Day 19 - Benin 🇧🇯

Today we head to Benin, a country I know practically nothing about, other than it’s in West Africa. Sandwiched between Nigeria, Togo, Burkina Faso and Niger to be precise.

Apparently, Benin is the birthplace of Voodoo or (Vodun). Today 17% (or 11%*) of the population (1.6m) still practice Vodun despite Portuguese and then French colonisers trying to stamp it out. National Voodoo Day is celebrated annually on 10th January

Benin is a developing country and the economy of Benin is dependent on subsistence agriculture and cotton production. Cotton production accounts for 40% of the country’s GDP.

Despite being a poor country, Benin is considered one of the most politically stable countries in West Africa.

To round up this evening’s quick visit to Benin, I’ll leave you with a few eye-opening facts. Benin has a staggeringly high fertility rate with approximately 5 children per woman. Despite this Benin has a very low literacy rate of 38% and only 4.5% of Benin’s 12.8 million population have internet access. 

*If you’re more of a Guardian reader and enjoy good photography

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Day 18 - Belize 🇧🇿

Today we head back to the Caribbean to Latin American’s only English speaking country. Belize is English speaking as it was a British colony until 1981 and known as British Honduras until the 1970s.

Belize City is Belize’s largest city and used to the the capital, but after being levelled by Hurricane Hattie in October 1961 the capital was moved inland to the new city of Belmopan. This is a tiny city with a population of only around 20,000 people and a circumference of 4 km. Despite having a small population of around 400,000, it is a very diverse country with large populations of mennonite (think Amish), Creole, Mayan, Garinagu and Mestizo people. 

Unsurprisingly Belize has a particularly low population density which leaves a lot of space for nature. Almost 60% of the country is still forested, hosting one of the world’s richest clusters of biodiversity. Belize is home to jaguars, howler monkeys, scarlet macaw and tapirs as well as a large number of species only found in Belize.

This incredible nature is not just inland; Belize is home to the world’s second largest largest barrier reef and Great Blue Hole, a giant marine sinkhole 

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Day 17 - Belgium 🇧🇪

Belgium has a very special place in my heart. I think it’s also fair to say Belgium is one of Europe’s most underrated countries.

It produces some of the worlds most delicious beers in its 304 breweries. Also, its cuisine is generally excellent, and almost every town or city is a beautiful patchwork of old townhouses and cobbled streets.

The first time I went to Belgium was on a school trip to see the World War One battlefields when I was around 15. I remember staying in this typical small Belgian town for the night. Our teachers took us into the central square that evening and told us “go and find some food for dinner, feel free to eat and drink wherever you want. Don’t drink alcohol, we’ll be in this bar all evening”. I don’t think they actually winked, but they might as well have. The rest of the evening was a blur. It was a great intro to Belgian beer.

When I lived in the UK I absolutely loved being able to drive for a few hours, take a ferry and then within an hour be sat inside a wonderful Belgian bar sipping a delicious beer and eating those little cubed cheese and salami platters they serve in almost every bar.

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Even though Belgium is undoubtedly legally a singular country there’s often talk of Belgium being two very different countries - the French-speaking Wallonia and the Flemish-speaking Flanders. So much so that there’s often debate about whether Belgium will continue to exist as one country. 

One thing that surprised me about Belgium is that it has compulsory voting, but certainly doesn’t have compulsory government. Belgium regularly goes extremely long periods of time after elections with no government in place. After the 2010 elections, Belgium went for 589 days without a government, and in 2019 494 days before a coalition government was finally formed. 

I’ll leave you with the tidbit that the word spa, or the place you go to relax and be pampered is named after the town of spa. And, yes, spa does have a spa. 

Right, I fancy a beer.

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Day 16 - Belarus 🇧🇾

Belarus is often referred to as Europe’s last dictatorship. This backed up by the fact Belarus has the lowest democracy index rating of any country in Europe.

