Day 69 - Guatemala 🇬🇹

April 1, 2021

My goal is to write today’s post about Guatemala in under twenty minutes. Go!

What I knew about Guatemala before today

Erm, it’s Mexico’s southern neighbour. It’s in Central America, has a lot of Mayan ruins, crazy looking buses and apparently, there’s a big Guatemalan community in Los Angeles.

What’s Guatemala’s top tourist attraction?

It turns out I was right about Guatamala’s Mayan history. The top tourist attraction in Guaremala is arguably Tikal, a UNESCO listed complex of Mayan ruins deep inside the Guatemalan jungle. Think Tom Raider.

What was the last war or conflict Guatemala took part in?

This would be the Guatemalan Civil War which raged for an incomprehensible 36 years before finally coming to an end in 1996.

A Bizarre fact about Guatemala

I could go with something straightforward like “Guatemala has the fastest growing population in the Western Hemisphere”.

That’s kind of boring though. And I’m not sure how bizarre it is either. On the other hand I could use this as an opportunity to talk about Guatemalan chicken buses. They remind me of Indian lorries. Take one retired yellow American school bus and then pimp it up with a crazy psychedelic paint job, roof racks and a colourful Guatemalan embroidered interior and you’re done. From what I can tell, chicken buses are the most popular way to get around Guatemala and I have no difficulties working out why.

Was Guatemala a former colony?

Of course! After writing about 69 countries, I’m surprised I still ask this question. Guatemala was a Spanish colony (the Captaincy General of Guatemala) from 1519 to 1821.

What are Guatemala’s main exports?

Coffee, banana, sugar cane and textiles.

What’s Guatemala’s National dish?

Tamales are often claimed to be the national dish of Guatemala, as is pepián. Either way, Guatemalan cuisine is really diverse. I’d love to try kakik, chiles rellenos and basically everything.
I actually, really want to visit Guatemala now. The food looks incredible, and I love a good ruin. Right, time for a cold Gallo, it is Easter after all.

P.s. Guatemala loves Easter.

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St George’s, the capital city of Grenada

Day 68 - Grenada 🇬🇩

March 31, 2021

Today, we head to the Caribbean for a well-earned break. Well for me anyway, I’m going to try to keep today’s post short.

The nation of Grenada consists of three main islands, Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique.

Grenada is often known as the spice islands. It’s not difficult to work out why. Grenada has very rich soil, and are the world’s second-largest producer of nutmeg, as well as producing large quantities of cloves, cinnamon and mace.

Unlike its neighbouring island of Barbados, Grenada is frequently in the path of hurricanes. Grenada was hit by Hurricane Ivan in 2004. It wreaked havoc and destroyed roughly 90% of Grenada’s homes and resulted in 39 deaths.

Grenada was invaded by the United States in 1983 after the communist New Jewel movement seized power in a coup in 1979.

Other than remaining in the US sphere of influence this invasion has one very visible legacy. Pearls Airport was once Grenada’s main airport, but expansion was constrained by surrounding hills and its proximity to the capital St George’s.

Now Pearls airport is abandoned and littered with decaying Soviet aircraft. It’s now the perfect weird tourism destination.

Talking of weird tourism destinations, other notable sights on Grenada include an Underwater sculpture park and Kick ‘em Jenny an active, only just under sea volcano which last erupted in 2015.

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Plaka Castle on the island of Milos, Greece

Day 67 - Greece 🇬🇷

March 30, 2021

Greece is a place you can visit and be almost guaranteed to leave feeling happier, warmer and more fulfilled than you were when you arrived.

The Greeks are warm, inviting and possibly some of the kindest hosts in the world. The food is mouth-watering, yet casual and almost always eaten outside under the stars (at least in the Summer). The landscape is scattered with ancient ruins, and every place seems to have an intriguing story lurking beneath the surface.

Greece is one of the countries I’ve already written about most on this blog. All of these posts have been about an area in Northern Greece called Zagoria. Zagoria is mountainous, thickly forested and the perfect place to hike or go whitewater rafting, but it’s absolutely not what most people think of when they go to Greece. So to celebrate our virtual trip to Greece, I thought I’d write a quick guide to some other Greek places I’ve visited and fallen in love with.

Mani

Mani is a finger-like protrusion on the South of the Peloponnese, and like a lot of Greece the landscape of Mani is mountainous and inaccessible. The furthest south part of Mani, or Deep Mani, is also the southernmost point of mainland Greece.

