I had the rare opportunity to attend Ashura in the city of Ashkezar near Yazd, Iran. In 2014, for the first time, foreigners, non-believers, were allowed to attend. According to their data, around 450 foreigners attended Ashura in Ashkezar in 2017. It was Sunday, October 1st. In the morning we took a minibus to the…
Author: Brane
Coffee at Partizani
In April 2009, I traveled around Albania with a group of photography enthusiasts.Albania, then a land of poverty, bunkers, young people and Mercedes cars. Mercedes cars? You could see Mercedes on every corner. When you ask how this is possible, given the financial situation of most Albanians, they answer that Mercedes is a status symbol….
New York, Krizolog and Sushi
I was in New York for the first time way back in February of 1977. At that time, New York was considered a city of crime, mafia, pornography and more. Harlem was not recommended for whites to enter. Times Square was not yet at the crossroads of the world. My friends, the locals, were shaking…
Forever Young
July 1st 1978. I had recently been discharged from the YPA.I started working as a young architect in an architectural bureau. As a subtenant, I moved every few months. And chasing boredom.The late Mare comes with the news that Bob Dylan will have a concert in Nuremberg in early July. Are you ready to go?Bob…
Algerian Sahara
Trekking Through Desert Wastelands Sand. More and more sand. 1200 km in old military Toyotas, 200 km of hiking at a temperature of 35 degrees Celsius, a climb to the second highest Algerian peak, the 2780 meter high Assekrem. This is trekking with the Tuaregs across the Sahara in the south of Algeria!Sometimes I wonder:…
When did it All Start…
When did it all start? When I participated in student demonstrations in the early seventies, in the occupation of Aškerčeva Street. When we used red tape to wrap the trees in front of our college because they had been pruned too much. When I sought refuge at the University headquarters during the demonstrations against the…
The Two Faces of New York
Cold buildings and warm eyes February. It’s bitterly cold and the wind blows so hard at the top of the Empire State Building that you have to hold on to the wall. New York in front of you like in the palm of your hand. Buildings that push up, black, gray, impersonal, that makes you…
From Hong Kong to Guangzhou and Back
I spent a month and a half in Hong Kong in July and August 1995. Even before the trip, I had planned to go to the Chinese side, at least for one day. Since I needed an entry visa, I contacted the Chinese embassy. I was interrogated by a young clerk. And she asks me…
First Hike After Surgery
I had an surgery, painful, unpleasant. Shaving the legs, changing into a hospital gown, fishnet panties, ten days of injections in the abdomen against blood clots. I survived everything.The Beatles – Lucy in the Sky With DiamondsOf course, for the first two weeks I was banned from driving, lifting weights, running up stairs and any…
Calendula Tincture
Calendula officinalis, the pot marigold, common marigold, ruddles, Mary’s gold or Scotch marigold, is a flowering plant in the daisy family Asteraceae. It is probably native to southern Europe, although its long history of cultivation makes its precise origin unknown, and it may possibly be of garden origin. It is also widely naturalized farther north…