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 Oguz Dikbakan

In the West these days, we rarely if ever spare a thought for North Africa's largest and second-most populous country, but as this blog has reported several times, Algeria is an underrated gem, from the history and culture of capital city Algiers to ecotourism to ancient Roman ruins to amazing ecotourism. The world was much more aware of it during the middle decades of the 20th century, though, thanks to the works of Paul Bowles and French Nobel-prize-winning writer Albert Camus

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Plov-what, now? Chances are you've never heard of this city of just over 345,000 (greater metro area 675,000) in south-central Bulgaria, two hours from capital Sofia. But in the  29 years since this country's from a particularly hardline, isolationist Communist country, Europe's oldest continuously inhabited city has reinvented itself for the 21st century, the allures of its picturesque old town and ancient Roman amphitheater these days balanced by vibrant nightlife, cultural ferme

dubassy/shutterstock 


Globalization has been a sometimes controversial mixed bag in different areas and different parts of the world, but I think we can all agree that on the plus side, one of its grooviest benefits has been to bring to spread many of the exciting cultural achievements of societies much different from our own.

Nowhere is this more exciting than in the field of “world music”, a term that came into vogue beginning in the 1980s to describe music both non-Western and non-mainstrea

The Maasai (also spelled Masai) are is a unique and popular tribe due to their distinctive, long preserved culture. Despite education, civilization and western cultural influences, the Maasai people have clung to their traditional way of life, making them a symbol of Kenyan culture as well as important in that of Tanzania.

Making a fire.

Maasai's distinctive culture, dress style and strategic territory along the game parks of Kenya and Tanzania have made them one of

by Miguel Martínez Rabanal


Chile is a very special country, full of very special sights and experiences. But the Polynesian island of Rapa Nui is not only special, but dramatically unique in all the world. What makes it worth the time (a five-hour flight from Santiago), effort, and expense to make your way out to this wee chunk of rock in the middle of the southeastern Pacific Ocean –  one of the world’s most remoted inhabited islands? 

Named Isla de Pascua because it was found by Europeans (th

by Asli Pelit

The oldest neighborhood in Argentina‘s capital, San Telmo is a barrio founded in the 16th century, where history – romantic cobblestone streets, colonial buildings, cafés, churches, and its tango culture — happily coexists with today’s fashionista edge and Montmartre-like buzz. It became a bastion of the upper class in the 1800s, declined after the cholera epidemic of 1871, and has been reviving since the country’s economic crisis in 2002, luring (mostly European) investors and b

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by Nelly Huang


Croatia, a land of more than a thousand islands splattered off the beautiful Adriatic Sea coastline in the Balkans of Eastern Europe, is chock-full of intriguing history, Mediterranean cuisine and Slavic cultural heritage. And on a recent visit to its Dalmatian coast, I decided to delve deeper into its less explored side of the country, and so I ditched the crowds on the beach, left the tourist trail behind me, and headed deep into the world of music.

Journey int