Catalonia – a new European state?
Something is different in Catalonia. Independence flags wave from windows and balconies all over the region, long after the national day, 11 September.
Scenes from a Bahraini mall – empty elegance
Manama, Bahrain, 29 September 2009 It's 6:30 pm and I'm in Moda Mall at the World Trade Centre, wondering where all the people are. Moda is a huge shopping centre with high-end boutiques. Just from where I now sit, I see Louis Vuitton, Dior, Emporio [...]
Reading the past with the Rosetta Stone
The British Museum is one of my favourite museums in the world. Yet, like many museums in the western world, the British Museum should probably return some of the artefacts to their country of origin. One of these is the Rosetta Stone, a stele from [...]
Pyramiden – an Arctic ghost town
I'm in Pyramiden, once a showcase of the Soviet Union, a perfect mining community, set between mountains, glaciers and fjords in the Svalbard archipelago. Today, it's an Arctic ghost town. The decision to abandon the settlement was sudden, its implementation even more so. The inhabitants [...]
Barentsburg highlights
Barentsburg, you say? Where on earth... ? The Svalbard archipelago has four settlements of significant size, one of them is Russian. Norway has sovereignty over the archipelago, but the Treaty of Svalbard ensures all parties equal access to scientific and economic activities in the islands. [...]
The Bedoun – Kuwait’s stateless people
On my old blog, I touch upon the issue of the Bedoun (although mostly my ignorance of the matter). This is what I wrote then - from the observation deck of Kuwait Towers: I'm soon joined by the only other westerner here. A journo from [...]
Things to do in Skopje
Skopje isn’t what leaps to mind when you think of European cities, is it? It’s probably among the lesser known capitals, along with Chisinau. To me, it was the easiest way to get to Kosovo for a travel writing assignment on the then two-month-old nation. [...]
