TORTOLA

When I went from Virgin Gorda to Tortola the huge cruise liner Queen Mary 2 was anchored in front of Spanish Town and the small passenger ferry I was on passed very near to the sea giant.
Tortola is the biggest of the British Virgin Islands and its main center and harbour, Road Town, is the region's capital. Almost every day, at least in season, ferries are stopped there, while the passangers go on island tours and shop, which ensures lots of people in the streets aroung the bay. I went a little bit out of the center and was rewarded with a visit of the old residence and gardens of the British Governor-General, now a museum open to the public. It is a charming mansion, built on a small hill allowing fine sea views, and it is maintained like in its noble past days. Just see the dining-room, where Queen Elisabeth had meals while on visit to the island many years ago.

ATLANTA

In a few days I will have a stopover in Atlanta, on my way to Panama. It has already happened to me, with the difference that in 2007 it was a night stopover both ways, which allowed me to see downtown Atlanta twice. I was not really impressed by the city. If I compare with all other Olympic Games cities I know, it is by far the one I felt less enthusiasm with.
The airport is very big and, I suspect, was the first world-wide to have an internal underground train system to link the various terminals.
A little bit out of the centre is the atraction which caught my eye and my mind: the houses and monuments linked with Martin Luther King, in Auburn Street, which was, long before the Civil Rights Movements developed, a district for the wealthier segment of the black community. MLK was born, leaved and preached there. It is now classified as a National Historic Site and includes the family's home, the Ebenezer Baptist Church, a visitor center and gardens, a Community Center, the King Center with an exihbition and, more rewarding for my feelings, the MLK' Tomb in a beutiful open public space.
If passing through Atlanta this is the feature you ought not to miss!

LUANDA

I have just read that Luanda, Angola's capital, will have a new iconic construction, a huge 325 meters high building with 70 floors. That's fully in accordance with the recent fact (2007) that Angola joined the OPEP, the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. Money becomes an easy matter when the pumps discharge so much amounts of dollars! Of course someone may challenge the way the barrels money is distributed and invested, but definitively this is not at all an ethic problem for most of the leaders of the continent, just a problem for those outsiders to the elites of rich developing countries.
Before Angola was an independent country I lived in Luanda and from 1967 to 1971 worked in the then tallest building in Angola, which was also Portugal's tallest one, as Angola was politicaly  portuguese. It has 23 floors and is 90 meters high. I have been Inspector and then Chief-Inspector of Banco Comercial de Angola, an affiliated bank of Banco Português do Atlântico and my office was on the 3rd floor, till I moved to Mozambique. After  indipendence the bank was taken over by the MPLA Government and changed its name twice; it is today the BPC, Banco de Poupança e Crédito. On top of the building there was a big electric panel with the letters BCA; now the letters are naturaly BPC. The upper floor has a fantastic view of downtown and the bay, best in the night, for my taste. Was the construction of the then imposing private-owned BCA building an ethic problem at the time? Well, not by Luanda's 2009 standards.

MONTSERRAT, CATALONIA

Montserrat (jagged mountain in english) is unusually shaped, which makes it so attractive; I suppose this is the reason why a monastery was founded here on the XI century and, although Napoleon's troops totally destroyed it and killed the mooks, a Benedictine successor is there and very much alive. The Dark Virgin, a XII century wooden sculpture, is venerated there and is host to lots of pilgrims.
The mountain is some 50 kilometers from the great city of Barcelona and constitutes one of Catalonia's big attractions. Aditionally it gave its name to the homonym island in the Caribbean - but visually I do not see any coherence on this. I tend to say that, when in Barcelona, a day-visit here is an absolute must. The monastery is very big, very well maintained and includes, in addition to the Sanctuary of La Moreneta (the Dark Lady), a museum, a library and a boys' choir performing almost every day. Beyond the religious complex, the mountain itself deserves to be walked and climbed; it is  now a Natural Park and is well structured for allowing the visitors great views. Enjoy your visit!

MONTSERRAT, CARIBBEAN

Sometimes we talk about devastation, as sometimes it happens. In Montserrat it came in a tremendous way, very rarely in modern times anything of the kind happenned that touched such an incledible pourcentage of the population. This is because it is such a tiny island with around twelve thousand inhabitants before the big eruption, may be only fife thousand by now.
In 1997 a massive explosion of the Soufrière Hills volcano distroyed more than half the island, including the capital and forced the dislocation of most of the locals; such a part of the island is still an "exclusion zone", due to the risks of renewed sismologic activity.
I went there on a day trip from Antigua, which this is fairly enough to see what is available. Everything to be seen is related to the tragic events of 22 years ago.
First you are taken to a valley which defines the line of separation, where you can walk on ashes, lava and boulders and see nice abandoned villas. Then you go to the Volcano Observatory, located on a high position but out of the possible lines of destruction when the volcano stikes. From the mirador you have the volcano mountain in front and you see Plymouth,the (ex)capital, near to the sea and with just a few towers and houses above the ashes and debris: most of it lies now under the surface. Later at another mirador you can see, on the east side, the old airport - or inded what remains of it.

SPISSKY HRAD

It is said that Spissky is the biggest surviving (although ruined) castle of Central and Eastern Europe. So, I ought to visit it. Especially that the first time I passed on the area, going from Levoca to Presov, I passed not far - but at the time I was not yet a fan of WH. The second time, touring the North of Hungary by car, I decided I should not miss Spassky Hrad and took a detour to Slavakia; the two countries were freshly EU members, but not yet "Schengenland" ones, so the border checks were in place, but on a relaxed mood.
At a curve of the road Spissiky Hrad appeared in the distance, bravely on top of a big hill. I stopped at Spissky Kapitula, the nearby small town, just down the hill; here you have fine views of the Hrad from an underneath position. Then I proceeded to the castle. Being in such a proeminent position, I could devise (it was a fine Summer day) the Tatra mountains in the distance. I took my time to stroll around the castle and also to walk outside its precinct on the grassed slopes around it.
Later I drove back to Hungary, via Kosice, and stopped for dinner and sleep at Tokaj, the town of the country's famed sweet wine. The next morning I walked on town and climbed up the vineyards on the hills follwing a copious hungarian-style breakfast - on a happy mood, having added two more WH sites to my personal "collection". Sadly on that evening Portugal was to loose the final of the football Euro 2004 championship. Life is never as perfect as one hopes!

