Instead of trying to force feed every cool monument or savannah to see in every African country this month I’m going to point out one interesting thing to do, see, or experience in each. That should save some amount of hard-decision making when you’re finally ready to plan your trip to the continent at the end of the month. Starting with Benin, a west African country bordering the Bight of Benin, between Nigeria and Togo known for delicious cuisine and stilted homes a trip to Ganvie village is a must-see. It is estimated that some 20,000 people live in 3,000 fragile stilt houses on the water. Boats are the best method of transportation and it is one of the most accessible attractions to Cotonou. their lifestyle and ability to reside on the water in such make-shift homes is beyond me. For additional travel and hotel information see Travel Notes and LP Worldguide. A short story and some photos from Benin can be found at Travel Adventures.
Latitudes Magazine February
Once again I urge you to check out Latitudes Magazine, which just came out. Let me reiterate that this is probably my favorite online multimedia magazine. I try my best to remember that it’s a monthly and to take a look, but sometimes I forget. Now I’ve figured out that they have an email reminder system so I do that.
Anyway, as travel magazines go, Latitudes is wonderful. I believe it’s published in Italy, so it has a definite Italian flair, tasteful, snazzy, if a wee-bit arrogant. Every month, the online issue has got about a dozen or so stories from around the world. They are always illustrated with the most luscious photos, a satisfactory amount of text (the pictures really speak for themselves) and a little bit of multimedia surprise in each issue. They usually visit at least a few places that everyone knows, and then there will be some bizarre, distant place that I’ve never heard of.
To wit: among the places visited this month are Burkina Faso, Belfast, Madrid and…here’s the odd one: Coober Pedy, some place in the Australian Outback. So there you go. Give it a read, gander, perusal, once-over.
Africa Travel: Angola
As foreign and far as Angola may seem the country should be sounding just as familiar as home by now. Okay, well not quite, but it shouldn’t sound that strange. For starters their football team will be playing in this years World Cup and CNN had a piece on the call for tourists in capital city, Luanda some weeks back. Aside from sports and warm sandy beaches lining the coasts Angola is still a very happening spot in Southern Africa. To be more precise in the location, the country borders the South Atlantic Ocean and sits between Nambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. For a picture view of what the country is like check out this photo gallery at Angola.org.uk. Outside of the official tourism website, they provide some of the most extensive information you’ll probably find on the web. Whether you’re out for some Kizomba dance, cultural entertainment, a trip to the slave museum, or soaking up Angola’s outdoors like Black Stones in Malanje, the Cuenne River, or Benguela Bay you’re bound to be impressed. Heck, I was, but I’m easy to please.
Traveling in Palestine
It’s not the first place on my travel wish list, but
you have to hand it to writer Rebecca Sinderbrand for heading to a place like Palestine (AKA Hamastan) to experience
first hand the state of affairs there. In this piece in online Magazine
Slate she takes a look at post-election Palestine and talks with folks on the street to find out how Palestinians
are dealing with the future of their country/land/poltics following the surprising (to the Bushies anyway) victory of
the militant group Hamas in the recent elections. Some, it turns out, are not so happy. One guy wonders whether the
much stricter Hamas will impose Sharia law, thereby making it much harder to drink beer (a valid concern in my book).
But others are ebullient, and some apprently see the election as a rebuttal to American efforts to influence the
region, saying "Why do they think they can tell us what to do? Do they listen to our opinions of their leaders?
You think we get a say in what America does?" Perhaps another valid point. Either way, I enjoyed this piece more
than I have many of the others I’ve read about Palestine and the Palestinians since the vote.
Going to Ljubljana
We’ve mentioned how the east European town Ljubljana has been heralded as the new Prague, the newest town where American expatriates venture hoping to find the Paris of the 20s, the Prague in the 80s, where artists and writers gather at coffee houses to meditate and ruminate on art and politics. Ljubljana is the capital of Slovenia, the elegant, and rapidly growing little East European country at the foothills of the Alps.
Well lots of people have been writing about Ljubljana and we’d figure we’d share a couple of these pieces with you. For example, Lonely Planet’s Bluelist, a book we reviewed a short while ago, mentions that “Among the world’s most unusual places to stay is the Hostel Celica in Slovenia. The former prison in Ljubljana has had each of its cells renovated by a different artist and turned into accommodation of a very different kind. The barbed wire on the walls and the bars on the windows have been retained, and despite the hip makeover, it’s still quite eerie – some say all prisons are haunted, so if you want to take your chances, then check in. Just don’t drop your soap in the shower block”
Another piece that we posted about a few days ago mentions Ljubljana as a beautiful, clean, crisp and civilised place. And the Belfast Telegraph also heralds Ljubljana‘s charm. Good stuff, all, and I confess I’ve now placed the city on my own list of places I have to go.