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"The world is a book and those who don't travel read only a page." (Saint Augustine)

At the equator on the islet of Rola, São Tomé and Príncipe

In Chad. The best way for a long journey through the beautiful, but also demanding Sahara

Two Hercules are better than one In Ceuta.

In front of the Tomb of Columbus in the Cathedral of Seville.

On the board of bullet train from Shijiazhuang to Beijing, at the speed 305 km/h.

On board a minibus from Sao Tome to Porto Alegre, at a speed of 25 km/h

A little bit slower ride aboard a combo in Indonesia...

...and even slower by truck in Africa

Antarctica. Soaking the feet in the Southern Ocean.


Antarctica - the 7th continent.


In traditional hut, under a thatched roof, on Papua.

The helicopter flight over the Tierra del Fuego National Park.  

Trekkng in the crater of the Cova volcano on the Island of Santo Antão, Cape Verde

In Ronda, Andalusia.

Trekking Sahara in Chad

At the Bridge of Four Lions,  constructed in 1825,  in Petersburg (https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/540)


Angunna, a very roomy vehicle ;), is the primary means of public transport in East Timor.


Once upon a time, in Singapore…

Haiti. At the border with Dominican Republic.

Shanghai

rickshaw’s

In rickshaw’s traffic jam in Old Dhaka


Buriganga

On a busy bank of the Buriganga river in Dhaka




With wife Alicia at the vacations in Corte, Corsica

And alone in Bali, after a four-week trek in Timor, Flores, Komodo, Borneo and Papua.

ROCKET

On the iconic ship ROCKET, built in 1927, in anticipation of the cruise through the numerous Bangladeshi rivers.

ROCKET

24 hours at the board of ROCKET in Bangladesh. The 3rd class better than the 1st…

Guzimari village

Bangladesh. In the Guzimari village at the stilt island on the Brahmaputra river.

Bagerhat

In Bagerhat, historic mosque city at the meeting-point of the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers (UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/321)

Brahmaputra

Busy day in Sirajganj at the Brahmaputra, known on this stretch as Yamuna river.

Two more hands might help...

Bangladeshi

Saturday, hence the Bangladeshi 5-grades village school is closed and the kids have fun :)

Guru

Guru & guru :)

Bangladesh

Ulipur, Bangladesh. 1,000 blankets to the poor people from the surrounding villages.



Shanghai, November 5th, 2018. After speaking about the conditions and perspectives of globalization at China International Import Expo.

November 7, 2017, the 100th anniversary of the October Revolution. Preparations for the salvo?...

Hiking through the longest (10 miles) gorge European – Samariá at Crete

A village in the Sahel in Chad

The Sahara wind... Western Sahara, Morocco 

A moment of relax in the Dakhla harbor, Western Sahara, after the speech on "Economic Strategy to Build a Better World" at the Crans Montana Forum on "Africa and South-South Cooperation" (14.03.2015)

In Sudan. I declare myself on the side of a donkey, so I just sat down for a while :)

The Maglev train runs to the airport in Shanghai at a speed of 431 km/h.

 

Waiting for the dancing dervishes in the Hamed al Nil mosque in Khartoum 

The mystic pyramids in Jebel Barkal, Sudan, UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site (http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1073)

At the rim of the Tara River Canyon in Durmitor National Park, Montenegro

Haiti. At the wall of Citadel Henry (http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/180).

Medieval town-monastery Vardzia at the southern Caucasus in Georgia

Georgia, High Caucasus, in North Svaneti, region of unique villages where traditionally live the people speaking their own language, which doesn’t have written form. North Saneti has the status of UNESCO World Heritage Site.

At the ancient stone bridge in the Georgian province of Ajaria, close to the Turkish border

Ukraine. At the Dnepr river

In Samana, Dominican Republic.

Time for a revolution? At the Kiev Maidan (Indepedence Square)

Pyongyang, North Korea. Getting ready for the great festival Arirang, the Grand Mass Gymnastics and Artistic Performance

Pyongyang, NortKorea. At the Mansu Hill, the monuments of Kim Il Sung and Kim Dzong Il

madagaskar

At the market in the hills of central Madagascar.

In the safire mine in Ilakala, Madagascar.

In the safire mine in Ilakala, Madagascar.

Le morne

„Le Morne Cultural Landscape, a rugged mountain that juts into the Indian Ocean in the southwest of Mauritius was used as a shelter by runaway slaves, maroons, through the 18th and early years of the 19th centuries.” (UNESCO Cultural World Heritage Site)

Where now?...

For Bosfor!

And now for Cuba!

Havana, Revolution Square

Ford 1957. And still running

Che vive! A hero still revered by Cubans.

