Worldcrunch
Of the hundreds of frescoes that once decorated the Sigiriya rock“s western surface, only 19 remain. The exquisitely delicate paintings, in vibrant colors, are said to depict ladies of the king’s harem.
The Greek island of Santorini, in the southern Aegean Sea, is one big active volcano. And though it’s dormant, there’s always the risk of an eruption that could destroy the beautiful whitewashed houses as one did some 3,600 years ago.
In the lobby of a hotel on the shores of the Black Sea, a band was playing what we in France call de la musique tzigane. This Gypsy-style music is recognizable, among other things, by the characteristic way of playing the violin — an instrument I myself tried my hand at when I was younger, […]
The sturdy dry-stone walls of the Incan site have been standing there since the 13th century. And they still look good on a group picture.
Taken at a time when this optical illusion was still somewhat original …
A trip on the Volga river — the longest in Europe — is like floating down the stream of history. The magnificently decrepit churches along the way gave us a glimpse of the many layers of the Russian nation, just 10 years after the fall of the Soviet Union, and one year after the arrival […]
Estaing in southern France is one of the most picturesque villages in the country. Typiquement français. It’s a favorite stop among Christian pilgrims on their way to Santiago de Compostela — still some 700 miles away in northern Spain.
Four shoeshiners for one foot. That’s how fierce competition was in Turkey, at a time when tourist feet were not as plentiful as today.
Slowly, the sands of time eat away at the concrete bunkers on Utah and Omaha beaches. The half-buried structures still bear witness to the German efforts to repel the Normandy landings.
Either this is a very original place to store a lifebuoy, or sculptors on the shores of Hungary’s Lake Balaton — the largest lake in central Europe — have a peculiar sense of humor.
The Commando Memorial in the Highlands of Scotland is dedicated to the memory of the British Commandos who died in World War II. Through the fog — one of our rare tastes of the trademark Scottish weather — the three iconic soldiers are looking south towards Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in the United Kingdom.
Admiring the New Orleans skyline from a distance while listening to a jazz band … Both myself and my grandson were lucky enough to enjoy a cruise down the Mississippi on the steamboat Natchez — although 23 years apart.
Millions of years of erosion shaped the fairy chimneys — also called tent rocks, hoodoos, earth pyramids — of Cappadocia. All that man needed was a bit of carving and digging to make himself at home in these troglodyte dwellings.
Salvador is nicknamed “Brazil’s capital of happiness.” I wonder why …
In 1995, Chairman Mao was no longer such a hot commodity: If you bought one bust of the communist leader at this Beijing market, you got one free.
The nine gilded onion domes of the Annunciation Cathedral are one of the inimitable features of Moscow“s Cathedral Square, the central square of the Kremlin.
I’ve never gone to a country to lie on the beach, but I am happy to bring my camera along to capture a seascape or two.
Going to Lourdes as a tourist, not as a devotee, you come across a diverse bunch: the ailing believers looking for a cure, the admirable volunteers taking care of them, the peddlers cashing in on people’s faith. When I went there 45 years ago, I took this shot of pilgrims waiting for a group photograph […]
Travelling on organized tours doesn’t necessarily mean being on auto pilot. When we went to Guatemala, our local guide suggested that, for a bit extra cash, we could take a detour and visit the Mayan site of Copán. Copán is in Honduras. We had no visas. So our guide grabbed two bottles of rum — […]
I’ve always thought that the best aspect of religion was art — be it music, architecture or painting. Enough to inspire stubborn unbelievers like me.
See those red garlands adorning this house on the shore of Lake Balaton? They’re chili peppers, from which Hungarians extract paprika they use to season stews and soups, like the famous goulash.
To reach the small old town of Olten: turn left after the train station, walk alongside the Aare river until you get to a 19th-century wooden bridge, take a picture.
When it’s a celebration day on the Indonesian island of Bali, you come across a different procession every five minutes or so — each more colorful than the last.
Back when the Jordanian city of Jerash was known to the Romans as Gerasa, the large South Theater was sometimes used for naumachia. Naumachia is similar to gladiator combat, just that you need to fill the theater with water and add life-size reproductions of warships. The stage was dry by the time we got there, […]
There’s a waterfall on the French island of Réunion that flows directly from the mountainside onto the road. Hence its, well, original name. And it looks like this tourist took it quite literally.
Until the Berlin Wall was built, just six years before I took this picture, people could walk freely under the Brandenburg Gate. It would be 22 years before Berliners and tourists were able to get closer to the triumphal arch again.
Christmas decorations? Firelighters? I have no idea why anyone would want to dry that many pine cones …
I took this photo of the Vienna State Opera only seven years after it was reopened, having been badly damaged by a U.S. bombing raid toward the end of World War II. Still, Austria’s singular standing in the world of classical music was as strong as ever back then, with genius conductor Herbert von Karajan […]
Weddings in Canada’s New Brunswick province get really colorful when the groom is a “mountie,” a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
To reach the ancient Mayan city of Tikal and its vertigo-inducing temples and pyramids, we first had to take a small plane — in a very precarious state — before hopping on a bus through the Guatemalan rainforest. But the immensity of the site made us quickly forget the journey, and we had no problem […]
The ancient windmills on the entry to the Lasithi highlands, on the Greek island of Crete, look like sentinels, warning passersby: You’re not far from the Dictaeon Andron — the cave where Zeus, the Greek god of thunder, is said to have been born and reared.
Being only 70 ft-wide (21 meters) at its base, the canal that cuts through the Isthmus of Corinth is far too narrow for today’s large cargo freighters. It’s now mostly used by cruise liners, on the deck of which tourists can admire its high limestone walls.
It is not just the economics of the media that is putting traditional news photographers out of business. It is our troubled relationship with images themselves.
The fishermen of Henningsvær in Norway“s Lofoten islands have either horrible taste in decoration or a good sense of humor … and love of opera!
PARIS — Shocking photographs of the body of a Syrian toddler, whose body had washed up on a Turkish beach after his family’s failed attempt to reach Europe, are sparking global outcry. Will the publication of the hard-to-look-at images mark a turning point in raising global consciousness of the plight of refugees? The series of […]
It is not only interesting to compare the differences in the architecture of monuments and famous buildings around the world, but also that of more modest lodgings. Take a look for instance at this palheiro thatched house on the Portuguese archipelago of Madeira, and then go back to the little house on the fjord I’ve […]
You don’t always have to travel halfway across the world to see a historical wonder. Here is a shot of the closest UNESCO World Heritage Site to me: the 18th-century Royal Saltworks of Arc-et-Senans, just a little more than an hour’s drive away from my hometown.
For the sadhus (“good men”) of India and Nepal, recognizable by their ash-smeared bodies and saffron-colored clothes, asceticism through hunger and poverty is a way to reach moksha, which in France we call libération.
From the park adjacent to Stockholm’s City Hall, we had one of the best views on Riddarholmen, one of the very picturesque islets that surround Gamla stan, the Old Town.
A visit to the hill tribes near Chiang Rai, in northern Thailand, usually ends up with tourists buying crafts or taking picture of locals posing in traditional costumes. I did both, bringing back one of these colorful hats — though I tried to snap a more candid shot.