Belarus has been in the news a lot recently following the election in August 2020 which is widely believed to have been rigged. I really can’t do this topic justice, The Bunker, a podcast I listen to regularly did a really good job of dissecting the political situation in Belarus - I definitely recommend giving it a listen.

Belarus is over 40% forest and is home to one of the last and largest remaining parts of the huge primaeval forest that once covered the European Plain – the Białowieża Forest. This forest was also the setting for a, particularly noteworthy event. On December 8, 1991 (the day I turned 5), the leaders of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine agreed to the dissolution of the Soviet Union in a hunting lodge in the forest.

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Day 15 - Barbados 🇧🇧

Today we head back to the Caribbean for the second time this week. Barbados is a tiny island nation in the Lesser Antilles and is the most easterly Caribbean island.

Its location is quite fortuitous as unlike most other Caribbean nations it is generally not in the path of incoming hurricanes, last being Hurricane Allen in 1980.

Barbados was first claimed by Portugal in 15th or 16th century, while en route to Brazil. Barbados then became a British colony for over 300 years until 1966. During that time, it grew lots of sugar, unfortunately, was home to many slaves and started distilling rum. In fact, Mount Gay Rum claims to be the world's oldest commercial rum distillery.

Barbados has more than you’d expect in common with Bahrain. Like Bahrain, Barbados is one of the world’s most densely populated isles. It also has a Concorde connection and was the only holiday destination in the world to be privileged enough to have a regularly scheduled Concorde flight. In fact one of British Airway’s Concordes now lives in a museum right next to Grantley Adams International Airport.

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Day 14 - Bangladesh 🇧🇩

Unlike Bahrain, yesterday’s river free country, Bangladesh has over 700 rivers. In fact, Bangladesh’s entire geography is defined by water.

Bangladesh is home to the Ganges Delta which is the largest river delta in the world. This brings fertile farming soils, but also makes Bangladesh incredibly vulnerable to flooding and climate change.

Bangladesh is home to the world’s longest uninterrupted natural beach, Cox’s Bazar which is 120 km long. I actually know of Cox’s Bazar. It’s one of those places that sticks out on the moving maps of long haul flights perhaps due to its spine-tinglingly colonial sounding name. Sadly the beach is increasingly at risk due to unplanned, unregulated development along Cox’s Bazaar. 

Bangladesh was created in 1947 with the partition of India becoming East Pakistan until 1971 when it split to form modern-day Bangladesh following the Bangladesh Liberation War.

Bangladesh is one of the most ethnically homogenous countries in the world with Bengalis accounting for 98% of the population.

Dhaka, Bangladesh

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Day 13 - Bahrain 🇧🇭

Bahrain has two things in common with yesterday’s destination. Bahamas and Bahrain are island countries, and they are both on the exclusive list of countries with no rivers. Bahrain used to be made up of around 30 islands, however, extensive land reclamation projects have increased this total to over 80.

The one claim to fame I knew Bahrain for (other than the Bahrain GP) was that it was the destination of the first commercial Concorde flight in 1976. Bahrain was chosen due to the more obvious New York route being temporarily blocked because of environmental concerns.

In the late 1868s in an almost mafia-style episode, Bahrain became a protectorate of the United Kingdom. It remained under Her Majesties watchful eye until 1971.

Bahrain used to be known for its pearl fisheries which accounted for most of its economy until the 1930s. Divers would put nose clips on before descending to the depths. Apparently, almost the entire male population was involved in the pearling industry.

In the twentieth century, pearls were largely replaced by oil which is now being replaced by financial services and tourism. Bahrain is certainly very open to foreign nationals as immigrants outnumber Bahrain nationals, making up about 55% of the population and is now the second-most densely populated island nation in the world.