Maybe because everyone is chasing that perfect Greek island escape, most visitors overlook the Peloponnese, and most visitors to the Peloponnese overlook Mani. Having said that, Mani is only around a four hour drive from Athens Airport. You wouldn’t know though. Mani is by far the quietest and most undeveloped part of Greece I’ve visited.

Deep Mani, in the south is even quieter. We stayed in the small village of Porto Kagio, overlooking the natural cove. We spent our days eating and drinking alongside, and swimming in the cove. It felt like being in a pirate cove at the edge of the earth.

Mani doesn’t have Greece’s best food, but it is decent. While the food in Mani won’t blow you away like may in Zagoria or Milos, Mani makes up for this with its tranquility, breathtaking sunsets and beautiful sea coves.

So, visit Mani if you want some time for reflection, reading books, and doing not much at all. It’s perfect.

Milos

For me Milos is the perfect Greek island in the Cyclades. As far as I can tell it’s mainly popular with Athenians seeking a short break from the bustle of city life.

While Mani isn’t a culinary destination, Milos is definitely known for its excellent seafood. Every single meal we ate in Milos without exception was excellent.

From the top of my head I’d here are some Milos food and drink tips:

Akri for a pre-dinner cocktail and to enjoy the beautiful harbour views as the sunsets
Bakalikon Galanis for the most delicious Greek small plates
Gialos for a slightly more upscale fish menu
Zygos for delectable barbecue if you fancy something more land-based
O! Hamos! Tavern is also excellent, but everyone knows this, so you’ll be waiting quite a while for a table

Milos has a wide selection of beaches from relaxed sandy beaches such as Paliochori Beach to a stunning inaccessible beach set in the remnants of the abandoned Paliorema Sulfur Mine.

If you like fantastic food, a wide choice of quiet beaches and beautiful island scenery, visit Milos.

Pelion

I wasn’t going to include Pelion, but Joe offered to write a short snippet about how lovely Pelion is, so here’s Joe’s take on why Pelion is worth visiting.

The Pelion peninsula for me is synonymous a stay we had at magical Hotel Faros. Perched on a cliff above the Aegean, it’s a working farm and olive grove. You can imagine how good their food was using ingredients from the farm or the sea. It’s possible to swim straight from the rocky outcropping at the hotel - and I remember while swimming one morning spotting a man diving down and collecting urchins. Every time he surfaced, he pulled out a small knife to open up the urchin and slurped up its orange flesh!

Another notable moment was meeting a senior civil servant from the UK over breakfast, who had apparently been coming to Faros for years. And also had some interesting stories about working with Theresa May.

Just a short walk from the hotel is another beach (Milopotamus) which one arrives to via climbing a neighbouring cliff with a gorgeous cafe which made the freshest, crispiest fried calamari served with a big slice of local lemon.

Hotel Faros certainly isn’t all Pelion has to offer. The peninsula is just picture perfect Greece and another town was even the set for some of the Mamma Mia movie.

Faros is not the fanciest place. It’s not a place for amenities. It’s not that easy to get to especially if your rental car is a small red Peugeot. And it didn’t even take credit cards back in 2015 as I learned when checking out without any cash and not an ATM anywhere close (they kindly just let me bank transfer when I got back to the UK - not sure why that was the option we had settled on!).

But when I come back to Faros one day, I really hope that not a thing has changed.

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Day 66 - Ghana 🇬🇭

March 29, 2021

What I knew about Ghana before today

Very little actually, I knew roughly where Ghana is on a map. Ghana is just slightly smaller than the UK. Ghana is in Western Africa, bordering Togo to the East, Côte d'Ivoire to the West and Burkina Faso to the North.

What was the last war or conflict Ghana took part in?

Ghana is actually currently involved in the Western Togoland Rebellion - this is essentially a conflict brought about by an area of Eastern Ghana declaring independence from Ghana. It’s striking how little international coverage there is of this situation other than this DW article from last September.

A Bizarre fact about Ghana

Tonight’s bizarre fact about Ghana was going to be from a BBC Pidgin article (yes, I didn’t know about Pidgin either). The fact I was going to wow you with was that the fastest man in the world to run backwards was the Ghanaian, Ferdie Adoboe. He set the world record for the fastest 100-yard backwards sprint which he complete in 12.7 seconds around 1983. This fact became slightly less fascinating when I learned there are a whole host of various backwards sprinting records and this is just one of them.