VIRGIN GORDA

I took the small passanger ferry in Charlotte Amalie,United States Virgin Islands, in a gorgeous tropical morning and landed quietly in Spanish Town, Virgin Gorda, British Virgin Islands, an hour later or so. The name of the island is not that gracious, if you understand latin languages and Columbus is supposedly the man to blame, because from the distance it looked to him as a lying fat lady.
As it was the low season I did not care to reserve a hotel room, which on arrival the immigration control office disliked and ordered me to go for a room and return to get back my passaport after the booking, which I did with no problem, as I had already an idea where to stay. Later in the day the hotel esplanade and bar, just in front of the beach, gave me the opportunity of a very beautiful sunset, with some other BVI islands and islets in the distance. Before that the afternoon had been rather stiily, there is no argument for any stress in these islands of absolute non challence and tropical quietness. I had just a short walk to the the Baths, more or less the only island's tourist spot, apart from the resorts. One can have a bath in the warmness of the sea waters under the protection of huge granite boulders, sometimes creating grottoes open to the sea.

BAARLE-NASSAU

Know nothing about it? Do not even know where it is? No problem, it is not that important, it is more about the fun! It is about enclaves and exclaves: the concepts are not so complex in themselfes - but its praticalities always seem funny and odd. Notice for instance another case: Ras al-Kaimah Emirate has a round enclave inside an Oman territory, which is itself a round enclave of Ras al-Kaimah.
I kown about Baarle-Nassau since the winter of 1982, when I took a trip from my Luxembourg base to the Netherlands. After visiting the mushroom-like building of the science and technology Evoluon museum in Eindhoven, raised to celebrate the 75th aniversary of Phillips, a careful looking on a small entry of my travel guide led me to Baarle-Nassau.
Rights, claims and arrangements,in short History as it happens, are responsible for the strange situation. When Belgium separated from the Netherlands in 1830 the odd forms of "borders" simply followed the status quo dating back to XII century feudal times, when the Duke of Brabant and the Count of Holland were having conflicts about their respective possessions. We can now take advantage of such conflicts by seeing houses which are half in each country, passing to Belgium though an enclave to go to a sub-enclave of the Netherlands, having a drink - if my memory is still reliable! -in an "international" coffee shop which has a table with half of it in each country and other subtilities of the kind. Enjoy your drink and pay it now in euros, while earlier you could be tough with the owner about how to pay: dutch guilders or belgian francs.

SINTRA

Of all 890 WH sites, the nearest to my Estoril home is Sintra (and the nearest to my Brussels apartment is the Grand-Place). I shall not self-complain!
In fact Sintra's nomination does not pertain to any specific building or monument and is officialy labelled "Cultural Landscape of...". Anyhow some architectonical and vegetal structures are remarkable and must be considered: The Royal Palace in town, the Moors Castle, the Romantic Pena Palace, the Seteais and Monserrate Palaces, the masonic Quinta da Regaleira, the Capuchos Frairy, plus several ancient churches, parks, forests and the narrow crooked streets in the urban centre. Are the well known and well eaten "queijadas" (cheese cakes) also part of Sintra's cultural landscape? And what about Lord Byron verses in "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage" where he writes "Sintra's glorious Eden intervenes in variegated maze of mount and glen."? The word is for the heritage specialists - but for me both are also part of it: I have made up my mind since when I begun visiting Sintra, well before it was appointed a WH site.
In the picture: Quinta da Regaleira in a winter foggy day.

ADEN

I have never visited Aden, or better said have only been once in its airport. It was in 1976 on an Aeroflot flight between Maputo and Moscow, with outbound stops in Aden and Cairo and inbound in Mogadishiu. All the family was in the plane, wife and three children.
I still remember perfectly well two things about this stopover.
First: as soon as the Tupolev touched down and braked, I begun seeing from my window seat some MIG15 jet fighters semi-hidden in between airfield buildings, a sequence of hangar-aircraft-hangar-aircraft-etc.. At the time Aden, as an independent country under a marxist regime, was a stategic ally of the Soviet Union, with strong air and sea facilities for the soviets. Years after and some conflicts, revolts and peace arrangements later, Aden (or South Yemen) agreed a reunification with North Yemen, to form what is today Yemen.
Second: the free shop was open (not sure how marxist-leninist the concept is!) and I got a bottle of VAT69 whisky for thee american dollars. Very cheap even by then prices and my first experience of spending dollars at the profit of communism.

TROMSO

The city has not much to offer indeed, but this is not an argument for a tourist who feels itself to be of a strong reputation. It has the Artic Cathedral, a modernist church from 1965 and a bridge linking downtown (in an island, which also contains the airport) with the mainland; both are visible on the back of the picture. Plus the Hurtigruten, the famous ferry line: a big one was on the port when I passed by.
With the exception of the Svalbard Islands, about which I will make entries later, Tromso is the northernnost city I have visited, more than Kiruna in Sweden and Rovaniemi in Finland. And of course at 69.4 degrees it is upper the Artic Circle. When I was there it was the midnight sun period, but frankly I can not confirm it: having already seen it in Narvik, I went to bed by 11pm and it was not dark.
Tromso has also an University, "the northernmost University of the world" and a beautiful well structured Artic-alpine Botanical Garden, where I strolled for more than an hour.

