From Oxen to Che – A Stop in Santa Clara
Some places pull you in for reasons you can’t quite explain. For me, Santa Clara was one of them – perhaps because my mother’s name was Klara, or perhaps because of the history that...
Silver Queer Travel light My blog post
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Trinidad, Cuba – a colourful colonial town with a darker past
Some places try very hard to be charming. Trinidad doesn’t really have to try at all – and still somehow does. Here you’ll find cobblestone streets that test your balance, pastel-coloured houses in every...
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Cienfuegos, looking for the pearl of the south on Cuba
Cienfuegos is dubbed La Perla del Sur (Pearl of the South), and no doubt, it has absolutely pearl quality. UNESCO inscribed the Urban historic centre og Cienfuegos on the World Heritage List, citing it as the best extant...
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Camagüey, hundres of colours in the “City of Squares”
Camagüey is the third-largest city in Cuba, located in the central part of the island. It is famous for its maze-like streets meant to confuse. Camagüey is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The...
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Santiago de Cuba, the most “Carabean City” on the island.
Santiago de Cuba boasts a rich, diverse culture heavily influenced by Spanish, African, and French-Haitian roots. It is also Cuba’s second city. Santiago was the capital of the island in the sixteenth century. On...
Viñales and Las Terrazas – Cuba’s Most Beautiful Landscapes (and Perhaps a Bit Too Perfect)
After a few days in Havana, heading out to Viñales Valley feels like someone has turned the volume of the country down a few notches. The traffic fades, the crumbling facades disappear, and suddenly...
Cuba Right Now: Travelling a Country Under Pressure
Cuba is not an easy country to understand – and right now, it may be even harder than usual. For years, much of Cuba’s fragile economy has depended on support from Venezuela. Cheap oil...
Madrid, why not go here instead of Barcelona?
I know many countries have competition between the capital and the second city. That is very much the case in Spain as well. We have the same in Norway between Oslo and Bergen, and...
Kunya-Urgench and Merv, two high quality silk road tresures
Kunya-Urgench and Merv are far apart and not closely connected, but both played important roles on the ancient Silk Road. Kunya-Urgench is situated in north-western Turkmenistan. Urgench was the capital of the Khorezm region,...
Darvaza Gas Crater more popular called The Door to Hell.
Darvaza Gas Crater is the most popular tourist destination in Turkmenistan, even though it releases carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases. Despite environmental and safety concerns, the “Door to Hell” has been a significant tourist...
To Yangykala Canyon, and not to Awaza, a forbidden city.
Visiting the tourist zone of Awaza, on the outskirts of Türkmenbaşy, is forbidden. But the Yangykala Canyon is thankfully open to everyone who has a visa to Turkmenistan. I had read about Awaza before...
Ashgabat, a white utopia, or just a nightmare?
When a dictator wants to impress the world, what should he do? Why not build a white marble city, and paint all cars white? That is basically what happened when Saparmyrat Atajevitsj Nyýazow took...
Turkmenistan, where crazy is the normal
I have not been to North Korea, so I cannot compare, but I have read that Turkmenistan is a good candidate to be number two. It is like a cult in which their honourable...
Transnistria, nostalgia is the norm in this shadow country.
Transnistria, or Pridnestrovie, as they like to call it, does not really exist, and they are longing for the USSR. It is a breakaway, self-declared state internationally recognised as part of Moldova. It is...
Moldova, the ultimate hitchhiker’s paradise.
As in so many ex-Soviet states, marshrutkas (small minibuses) are widely used in Moldova. But hitchhiking is also an excellent alternative. The marshrutkas are not the most comfortable; there is little legroom, and they...