BBC Pidgin also goes on to explain that Ghana is home to the largest man-made lake in the world. Lake Volta. It’s huge - by surface area. Unfortunately, it’s not the largest by volume however, this is Lake Kariba on the Zambezi River.

So, by some very selective measures, Ghana can lay claim to the fastest backwards sprint and the largest man-made lake.

Was Ghana a former colony?

Yes, unsurprisingly so. Ghana was colonised by the Portuguese, Swedish, Dutch, and Danish among others before becoming part of the British Empire as four separate colonial territories: Gold Coast, Ashanti, the Northern Territories and British Togoland. Ghana only became a unified nation when it finally became independent in 1957.

The fact that Ghana gained independence from colonial rule in 1957 is pretty significant as it was the becoming the first sub-Saharan nation to do so. Maybe this should have been today’s bizarre fact…

What’s Ghana’s National dish?

Ghanian food looks delicious. Fufu is often considered the closest food that comes to being Ghana's national dish. Fufu is a doughy-like ball made from boiled, mashed up plantain. I’m definitely doing fufu with my description.

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Day 65 - Germany 🇩🇪

March 28, 2021

Germany is one of my happy places. Germany has hugely underrated food, (perhaps unexpectedly) warm and wonderful people and an enthralling history.

While France for me is synonymous with shared experiences with family, Germany is synonymous with shared experiences with friends. I think almost every time I’ve been to Germany it’s been with friends.

The first time I visited Germany was back in 2008 when Interrailing around Europe with friends from university.

I dug out my journal from this trip. My first experience of Berlin was getting lost on the U-Bahn for two hours while trying to meet up with some friends before going out on an all-nighter.

I had a lot of fun this afternoon tracing down our route from my scribbled notes. I’d love to go back to many of the bars like Silberfisch, but the place with the most interesting story is Studio 54.

When we visited back in 2008, we were all completely mesmerised by Studio 54. Studio 54 was a crumbling hunk of a building with an art commune, surreal sculpture park and a beach bar with mesmerising techno music. Every surface of Studio 54 was covered with colourful, thought-provoking graffiti.

Questionable fashion choices in Tacheles

After a little reading up, I’ve learned its actual name was Arthouse Tacheles. It was originally built as a department store before becoming. After being damaged in World War II, the building was partly demolished, but the rest left and neglected as the East German government had no funds to renovate it.

Tacheles was then planned to be demolished in 1990, but luckily it was spared this fate as it was taken over by a group of artists. Similarly to Christiania in Copenhagen, Tacheles was run as a cooperative and used to experiment with alternate lifestyles, art, music and various installations. The building gradually morphed into an attraction in its own right before being finally vacated in 2012. It’s sadly now being redeveloped into a mix of retail and apartments.

Skiing with Katrin, Felix & Joe near Oberstdorf

Visiting Berlin with Joe and Devin back in 2018

More recently, the last time I got to leave Denmark was for an aborted Oktoberfest trip to Munich. Even though Oktoberfest may have been cancelled we still managed to catch up with some really close friends and drinks few steins.

Catching up with Wadzi for the first time in 10 years

I’ll leave you with one quick tip. Back in 2015, I wrote a guide for things to do in Berlin. I have one important addition that I discovered a few years back - Vabali Spa and thermal baths. It’s like taking an Indonesian mini-break within your break in Berlin. Trust me, you won’t regret it.

Das ist alles, bis morgen!

Trinity Gergeti Church, Kazbegi, Georgia

Day 64 - Georgia 🇬🇪

March 27, 2021

Georgia is a mountainous country straddling Asia and Europe, between the Black and Caspian Seas. It’s known for its eclectic mix of foods, cultures and warm, welcoming people.

Georgia is one of the places I most want to visit. Joe and I have talked about going there for years, but so far we haven’t managed to make it there. That’s why it’s the perfect opportunity to put together an itinerary of things I’d love to do when I finally get to visit Georgia.

Tbilisi

Georgia’s capital Tbilisi looks to be the perfect starting point for any trip to Georgia.

Tbilisi is apparently also ideal for exploring on foot, so I’d want to spend my first day exploring and taking in sights such as Freedom Square, Narikala Fortress and the leaning Clock Tower in Shavteli. I’d also want to travel out to The Iveria, a Soviet-era luxury hotel that was turned into a refugee camp and then back into a hotel.