Havana's Malecon, the world's greatest seaside boulevard

Turkey. Trekking in Capadocia

In Misrata, the capital of Libyan revolution

Wandering at Tripoli old town.

Euro-2012 - Poland:Greece 1:1. In the Arab cofeehouse in Sousse, Tunisia

In charming Tunisian town of Sidi Bou Said

Giza. With Egtptian family at the Great Khufu (Cheops) pyramid.

At Al Azhar Mosque in Cairo. Al Azhar is also the oldest university in the world.

The Historic Cairo indeed has earned the status of UNESCO Culture World Heritage Site (whc.unesco.org/en/list/89).

In the city of lanterns, Pingxi in Taiwan

Tyre (Sour), Lebanon. In the Palestinian refugees camp.

Jordan. At Wadi Rum desert (whc.unesco.org/en/list/1377)

It's here, at Mt. Nebo, where from Moses at last had seen the Promised Land.

A moment of relax in Old Jeddah where local gentelmen have the pleasure to smoke the water pipe, sheesha.

The Masmak Fotrtess in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia.

Meeting the local trekkers in beautiful canyon Wadi Shab in Oman.

Trekking the famous Ifugao rice terraces in the Philippines is just great pleasure!

Embarking the ferry at the Ayeyarwady river in Myanmar (Burma).

A cup of morning tea with the local people travelling by ferry by the Ayeyarwady river from Mandalay to Pagan in Myanmar (Burma).

Can be horse, or can be hauled by the oxen, but must be a cart! This is – along with wandering on foot – the best way for sightseeing Pagan with its over two thousands temples built between 10tha nad 13th century.

Pagan, Myanmar (Burma). A village life in the shadows of millennium old temples.

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U Bein’s Bridge in Amarapura, Myanmar (Burma). Under the world longest teak bridge.

At the Inle Lake, Myanmar (Burma). Around the like – at its banks as well as at the slope of the neighboring hills – there is several ethnic minority villages, thus its colorful and culturally rich region.

At the ruins of great pyramid in Mingun Paya, one of the ancient cities near Mandalay, Myanmar (Burma).

Relaxing, after long jogging, in the shadow of palm on the beach at western coast of South China Sea. Near Hoi An, central Vietnam.

Yet again in the palm’s shadow and on the beach at the South China Sea, but this time on its eastern coast, on the Island of Palawan in the Philippines.

In Bandar Seri Begawan, the capital city of the Sultanate of Brunei.

Vis-à-vis the old town, built from the woods on the river, there is the new part of the city. But this is the time to go further, out of Bandar Seri Begawan, the capital city of the Sultanate of Brunei, to the near rain forest...

EXPO-2010 in Shanghai

At the EXPO-2010 in Shanghai.

Ninh Binh

In Nihn Binh the boats traditionally are rolled by the Vietnamese women.

Ninh Binh

On the boat, Ninh Binh.

In Hoi An, Vietnam. Another face of the market...

Stare miasto Hoi An w środokowym wietnamie swoją zabytkową architekturą zasłużyło na status UNESCO światowej kulturalnej spuścizny.

the Pashupatinath temple in Kathmandu

The Sadhus, Hindu ascetics, meditating in the Pashupatinath temple in Kathmandu.

the Golden Temple in Kathmandu

In the Golden Temple in Kathmandu.

Bhutan

In Bhutan there are actually exclusively strong currents, "white rivers" - a paradise, yet sonetimes quite dangerous, for the lovers of whaite waters rafting and the kayak's expeditions.

Bhutan

Walking through the green rice fields in Phobjikha Valley in central Bhutan.

Bhutan, Lhuentse Valley

If necessary, even trekking through the muddy path can be fun. Bhutan, Lhuentse Valley.

Trumshing La Bhutan

Bhutan. The pass Trumshing La, 3.750 m above the sea level.

Namling Cliffs Bhutan

Namling Cliffs. Na najbardziej krętej drodze, z ostrymi urwiskami w środkowym Bhutanie.

Looking towards Alaska. At the eastern edge of Chukotka.

In a fishing harbor at the eastern coast of Atlantic.

Miao village

In the village of Xijiang in Guizhou province (south-west China), where the Miao people live, traditional wooden architecture...

Miao

...as well as the old customs have been well preserved... The wedding ceremony is getting ready, so people have the fun...

boliwia

At the Russian czars residence in Tsarskoye Selo.

boliwia

At Corentyne River on the Suriname & Guyana border.

