foie gras.
This is Lenin’s Mausoleum in Moscow“s Red Square, where the communist leader’s embalmed body is on public display. I preferred taking pictures of the marble and granite tomb from the outside.
In 1969, nine years before I went there, Caernafon Castle in northwestern Wales was used for the investiture of Charles, Prince of Wales. It raised the profile of the medieval fortress, but its beauty was well worth visiting in its own right.
In the cradle of the Himalayas, these Nepalese kids were using all kinds of weirdly shaped pots, vases and buckets to bring water back to the village, from the only source available to the community.