Whenever I travel somewhere with thermal baths, I always have to try them out. Tbilisi has multiple sulphur baths mostly in the Abanotubani district. I’d be tempted to visit the Royal Baths and perhaps a few others over a whole afternoon.

I’d also love to squeeze in a little history and visit the Georgian National Museum and Stalin’s underground printing house.

Georgia eats

The food is definitely one of the things I’m most excited to experience in Georgia, especially in Tbilisi. Tbilisi is known for its wide selection of Georgian cuisine. Not to mention delicious Georgian wine.

I would do my best to work through as many Georgian delicacies as possible. Must eats include Khachapuri, a pizza-like dish, Phkhali, a mix of minced vegetables in a walnut sauce and Mtsvadi, pork grilled on a skewer. There are literally so many Georgian dishes I want to try.

Hiking in Georgia

Georgia has some spectacular scenery as it sits between the Greater Caucasus Mountains in the North and Lesser Caucus Mountains in the South.

Given that Denmark isn’t exactly full of mountainous terrain, I would absolutely love to spend some time hiking in Georgia’s mountainous landscapes. I’d be happy to explore any of the areas covered in this National Geographic article, but if I was feeling adventurous I’d really want to give The Chaukhi Pass a try.

The rest of Georgia

If I make it up to the Greater Caucasus mountains I’d love to visit the medieval Gergeti Trinity Church, perched on a mountain-top in northern Georgia as well as the port town of Batumi in the far South-West right next to the Turkish border. Batumi is known for its Alphabetic tower, a Ferris wheel cut into the side of an eccentric-looking skyscraper and the most extravagant looking McDonald’s in the world.

Right, now the trip’s planned, I just need to book some tickets.

Georgia is a mountainous country straddling Asia and Europe, between the Black and Caspian Seas. It’s known for its eclectic mix of foods, cultures and warm, welcoming people.

Georgia is one of the places I most want to visit. Joe and I have talked about going there for years, but so far we haven’t managed to make it there. That’s why it’s the perfect opportunity to put together a short itinerary of things I’d love to do when I finally get to visit Georgia.

I'm writing about every country in the world. One a day for 195 days. Learn more

Day 63 - The Gambia 🇬🇲

March 26, 2021

The Gambia is truly fascinating. Not only is it the smallest country within mainland Africa, but it is a country entirely defined by a river. In fact, it’s river shaped. River Gambia shaped to be precise.

Today I’m so short of time so I’m going to try something a little different. I’m going to share a couple of interesting facts and longer reads about the Gambia.

So anyway, here is today’s reading list.

Memories Linger Where NASA Lights Shone in Gambia

Gambia’s rather unremarkable Banjul International Airport has a rather unique claim to fame. It was in the perfect location to serve as an emergency landing site for NASA’s Space Shuttles. So, as part of the Space Shuttle programme, NASA extended and improved the main runway at Banjul International Airport so it could function as a transoceanic abort landing site for the Space Shuttle programme.

Article - Memories Linger Where NASA Lights Shone in Gambia - New York Times

The True Origin of The Gambia’s Bizarre Borders

The entire country of The Gambia hugs the River Gambia and is enveloped completely by the French-speaking country of Senegal. But why do its borders have this bizarre shape? Unsurprisingly for an African country, the answer lies in Gambia’s colonial past. Gambia’s borders are defined by a colonial tussle between the British and French and the range of the cannonballs being shot from British ships.

Article - The True Origin of The Gambia’s Bizarre Borders - Atlas Obscura

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Day 62 - Gabon 🇬🇦

March 25, 2021

Today we head to the first country completely surrounded by countries we’ve already covered. Gabon is yet another French-speaking African country. So to mix it up, today I’ve picked a different angle: contradictory reports about Gabon.

We’ll start with something everyone can agree on. Gabon, a country just a tad smaller than New Zealand with 85% of its land being covered by rainforest is undoubtedly home to a large gorilla population.

However, how large and what proportion of the entire population of gorillas live in Gabon is a lot less certain. Some sources claim Gabon is home to roughly 80% (around 35,000) of the world’s gorilla population.

However, it was discovered as recently as 2018 that the wild gorilla population is much larger than previously thought with estimates of a total population of 360,000. However threatened with deforestation, poaching (for bushmeat) and ebola this number may be about to drastically decline. Yes, I had no idea gorillas could contract ebola either!