TSAVO PARKS

Suddenly the buffalo attacked and the driver speeded up the jeep without warning. The man on the left fell on his wife, the wife fell on me and hopefully I did not fell on the driver. Not because of these falls, I supppose, the bufallo decided to stop the atack and we all laughed.
I do not know whether this is a dayly scene in Tsavo East Park, but it happened! The rest of the day passed with less emotion but more beasts. Lunch was in the hotel inside the park, with a view to a herd of elephants. Later we left the park at the Voi gate, passed the town and drove to Tsavo West Park. The two parks have a long common border, the highway and the railway separating both, but not at Voi. The night was passed at Salt Lick Safari Lodge, a surprising hotel with the rooms built in hut-like houses above wet grassland, the dining room with direct view (not even glass windows) to elephants drinking on a pool and the reception door shut by night to avoid animals entering. From my room I saw elephants passing by!
The following morning we were graced with a tour to see buffalos, girafes, deers, zebras, cobras,monkeys, pheasants and so, including a somnolent lion lying around bushes. As a standard extra for everyone on gorgeous sunny days we saw perfectly Mount Kilimanjaro in the distance, at the best of its superb.

BAALBEK AND ANJAR

From Beirut it is up and up and up the mountains. No harm anyway, the enthusiasm to see Baalbek is too great. You look left and it is a nice valley, green and populated. You look behind and it is the magnificent coastal plain of Great Beirut. Then you reach Mt. Lebanon' hights and it is down and down and down. The Bekaa Valley, extense and fertile-looking, is in front of you, the syrian mountains also, more in the distance. As you reach the valley continue eastwards till Anjar. It is a huge ruined city, said to be "a unique testimony to city planning under the Umayyads". Take your time and stroll around, think about how all great human achievements do perish. When your soul is happy return back, go to Zahle and proceed North through the valley, in the middle of fruit trees and other plantations. When arriving in Baalbek breathe fully and begin enjoying such a marvel: a phoenician city, then Greek Heliopolis, then romanized to huge structures un-paralleled anywhere. The Temple of Jupiter, the Temple of Bacchus and the Great Court are some of the features not to miss. Once again take yout time and try to feel in your skin as in your mind how much History is made of change.
On the return do not miss one of the vineyards chateaux which accept visits and wine tasting. Take your time and think how, whatever the changes of History are, there is allways some pleasure along the road.

422 METERS BELOW SEA LEVEL

This is currently were stands the water level of the Dead Sea; later it will be even lower, as the volume of liquid is receding every year, due to the capture of the river Jordan waters.
I have been three times at this lowest area on the land surface of Earth. The first, coming from Amman, was on the Jordanian side of the lake and included a lunch in a hotel facing the waters and a bath on its greasy waters with the classic picture of reading a newspaper while floating. The second, coming from Jerusalem, was on the Israeli side with a very similar tourist programme. The third, a few days later, was just passing by on a trip from Tiberias to Jerusalem and bypassing Jericho, which was not possible to visit because of the state of play of the relations between Palestine and Israel.
While descending from any of the two capitals, which are built on high ground, one must obviously pass by level zero. In both cases the points of the mean sea level are duly indicated by marks. You can see a picture of me on the Jordanian mark and imagine as if half my body was under water and the other half above water.

LOCKERBIE

The name of Lockerbie has again resurfed in the news, because of the Scottish Government's decision to allow the only convicted person of the plane's bombing to go free on compassion reasons.
In he Summer of 1990 I had a few days of political meetings near Limerick, Ireland and decided to go by car after inviting my old parents to come along. We used the weekend to travel: having crossed the Channel we headed North, instead of taking the short way through Wales. Before reaching the (un-controlled) border between England and Scotland, we took a detour to visit the Hadrian's Wall, a World Heritage site, as we did the next day in Northern Ireland to visit and walk on the Giant's Causeway, another WH place. Some ten minutes driving after the border we turned right to respectfully visit Lockerbie, a familiar name to me since in 1988 the PANAM flight 103 exploded in the skies and most of the wreckage landed in the village. I got a feeling that, given the plane was flying at around 800 kilometers per hour at an altitude of some 10,000 meters, the explosion may have ocurred still above England space and then inertia and gravity led the parts of the plane to finally touch down in the scotish village.
The next morning we crossed the North Channel from Stranraer to Larne.

4.335 METERS ABOVE SEA LEVEL

A journey by coach from Ollantaytambo to Puno looks like an adventure. Ollantaytambo is on the valley of the river Urubamba, better known to tourists as the Sacred Valley, in the Cusco Region; Puno is the capital of the Region with the same name, more to the South, on the Altiplano. The road passes by two interesting Inca villages, Calca and Pisac, this one with a major site of an Inca's fortress ruins; just after Pisac it crosses the river and begins climbing, as the valley comes to an end and is replaced by a canyon. From here till reaching the main highway linking Cusco and Puno it becomes a secondary road for some 60 kilometers, almost all the time up and up, the further up the more the vegetation gets rare. Here and there, towns and villages appear, notably San Pedro, which has the important Inca ruins of Raqchi, one of the holliest temples of all the Empire. Much later in the desolated landscape the coach stops for pictures: it's the separation point between the regions and the highest point in the road: a panel reads 4.335 meters above sea level. It's the highest spot I have been in so far! To the left, on the adjacent valley, I see passing the tired-looking train bound for Cusco. From here it's just going down till populated Juliaca, but not that much in fact: Juliaca is at 3.825 meters. Half an hour later on a now rather flat road the coach reaches Puno, by the Lake Titacaca and one feels happy for finally seing it.

