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….
Category: route
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…
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:…
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…
The British
With the coronation of Charles the Third today, I was reminded of my stay in London in the summer of 1983.It was at this time that Trooping the Color took place.Trooping the Color is a ceremony performed every year in London, United Kingdom, by regiments of the British Army. Similar events are held in other…
May Day in Warsaw
International Workers’ Day, also known as Labor Day in some countries and often called May Day, is a holiday of workers and working classes promoted by the international labor movement and occurs every year on May 1 or the first Monday in May. May 1 was chosen for International Workers’ Day to commemorate the 1886…
Crossing Ukraine
Odessa, Ukraine, August 1992.In the late afternoon, I should take the train to Lviv. But it turned out that there are no free seats on the night express.So me and five girls spent the night in a hotel built during socialist era. There was a bar on the tenth floor. A few locals and the…
When Your Passport is Stolen in India
While studying architecture, we also learned a lot about the history of architecture. Also about the Taj Mahal.And so, on a fine Sunday afternoon on February 26, 1989, I studied whether everything we were taught was true. Taj Mahal in all its beauty. I was so carried away by all this beauty that I forgot…
Hotel San Diego and its Residents
Late in the evening of Wednesday, February 10, 1982, I arrived in San Diego. After a long drive from Phoenix, AZ to Yuma, to the town of El Centro, where things got complicated. Nadine, a young Swiss girl, and I went to eat, and when we returned, our bus had already left. With our luggage….