I can completely understand that counting the number of gorillas in the vast rainforests of Central Africa is a pretty tricky task. However, you’d think it would be easier to measure the height of a mountain…

Apparently not. There is utter confusion about which is the tallest mountain in Gabon. This bizarre situation is summed up in a Wikipedia article essentially denying that Mont Iboundji is the highest peak:

“Claims that it is the highest point of the country, with an altitude of 1,575 metres (5,167 ft), are neither supported by SRTM data nor empirically.”

Wikipedia then goes on to list the height at the possibly incorrect number of 979 to 981 m, meanwhile, it is listed as 1,035 m, on OpenStreetMap. One possible source of confusion may be a project by a Polish blogger listing the tallest peaks in Africa titled “On the way to the highest peaks of African countries”.

I guess the author never made it to the highest peak in Gabon because it is unequivocally Mont Bengoué at an elevation of 1,070 m.

If we’ve learned anything today, it’s that Gabon really needs to hire some surveyors.

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Riding a miniature horse (it’s a French thing) in Brittany in 1990. There’s a lot going on here.

Day 61 - France 🇫🇷

March 24, 2021

France is one of my absolute favourite places in the world. Visiting France as a child is what sparked my interest in travelling and exploring other cultures.

Some of my earliest memories are sitting around outside eating with my extended family. Endless evenings with perfect weather, barbecues and all of the adults drinking too much. Those early childhood holidays really were magical.

Developing a love for baguettes back in 1990

Every summer we would pack up our caravan, drive to Dover or Portsmouth, cross the channel on a ferry and set out on a summer adventure. We had so much fun.

Cycling along mountain passes near Alp du’Huez, floating down the Dorgodogne in decidedly wobbly inflatable boats, racing against the rapidly turning tide to escape Ratty island* in the Pays de la Loire. That’s without mentioning my horrifically bad karaoke renditions of Lou Bega’s Mambo No.5.

One summer when Dad wasn’t working we even got to spend six weeks meandering around France with no set plan. We made it all the way down to the Auvergne and spent a few weeks on a lake where I learned how to row and swim longer distances. Oh, and this was the trip where I infamously contracted foot and mouth disease!

Building sand castles in Jard-sur-Mer in 2002

In later years my family would always gravitate to a small Atlantic coast town of Jard-sur-Mer. My grandparents would set off in May, towing their caravan on a ten-week pilgrimage from South Wales to Jard-sur-Mer. Then, one-by-one different parts of the the family would travel out to join them.

They knew practically everyone on the campsite where they parked their caravan and became the heart of this yearly community, making friends from all over Europe, including an elderly French couple who were known to cultivate snails from the campsite for their dinner. We never did take up the offer to try one.

There’s nothing particularly special about Jard-sur-Mer. There are no big landmarks or spectacular scenery. It’s just a small, French coastal town that became a home-away-from home. I wouldn’t change a thing about it.

One of the last trips we took before Covid was to see our long-lost friend Audrey in Lyon

*Named after the rat we saw. It’s actually Île à Bacchus

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Helsinki Harbour from the ferry to Suomenlinna

Day 60 - Finland 🇫🇮

March 23, 2021

Welcome to Finland, the land of Saunas, lakes, birch forests and the Moomins.

Finland has been proudly independent since 1917. Before that, it was annexed by Russia and before that Sweden. Despite this, it keeps mostly cordial relations with both of its neighbours nowadays.

Freezing. In Suomenlinna, a sea fortress right next to Helsinki

Today Finland has a proud reputation for high levels of press freedom and ranking at the very top of country stability rankings, the world happiness index and the gender gap report.

One other thing for Finns to be proud of is the amount of coffee they consume. Depending on which source you choose to believe the Finns either drink the most, or the second-most coffee per-person in the world. Apparently, when it’s dark for almost all of the winter you really need that extra cup to wake up in the morning.

I visited Finland for a weekend break back in December 2018. My most prominent memory is how cold and windy Helsinki was. My puny Denmark spec-jacket really wasn’t cut out for a Finnish winter. Visiting the beautiful fortress island of Suomenlinna was a particularly frigid experience. When we weren’t walking around freezing in the cold, we visited the delightful Allas Sea Pool and sauna which was exactly what we needed.

I have surprisingly few photos from that weekend. I think it was simply too cold to take photos.

Right, enough writing, time for a warming shot of Finlandia.

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