THE BEST TRAIN STATIONS

Journalist Jaime Cuninngham recently published in NEWSWEEK a laudatory article about the best train stations he has spotted. I do not take this kind of exercises as something with the value of a doctrine, just a laudable point of view of a person with a degree of specialisation on the issue and who has travelled long enough to minimize the risks of what he has missed. Interestingly he chooses 9 "best" worldwide train stations, instead of the classic figure of 7 which has been favoured since long ago.
Let me divide the nine stations in two groups, those where I have been and those where not. I have been in St. Pancras (London), Grand Central Terminal (New York), Chhatrapati Shivaji (Mumbai), Central Station (Antwerpen), Central Railway Station (Maputo) and Atocha Station (Madrid). I have not (yet) been in Dare des Bénédictins (Limoges), Lahore Railway Station and Hua Hin Railway Station ( Hua Hin, Thailand), in spite of having already visited Lahore and Lomoges.
For several years the Maputo, earlier Lourenço Marques, station was very much familiar to me and I often passed by: the bank in which I worked was just some hunfred meters form the huge square which ensures the arquitectonical proeminence of the railway building. The one in Antwerp, which has enjoyed a big refurbishment years ago, is familiar to be, through my twenty years of living in nearby Brussels.
Had I been asked to pick one as the "biggest" I have no doubt on the choice: that in Mumbai (earlier Victoria Terminus). I suppose it is the number one, worldwide, in terms of size and number of daily passengers, but by "biggest" I do not mean it, rather the quality of its arquitecture and the overall beauty of the building. It is a real masterpiece and that's why it has been deservedly classified as a World Heritage site. Have a look at the picture!

TOWERS IN THE MIDDLE OF RIVERS

Few castles in the middle of rivers? Well, what about church towers in the middle of rivers? May be even fewer, or may be not.
The fact is that I know two of them and have passed by. Both are in the rivers, lakes and canals system which links Moscow and Saint Petersburg by water, a gigantic public works project carried on during the harshest period of Stalin rule. A lot of villages were "sacrificed" by the project and are now below water level. In some cases the towers of the respective churches were high enough not to be fully engulfed by the waters, so they now remain lone witnesses of a bygone past.
Free of charge, I allow you to see them as exactly as I did from my boat.

ALMOUROL

How many castles in the middle of rivers do you know? Not many for sure, as few do exist.
I only know two so far, both visited: one in the Rhine, the Pfalz by Caub, in a small sandy island and Almourol, a solid medieval fortress standing on a granite rocky island in the medium river Tagus. The name Almourol explains it all, although I do not know the exact meaning: it's related to the moors, who built some defensive structure on a site earlier occupied by the romans. After the moors were defeated, the island was given to the Templar Knigts and they built the castle still existing today, with the external walls and towers almost intact, but with the interior a lot ruined. The view from the higher tower is imposing and refreshing, as you may see yourselves, first best by paying a visit ( nearest town is Constância, where lived Camões, the great Portuguese XVI century poet), or, second best, by looking my annexed picture.
If I may argue with myself, there is a third castle I know in the middle of a river: facts are that it is more just a tower than a castle and it was in the middle of a river but it is no more, as the river shore advanced. It is the Belém Tower, in Lisbon, which is a World Heritage site.

THE FORBIDDEN CITY

It was forbidden to non welcomed visitors during the imperial times, it is now available to every one during the opening hours once the entry fee has been paid. I paid mine and was by no means alone: my stay in Beijing coincided with a holiday week for all (comemoration of the declaration of the establishment of Communist China on October the 1st) and the city was crowded with chinese tourists from other Provinces.
One never enters the world's largest palaces complex without some sense of humility and also, in my personal case, with some pride on accomplishing an youth dream of a semi-mithycal nature I had well before the place was declared a WH site. My wanderings in the palatial city took the full day, as I only left with the last ones under the pressure from the staff. Being fully surrounded by a high thick wall plus partially by a large water moat, the Forbidden City does not feel the permanent human turmoil which goes on outside; more than forbidden it is probably secluded. In its conception it was perceived as a place for those happy humans who are far above the other humans, purer and nicer on their superiority. Just get an idea through the nomenclature of some of the building structures: the Gate of Supreme Harmony, the Hall of Preserving Harmony, the Palace of Heavenly Purity, the Palace of Earthly Tranquility, the Hall of Mental Cultivation, the Palace of Tranquil Longevity, the Gate of Divine Might, the East Glorious Gate, and so on!
When I left all these marvellous concepts and skilled adorned rooms it was like falling into the standard routine, hopes and headaches of normal people.

THE MARKET IN NOUAKCHOTT

The market in Nouakchott is as much colourful as you may imagine. There is not much to visit, indeed, apart from two big mosques donated by Saudi Arabia and Morocco and a catholic church near the French Embassy. I may also mention the Presidencial Palace, but this one is not really easy to visit.
For the sake of the truth it has to be mentionned that the city is meerely 59 years old: it was found in order to give the new country, a partition of the French West-Africa, a place were the new leaders could get empowered and meet and the new Embassies have their premises. The French would have preferred to keep the unity of the colony, but the arabic nomads in the North did not favour to become part of an independent black Senegal.
So, if you have one day or two in Nouakchott and have already been at the not-so-far beach where the waves are not that keen you will naturally finish having your time in every market in town. Buyer or not buyer, you will not escape the feeling of popular enjoyment and probably even less the extraordinary colourfulness of the garments and the scents of the food and drink makers. If in doubt see the pictures for the colours; sorry, for the smells the internet does not allow, yet, for them to be felt.

SCHOKLAND "ISLAND"

The highway keeps going on an almost perfect flatland; the same once you leave it and turn right, the same again once you turn right again into a small country road. Then suddenly you notice a very small hill, a higher place your eye would not catch everywhere else but here; on the hill you note some well maintained ancient houses and especially a church. A small museum explains the island's way-of-life and constraints and there is also the old port and dyke protections. This was Schokland Island and is today Schokland "Island".
Let me explain: the place was a very small densely populated island in the Zuiderzee, or Zuider sea, inhabited for centuries by fishermen' families, till the tides increases forced them, poorest of the poor at the time I presume, to complete evacuation. The well known ingenuity of the Dutch people led to the total reclamation of all this area by the 40's of the XXth century, with the new region, to be called Flevoland, adding a reasonable increase to the land size of the country. Proud of its achievements in controlling water and nature, Netherlands proposed and UNESCO endorsed Schokland as its first WH site, symbolising the "never-ending struggle between man and the sea".

