Archive for March, 2008
Vatican city
The world’s smallest state, and home to the world’s largest church, the Vatican City is the central authority of the Catholic Church, a fact which pervades every street, every brick and grain of sand encompassed within its borders. Whether you want to check out the sheer volume of art treasured here. Get in to see […]
Turkmenistan
The most curious of the Asian republics, Turkmenistan resembles an Arab Gulf state without the money. Money. Most of the country consists of an inhospitable lunar-like desert called the Karakum, which conceals unexploited oil and gas deposits. Turkmenistan is sparsely populated and its people, the Turkmen, are only a generation or two removed from being […]
Russian federation
Winston Churchill famously described Russia as a ‘riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma’, and this remains an apt description of a place most outsiders known very little about. A composite of the extravagant glories of old Russia and the drab legacies of the Soviet era, Russia is a country that befuddles and beguiles […]
Micronesia, federated states of
There’s something to be said for a country that has tried to outlaw ties and baseball caps. Despite being firmly tied to the USA’s economic and political apron strings, each of the four island states has maintained its own culture: Kosrae remains a casual backwater;
Pohnpei a jungle paradise; bright, bubbly Chuuk attracts divers with its […]
Guinea-bissau
Tiny, verdant and fractured by waterways, Guinea-Bissau is a gem for those prepared to seek it out. Sleepy towns, quiet beaches and sacred rainforests dot the mainland, while offshore the Arquipelago dos Bijagos has a unique culture and fantastic marine and animal life. Guinea-Bissau is not a well-developed nation-even by African standards it’s gut-wrenchingly poor-and […]
Micronesia, federated states of
There’s something to be said for a country that has tried to outlaw ties and baseball caps. Despite being firmly tied to the USA’s economic and political apron strings, each of the four island states has maintained its own culture: Kosrae remains a casual backwater;
Pohnpei a jungle paradise; bright, bubbly Chuuk attracts divers with its […]
Sierra leone
Despite its rich diamond mines, Sierra Leone’s development has been challenged by political instability since independence in 1961. Throughout the 1990s it was gripped by savage civil war between the government and Revolutionary United. Freetown, pumped full of international aid, has a happy-go-lucky and vibrant atmosphere and Freetown Peninsula has some of west Africa’s most […]
San marino
lt might be geographically part of ltaly, but the Most Serene Republic of San Marino is miraculously the world’s oldest surviving republic. lf you’re into the experience of extreme kitsch, this is the place for you-it’s packed to the gills with ‘genuine reproductions’ of medieval relics. A dozen or so kilometers inland from Rimini, it’s […]
Equatorial guinea
While most of Equatorial Guinea’s two regions remain densely covered with the type of forest that made Tarzan swing, the recent discovery of underwater oil looks set to change the face of the country. Bioko lsland has been thoroughly taken over by oil money and an influx of foreign workers, but a trip to the […]
Solomon islands
The Solomons was once the world’s most dangerous place-cannibalism, head-hunting and warfare were rife, and foreign visitors were usually killed upon making landfall. Today the islanders are laid-back and friendly, and they inhabit a stunning archipelago of coral atolls, lagoons and reefs that sees almost no tourists. Ancient arts are still practiced and WWll wreckage […]
