(CNN) — Seen from a boat drifting along Copenhagen's wide canals, the neighborhood of Christiania is a verdant enclave walled off from the city by thick trees. Half a century after it was founded as a breakaway anarchist commune, it seems to have matured into an unlikely slice of paradise. But all is not well …
Though the Basque and Armenian languages share no superficial resemblances, they do share a baffling litany of words and grammatical elements. A few steps from the entrance to the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd, one of San Sebastian’s most visible landmarks with its sky-piercing gothic spire, lies a simple, two-faced earthen slab. In this corner …
Continue reading Europe’s baffling linguistic enigma (BBC Travel)
Bayonne, France -- It didn’t take long after my arrival in Bayonne, France, to realise that this riverside town of meandering medieval alleyways flanked by narrow wooden-framed homes is a different kind of Basque Country. French Basque Country counts a population of just less than 300,000, compared to more than two million Spanish Basques, with …
Continue reading The French region with a new currency (BBC Travel)
Valletta, Malta -- There is a competitive nature that courses through Malta so raw and unbridled that it’s written into the skyline of its capital, Valletta, and permeates across all walks of life on the archipelago. I’m talking about pika – a Maltese word that roughly means ‘a neighbourly rivalry’, but is one of those terms that feels like a fool’s errand when foreigners try to interpret it.
There are few places on Earth that rival the untamed wilderness and primal seclusion of Myanmar's Mergui Archipelago. Captain Thomas Bruning knows this all too well. Since leaving his job as an engineer, the Austrian native has been sailing the globe for over 20 years.
Justin Calderón 