LA CORUÑA

This year the Tower of Hercules at the entry of La Coruña's port has been added to the acquis of UNESCO'S World Heritage. It is a high lighthouse, built initially by the Romans.
This makes me remember the first trip I paid with my money: while studying economy at ISCEF, Lisbon, I gave some lessons at the Oficinas de S. José school, were I had earlier been a pupil of the primary classes. I took a self-oriented tour of Galicia, using trains and buses. From Lisbon I had the first night at my grand-parents home, in Aveiro and then proceeded to Pontevedra, with a change of train in Porto; sign of evolution and accrued feelings of peace, no more visas were needed for Spain, like in 1954. Up north I went to Santiago de Compostela with its famous cathedral (later a WH site), the highlight of my week, as you may well guess, but in-between I took a stop in Padrón to visit the house and monument of Rosalía de Castro, a galician writer. La Coruña was the northern most nightstop, which surely included walking till the Tower of Hercules, a vintage point for the town and its bay. Yet, I still moved more to the north, by taking a ferry till El Ferrol, on the opposite side of the complex system of bays in the region. For the return I choose Galicia's interior, with nightstops at Lugo and its roman walls (later another WH site) and Ourense. I took a bus to Puente Barjas, as called at the time, today Ponte Barxas, as Galician language took its rights, and then it was walking for around one kilometer to the border; after the border, more walking to São Gregório, a bus to Melgaço and finnaly the portuguese train. This is how and where I crossed a border on foot for the first time. God permitting, I suppose I still have some more to do.

NEW ORLEANS

Till Hurricane Katrina shockingly struck New Orleans in 2005 I was not aware that most of the city and a vast surrounding area was below river and lake level. The huge Lake Pontchartrain, which acts as a natural reservoir for the complex meandering of the mighty Mississipi river, has got levees to protect the city from flooding, the same happening with a canal linking lake and river. The breaching of the canal levee was the main reason for the disaster.
In November 2008 I went to see and better understand what happened. My refurbished hotel, some six kilometers from downtown and three from the lake, was aside a big abandoned 12-floor office building. Well, I went indeed to feel the atmosphere of the just recleaned famous French Quarter, or Vieux Carré in french, which looks as something unique in the United States, for its really french creolean caracter in terms of architecture, nonchalance and art-de-vivre, particularly at night. In Rue Bourbon you just walk in the street and can perfectly listen (and dance, if in such a mood) the orchestras playing inside the bars and restaurants, as they keep the doors open. You can too have a word from the street with those partying upstairs in the iron balconies.
The old streetcars are the other inevitable icon to mention; there are two lines, the really interesting one running from downtown to St. Charles, an uptrend suburb to the west. It goes all the way through a tree-lined path in a nice avenue, with lots of late 19th century charming mansions.

ABU DHABI'S NEW GRAND MOSQUE

The brand new Grand Mosque, more precisely named Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, is for me the most interesting monument of the Emirate. It is so recent that work on the adjacent areas, gardens, roads and parks, was still going on when I visited it two months ago.
It can be freely visited by non muslin visitors at certain times and it is really worth to do it. My experience tells me how different from one country to another are the visiting policies for non Allah believers, till absolute forbidness in some ones.
Inlaid in marble vegetal decorations abound in the interior, which seems to be unusual for a mosque. A feeling of quietness and absence from day-to-day stress is part of the visitor's magic. As for the pride of this oil-rich Emirate, the mosque boosts three entries into the Guiness Book of records: the largest carpet in the world, the biggest chandelier and the largest dome of its kind.

ISRAEL

I am leaving tomorrow for a one week tour of Israel, aimed mainly at visiting the places relevant to Christianity. In broad terms this means visiting all interesting zones, with exception of the Neguev and Eilat. I will also try to visit all, but one, of the 6 WH sites in Israel (plus of course the old city of Jerusalem, but this site has been proposed by Jordan and is classified separately by UNESCO).
It will be my second stay there, including Palestinian territory - but on the first one I only visited Jerusalem and Bethlehem.

VALENCIA

My two-times experience tells me Valencia definitely deserves a visit and by this I mean more than just two or three hours of strolling around the historical center.
If you go for futurism pay a visit to Santiago Calatrava's multi-fonctional City of Arts and Sciences and cross the bridge over the dry river to walk on the gardens.
If you go for ancient streets and lots of people during business hours try Barrio del Carmen for churches, including the cathedral, medieval towers and comtemporary restaurants and taverns with plenty of fish to be eaten and paid.
If you are, as is my case, more addict to World Heritage sites go first to the Llotja de la Seda, a XV/XVI architectonic masterpiece in rich late Gothic style where silk has been traded for long. A disappeared earlier building nearby was the oil (olive oil) exchange. This means, I assume, that at a certain point in time economic evolution, or development as our state of mind prefer nowadays, led to silk becoming more wealthier than oil and showing it in stone and prestige.
The picture shows the huge Sala de Contractació with its twisted columns in a rather dark mood (silk is not traded there anymore, just visitors go forth and back, so there is no need to carefully read the contracts).