Bahrain is connected to Saudi Arabia by the King Fahd Causeway. It’s 25 km long and was completed in 1986. It’s also currently in the process of planning a causeway connecting it to Qatar. This will be 40km long and is being dubbed the “Friendship Bridge”. This will be useful for alcohol-fuelled weekend trips and visiting the world’s largest underwater theme park when it finally opens…

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Day 12 - The Bahamas 🇧🇸

The Bahamas is the richest country in the Caribbean and is made up of over 700 low lying islands and 2500 cays Located in the Atlantic in-between Florida and Cuba.

Wait, I’m not sure I actually know what a “cay” is… Apparently a cay, is a small, low-elevation sandy island on the surface of a coral reef. Basically an archetype of a desert island then.

The Bahamas were the first islands Columbus spotted on his first voyage to the New World in 1492. Sadly the native Lucayans were enslaved by the Spanish leaving the Bahamas mostly deserted until it became a British colony in 1718 when the British clamped down on piracy. It remained a British crown dependency until 1973.

The Bahamas has a very well deserved reputation as an American playground. 80% of Bahaman economic activity is tourism, and 85% of those tourists are from the USA.  On a personal note, the monstrous Atlantis Paradise Island ranks very highly on the list of tourist destinations I absolutely don’t want to go to. 

Finally, I’ll leave you with the fact that it is probably the only place in the world where you can go swimming with feral pigs if that’s your kind of thing.

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Day 11 - Azerbaijan 🇦🇿

Today we reach the landmark that is the last of the countries starting with the letter ‘A’. Azerbaijan was the first secular democratic Muslim-majority state when it gained independence from the Russian Empire in 1918.

Azerbaijan is located in the central caucuses region of Asia and is a Turkic country. No, I’d never heard the word Turkic before either. Turkic countries include Turkey, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.  It turns out there is even a Turkic Council developing comprehensive cooperation between six Turkic states. 

Azerbaijan does not get on at all with its neighbour Armenia as I touched on previously. Much of this centres on the Nagorno-Karabakh region, an area within Azerbaijan with a large Armenian population

It’s not possible to travel between Armenia and Azerbaijan. In fact, Armenians who attempt to enter Azerbaijan would be arrested. Also when the Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan pipeline was built in the early 2000s its route had to be significantly extended in order to avoid travelling through Armenia eventually reaching over 1700km in length.

Talking of oil, Azerbaijan is another country whose economy is largely based on oil production - in fact, they built the worlds first offshore oil platform in 1949.  This expanded wildly during the second half of the twentieth century and today Azerbaijan is left with Neft Dasları or “Stalin’s Atlantis”. Literally translating to “oil rocks”, Neft Dasları is a crumbling soviet era city built on oil platforms 50 km out into the Caspian Sea. 

Azerbaijan’s capital Baku is known for its wealth of crazy architecture like the Flame towers or Heydar Aliyev Center, but most importantly it was previously home to the world’s largest KFC. 

Neft Dashlari. Source: Wikimedia

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Day 10 - Austria 🇦🇹

Austria is the country in which I learned to ski. Badly. 

I also learned to fully appreciate the deliciousness of a Wiener schnitzel served with potato salad followed by a hearty serving of apple strudel. A lesson that is likely to be less detrimental to my long-term health.  

Austria is often overshadowed by its larger German speaking neighbours, but I think this is a little unfortunate. Innsbruck is a beautiful city in its own right surrounded by spectacular mountains. When we visited we were able to ski on a different mountain every day. If culture is more your thing, Vienna is an incredible city filled with beautiful museums, pristine Viennese cafés. If you visit I very much recommend visiting Café Landtmann,  Café Central and Café Prückel. Also, check out the cheap standing tickets and go and see some Viennese opera. Paying almost nothing to stand and watch others in their tuxedos and ball gowns watch opera beneath from up in the attic of the opera house is a truly bizarre experience.

Something I didn’t know until today is that after World War Two, Austria did not function as an independent country until 1955. Like Germany Austria was divided into American, British, French and Soviet zones, however unlike Germany, Austria managed to avoid being split in two. 

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