TAXILA

I went twice to Pakistan in official missions as staff representative of the EPP-ED Group in the European Parliament. The second time the pourpose of the visit was to have bilateral political discussions with the Pakistani Parliament. On the last day of the mission one of the meetings was cancelled and I suggested that, on condition of giving up the lunch break, the European Members and officials could visit the Taxila World Heritage site, some 30 kilometers west of Islamabad, on the way to Peshawar. Our hosts promptly endorsed the idea and some half an hour later the bus was on the road - and my camera in the hotel.
Well, I had not studied much about the site, except that it was archeological and not that far from the capital. Too little I knew! Taxila is indeed a composite site of several ruins which spread along many kilometers: different civilisations succeeded one another in the area, but not exactly by superposing their locations. In short there are ruins of three cities in three different time periods, plus stupas and monasteries.
On arrival the european team was greeted by the Museum Director, a very knowledgable lady who guided us on a long and comprehensive tour of the fantastic riches of the house, namely the Gandara ones. Gandara art, the specialists say, is a "cultural syncretism between the classical greek cukture and Buddhism", originated through the presence in the region of the Alexander the Great armies. It was emotionally and intelectually very rewarding to see so many greek-like stone marvels with oriental motives. After the museum tour there was no more time for field visits, except an en-route quick glimpse of the Bhir Mound - because it can be seen from the road.
The attached picture, from the Pakistani Parliament photographer, shows our team with the Museum Director. One of the Members is Mr. Jacques Santer, who has been Prime Minister of Luxembourg and President of the European Commission.

VATICAN, 3 YEARS AGO

The post dated the 25th July stated that I was in the Vatican 55 years ago.
I was also there 3 years ago, the last time so far. The European People's Party hold its Congress in Rome in 2006 and the EPP-ED Group in the European Parliament had a so-called "external meeting" (out of Brussels), which I attended. An audience with Pope Benedict XVI took place in the Vatican Palace during these events, as shown: I am on the left side of the picture.
I have crossed the quiet borderline between Italy and the Vatican in some more occasions - in one, namely, me and my wife went to the terrace above St. Peter's Basilica and had a fine view of Rome from the balcony, in-between the statues of Christ at the centre, John the Baptist and eleven Apostols standing in the upper part of the façade, with the dome on the back.

QATAR

Oil reach, like every country else in the Arabic Peninsula, Qatar has also become natural gas rich these last years, so there is no shortage of capitals and new housing projects and megalo-developments, neither surely of sand. I visited Qatar in 2005 for several days, which allowed me to walk a lot (strange by local standards, with hot days and petrol absolutely inexpensive!)in the capital, Doha, and to visit out-of-town interesting features with a rented car. From the Al-Corniche Street to the Fort, in central Doha, and from the Zubarah Fort to the port of Al Khor, from the camel racing track to the Sheik Faisal Museum, from driving aside huge chemical or oil plants to high dunes south of them, I paid a visit to more or less every thing worth of.
(The high building on the middle picture is the hotel where took place in 2001 the initial negotiations of the World Trade Organisation known as the Doha Round)

ROME, 55 YEARS AGO!

I never thanked enough my parents for what they offered me in 1954: a trip to Rome, my first visit abroad at the age of 13. I was studying at the Salesian school in Estoril and that year Domenico Savio, one of the early pupils of (later Saint) John Bosco, the Salesians' founder, was to be raised to sainthood by the Pope. The Portuguese Salesians organised a bus excursion and some places were opened for their pupils, if the parents were willing (and able!) to pay the costs.
So a fully loaded 50's version of a bus left via Madrid, Barcelona, Marseilles and Genoa in order to arrive in Rome on the eve of the great day, the 12th June 1954.
Of course a passport was needed for the trip, which I had not till then, but I feel to surely astonish those less than 50 years old by saying that also visas were needed for each country entered: Spain, France and Italy (not for Vatican!). The three visas had to be properly stamped in the passports before we left, plus parental authorisations for the minors. I proudly kept the passport for long after it lost its validity - and probably still have it in some place. If and when I recover it, I will post a picture of one visa - I think it will be interesting for those younger to see what looks now a strange oddity.
From Lisbon to Rome it was merely drive and sleep, including punctures and motor problems (no confortable coaches at the time, neither highways!). Then in Rome, after attending the celebrations in Saint Peter's Square, we had two or three days for visits of the italian capital. That's what the picture shows: I am the smaller boy, with the cap; the young adult is (now) Father João de Deus, who has been working as a missionary in Timor-Leste, Baucau area, for many years and whom I had the pleasure and honnour of having lunch with last Summer; the other boy is (now) Professor Encarnação, a renowned academician of computer technology in Darmstadt, Germany, whom I use to meet once a year when our then collegue and now friend Manuel Ferreira conveys they schoolmates for a sardinhada (sardines lunch plus a lot of drinking and eating) at his home near Cascais.

FLORES

Bad weather in Flores! Rain and a lot of mist over the horizon! Well, not something realy unforseen on these islands in the middle of the Atlantic.
This is my third day in Flores, one day before I left for Corvo, two days since I returned.
In Portuguese "Flores" stands for "flowers" and it just deserves the name. I find a lot of landscapes connections with Madeira: every thing looks green, water is in abboundance, steepy roads are plenty. A difference, anyway: cows are much more present.
On the way from Santa Cruz to the northmost village, Ponta Delgada, I took a detour to visit the Fazenda Forest Park, where peacocks seem to replace the guardians. On the way back the team decides to go inland and we finish stoping three times to observe different "caldeiras", which are old craters turned lakes.
Going south the following day we stop at five of six miradors, the first to see the port of Lajes from the high cliff above. After Lajedo and a high view of the west coast, we are surprised by clouds which block any views, so we pass by Rocha dos Bordões without seeing it; two hours later we return and are then greeted with a view of this vertical grooves lava formation. In the mean time we descended to Fajã Grande to have a look at several very high waterfalls and to get the nearest possible view of the Ilhéu (islet) de Monchique, which is the westmost point of Europe and stopped at lovely Aldeia da Cuada, a small abandoned village now transformed into a tourist resort.

CORVO

I am writing this entry from tiny Corvo Island (425 inhabitants seems to be the official figure and a single old-looking village is clearly the truth). Having arrived yesterday morning from Santa Cruz das Flores with a small safe boat (maximum 12 people; I had no previous booking, but only 11 others had made reservations, so I proudly took the last place) I searched for some guest house or private lodging and was immediately sent to Mr. Rita's COMODORO guest house, which by far overtook my level of expectation. Remember this if and when you decide to come here. Mr. Rita excelled in sympathy and service and proposed me to join a french couple for a visit up to the "Caldeirão" in his open commercial car - which I accepted of course: after all I came also (mainly indeed) for that. So I had a head-against-the-wind fine climbing with fantastic weather: sunshine and blue skies above, majestic blue sea down the mountain. "Caldeirão" is the old crater of the volcano which created the island, nowadays fully dorment. Corvo and Flores do not have active volcanos because they stand on the american tectonic plaque, while the other Azores islands are on the unsettled eurasian one.
I am still enjoying yesterday's offer - because today we got mist and rain, which is quite fair for having a real picture of what the Azores climate is all about. From COMODORO's verandah Flores is now fully invisible, while it was so majestic all the previous day!
Tommorrow is day back to Flores, I hope. The sea was so calm with very gentle waves on the way here (beyond my expectation as well), but this is no guarantee the same will happen tomorrow.
It's wait and see, plus obviously wait and sea and, has the food here is good, it's also wheight and see.

DOÑANA NATIONAL PARK AND EL ROCIO

With a total of 41, Spain is one of the biggest contributors to the 890 World Heritage sites: I have already the majority of the spanish sites on my personnal acount and in March this year added one more: The Doñana National Park, in Andalucia, which out of curiosity is the Spanish site most near to Portugal. The Park is on the right bank of the lower part of the Guadalquivir river and also borders the sea for a lot of kilometers. A notable variety of biotopes is available: lagoons, marshlands, dunes, both fixed and mobile, scrub woodland and maquis, plus lots of birds, namely herons. Visitors only can go inside in guided tours and are taken in busses which can afford to be driven on sand and climb dunes.
Just bordering the Park fences lies the very typical village of El Rocio, famed for the spectacular Pilgrimage of the same name, with many pilgrims riding horses from far way and families travelling on covered wagons pulled by horses as well. It is said that about one million people do this annual religious exercise. The rest of the year, like when I went there, the place is much quiet, but visitors and pilgrims are not missing anyway.

MOUNT ST. HELENS

Probably many still remember the shocking news of 1980 on the eruption of this Mount, situated in the State of Washington, USA. Because of its symmetry it had the nickname of "Fugi-san of America", then on 18 May that year a catastrophic earthquake and eruption caused a stunning avalanche of melted water, mud and rotten trees, which killed dozens of people and distructed properties, bridges, roads and railways till far down. The mountain's summit collapsed around 400 meters and the circular crater turned into a horseshoe-shapped one; all vegetation, mainly pine forests, was instantly blown down and/or buried.
The area was later converted into a national Volcanic Monument and has observations points for tourists. Some vegetal life has slowly begun to reappear kilometers from the crater and further afield pines have been re-planted.
You can see two images of my visit there in 2008: one shows St. Helens from the nearest observation point (visitors can not go beyond), the other shows the base remains of a huge blown tree which still stands were it was devastated 28 years earlier

MALTESE EXPERIENCES

My first visit to Malta happenned in 1992. I strolled for long in Valletta, which has probably the biggest fortress in the world and is located in a really vintage point, at the tip of a peninsula in the middle of a bay with a very short way-out to the sea. I did the same in Mdina, the old capital in the middle of the island, inside another smaller fortress from where we can observe the sea in several directions. Malta is so much linked with wars, invasions and the likes that city-fortresses are indeed the main tourist attractions. Gozo, the second island in size, has also its walled city, Victoria, almost perfectly put in its middle.
Second visit was last Summer, a relaxed week with my dear wife, finnaly not so relaxed because we travelled a lot around, using the extensive buses services; they are the best way to mix with locals and are a real experience in themselves. I strolled again in Valletta, Mdina and Victoria, with a bonus comming from having taken a hotel in St. Paul's Bay - a mushrums-like location for foreign tourists.
The country has three World Heritage properties inscribed. No one misses of course one of the theree: the City of Valletta. The others, out of the rushing tourists paths, are the Hal Saflieni Hypogeum, in Paola, outskirsts of Valletta and the Magalithic Temples, seven in total, spread over the two islands, of wich we visited Gozo's two Ggantija temples and the Tarxien ones in Paola. As for the Hypogeum it was a matter of persistence and faith on fate. On arrival we were surprised to be informed it was essencial to pre-book well in advance ( maximum 10 visitors per hour!): the first visits were available ... fifteen days ahead, after our return. Unless you take a seat and wait for some possible no-show. We came the next day, waited and waited and my wife managed to go. We came again the following day and I managed too. My recommendation for anyone going to Malta: this Hypogeum is a real must, you feel going back four and a half millenia in time to understand how our ancestors were able to rig limestone blocks and build underground structures in a succession of floors.

L'AQUILA

These days L'Aquila is being much talked about, because of the G8 meeting - a major annual political event which was moved there, from originally foreseen La Maddalena, Sardinia, in a show of remembrance for the terrible earthquake which devastated L'Aquila not long ago. The city has a long experience of earthquakes in view of its location on a seismic area.
I visited it and had one night there (also in La Maddalena, by the way!) around 15 years from now. It was night number 2 and last of a weekend around Rome, which had already taken me to Terni and Rieti. I remember it as a quiet medieval and barroque downtown standing over a valley to the west on a steepy hill, which I climbed upon arrival. I also remember the landscape from the train which took me from Rieti, passing through excelent and green rugged zones. And the view of the Gran Sasso, highest peak of the Apennines, in the north-east distance.

PONT-AVEN

I once crossed the South Finistère, via Quimper, on my way forth and back the Pointe du Raz. On the return I took a short detour from the main road to Lorient in order to visit the small town of Pont-Aven. Just to have a quick glimpse of the places which so much enchanted painters around the end of the XIX century, to the point that painting critics created the concept of a "Pont-Aven School". Gauguin painted at least one of the many local water-mills, called "Le moulin David". It may well be, although I am not sure, that the mill in my picture of 2007 is the very same, restaured of course, Gauguin painted possibly in 1888. Does anyone knowledgable of the Pont-Aven details can confirm or infirm this? Please e-mail me at jsm6@sapo.pt
If the water-mill is not the same, well, the river Aven is definitely the same.

TURNING THE BACK TO AUCKLAND

The young japanese couple asked me to take a picture of them, which I did. Then he asked me if I wanted him to reciprocate. I said "yes", turned my back to Auckland and he took the shot. This happened in Rangitoto Island, twenty minutes away from the city by ferry. I was on a viewing platform dominating the bay of Auckland and just meters from the rim of the local extinct volcano, after climbing the 260 meters high from the ferry, part on desolated black lava terrain, part on forest which has developed since the eruptions finished.
Turning the back to the city was merely for pictorial pourposes: I enjyed Auckland so much and walked a lot in its central area. It is not every day, even even year, that one has the chance to visit in-town craters of volcanos, like Mount Eden, where a rather unnusual view awaits the visitor. From there you can see two different seas: a bay belonging to the Pacific Ocean to the east and a bay which is part of the Tasmanian Sea to the west. Another more human feature: people on the streets seem enjoying life in a very much relaxed manner. New Zealand style, I suppose.
I would not matter to visit it again - but without the stresses of an european visitor short of time for so much to see.

MONTENEGRO

These days Montenegro is a small fully independent country; it was not (yet) when I went there. It was still part of Serbia & Montenegro, which was the name at the time of the new and slimmed Yugoslavia, legal successor of the old "standard" Yugoslavia of comrade Marshall Tito. Difficult to understand? Of course, it's the Balkans!
From Kotor, where I had my night, I took a bus to Cetinje, the original capital during the previous life of Montenegro as an independent country (1878-1918). Somewhere before the road leaves the coast and begins climbing the mountains I decided to make a stop-over, to have a glimpse of an unnusaul kind of village, or little town: Sveti Stefan. It'a a small fully-built walled island, except that it is not an island, because a causeway links it to the mainland. At the end of the causeway an entrance gate, like in a fort, waits the visitor and you need to check-in: Sveti Stefan has been transformed from a fishermans village into a town-hotel.
It remains nevertheless a charming spot.

THE WORLD HERITAGE: NEW SITES

The UNESCO's WH list got a kick-off in 1978, when the 12 initial sites were inscribed. Every year a specialised committee meets to decide on new inscriptions, the respective Member States where the sites are located being solely able to submit candidacies. After the 2009 meeting, just finished in Seville, the list is made of 890 sites. A dedicated admirer of this cultural concept since some years, I make efforts to visit as many sites as I can: although I have not updated the figures since some time, I assume having visited so far around 375/380 sites, which represent more than 40%. The sites added this year are 13 and of those I have been already in 6: the Wadden Sea (coastal areas of Netherlands and North-West Germany), the Dolomites (Italy), the Stoclet House (Brussels), the Cidade Velha ruins (ex-capital of Cape Vert ), the Hercules Tower (La Coruña) and twin-towns La Chaux-de-Fonds/Le Locle.
The annexed picture shows Kizhi Pogost, a wooden church in Russia's Lake Onega, which I visited in 2007.

PETRA

UNESCO describes it as "one of the most precious properties of man's cultural heritage". I would not desaggree after having visited it. The ancient capital of the Nabataeans has been inscribed in the World Heritage list since 1985; has also been declared one of the New Seven Wonders of the World by world-wide voting in 2007.
Petra is a grandiose festival of rock and architecture in an unique combination: the "buildings" are indeed not built, but escavated on the rock. I think I can call it "negative architecture".
In 1845 John William Burgon wrote a long poem about Petra, which apparently he never visited and had just heard described by others:

But rose-red as if the blush of dawn,
that first beheld them were not yet withdrawn;
The hues of youth upon a brow of woe,
which Man deemed old two thousand years ago,
match me such marvel save in Eastern clime,
a rose-red city half as old as time.

I took a lot of pictures during my visit. Instead of the classical ones, showing the frontage of buildings or the tombs, I add to this note two more unnusual ones, which portray the strange colours of the rock and the rare configuration of the east entrance, which acts as a waterway when there are (rarely) heavy rains. You will note that there is more than the red and rose Burgon referred to. He should have visited Petra for the sake of the colours' truth

"OS LUGARES DO AMOR" & "OS LUGARES DO AMOR-II"

In 1999 and 2001 I published two books with the above titles to celebrate the marriage of my daughters. Both have the same format, with a series of 10 short love stories, followed by some of my poems.
The titles may be translated in English as "Places of Love" and the stories are about dense and intense love situations in different locations. The stories are nonfactual, although they correspond to the realities of each place, but the locations are cities which I had indeed alreaby been on at the time.
Here are the 19 locations (10+10 makes 20, but - at one of the daughters request - one story in the first book was repeated in the second one: Johannesbourg, Helsinki, Mozambique Island, Chichén Itzá, Lofoten, Split, Malacca, Ischia, Nikko, Agra, Bora-Bora, Crete, Corfu, Big Sur, Pokkara, Berlin, Mont-Saint-Michel, Abu Simbel and Jerusalem.
I will be happy to forward any of those stories (in Portuguese only!) if requested by e-mail to my adress
jsm65@sapo.pt