In the Lower Valley of the Omo, close to the border of Ethiopia, Kenya and Sudan, live - not always in peace and friendship - about ten African tribes, with quite distinguished cultures.
All of them are committed to the long lasting traditions and it seems that the time somehow has stopped here. It is also true vis-a-vis the belligerent Mursi, the population of which is not exceeding six and half thousand. The Mursi women are taking care of their beauty in indeed a very special manner...

On the Athos peninsula, within surroundings of splendid, unspoiled nature, there are twenty monasteries inhabited by the orthodox monks. Their architecture and location is poignant, as in the case of Xenofontos.

In the front of Filotheou monastery.

Dionysiou. How to be sure which view is more gorgeous: from the monastery over the sea, or from the seashore at the monastery?...

Each monastery, also Dochiariou, including as well the ones in the mountains, has his own sea jetty, called here arsanas.

Zographou, inhabited by the Bulgarian monks, is one out of five cloisters located not ion the sea, but in the mountains.

One of the largest and quite unique cloister complex is the Russian Agios Panteleimon.

To get to the Simonos Petras monastery is not easy, so what a great effort it has taken to rise this splendid monument!

The Gregoriou monastery, hence bearing the name of my patron, Saint Gregory. Yet the Julian calendar...

The Caribbean islands most often, and not without a cause, are perceived through the beautiful sea and the great sailing.

But there are also hills and mountains with a breathtaking views...

...and picturesque towns, as St. George's - the capital city of Grenada.

After diving in the bluea, waters of the Caribbean Sea there is nothing better than the hot corn right from the grill!

From this perspective - at the stairways of National Museum of Iran In Teheran - the time is joyful and the future seems to be promising. Let's the youthful dreams come true!

In Tel Aviv

The southernmost point of Europe, Tarifa, Spain, where the Mediterranean meets the Atlantic.

In Casablanca.

foto

Also here, on the steep streets of Kasbah, a unique kind of medina, or Islamic city, the feelings happen to be cheerful, especially if the whole long life is ahead of us.

foto

Zhenyuan is a beautiful, old Chinese town. It's so charming that it doesn't have to called itself "Venice of Guizhou province".

On the main street of Gudym at Chukotka. In a ghost town which supposedly hadn't even existed. At the time of cold war here was the base of transcontinental nuclear missiles aimed at the USA. And the taxi driver says: "And kakiye zdyes shagaly krasaviye dyevushky!" ("And how beautiful girls had been walking here!!")

140

Algeria. On Sahara one can still find oasis, where the Berbers continue to live according to their old, traditional way of life.

At the bus station in Venezuela.

Verona

And where is Julia?... Under the world most famous balcony in Verona.

Sunrise over Alaska, which is on the very far ...east. Even further than Czukotka. During the cold war the USA western coast had been carefully monitored from here.

At the Lao capital - Vientiane - at the Buddhist temple Pha That Luang.

At the market square of Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In St. Petersburg

imigranci

In Bahrain over 30 percent of population are the immigrants from south Asian countries. There are making their living through hard work, including the fishery, which the local people had given up long time ago..

turysci

Not far away, in Qatar, pearl diving is the thing of the past, if not counting some tourists which do scuba diving in the waters of Gulf, called here the Arabian. However, the pearl - the foundation of economy before the discovery of oil some 70 years ago - has deserved her own beautiful monument.

The greatest attraction (UNESCO World Heritage Site) of the gorgeous Kamchatka - the land of fire and ice - is about 200 volcanoes, of which about 30 is still active. It seems that the Creation continues here...

Time to  go...

...and now it's time to enjoy the coconut!

pineapple

And for the tasty Malagasy pineapple!

And from time to time one must also visit Washington, DC...

...and Moscow.

And - without doubts - to Brussels !

And also to Budapest...

...and to Prague.

Edinburgh. At the monument of Boby, the famous dig, so faithful to his master, that he's become a hero of popular story and Disney movie.

The people of the old Muslim walled city Harar, in east Ethiopia, have had for a long time a unique relations with ...hyenas. These indeed beautiful and nice - yes! - creatures are coming on the evening close to the city walls and there are welcome by the "hyena man", who feeds them. If one wish one may try to do so too...

At the Caucasus.

And at Kamchatka.

The Magellan landing, the place where in 1521, during his circumnavigating world voyage, anchored Ferdinand Magellan. The indigenous people, Chamorro, still count over 37 percent of the population of the Guam island.

At about the same time, e.g. early XVIth century, at the other end of the great water on the west cost of Indian Ocean, the Portuguese discoverers, this time unlike Magellan sailing eastbound, established their post at Ilha de Mocambique. The chapel of Nossa Senhora de Baluarte (at the background) is the oldest structure built by the Europeans in the southern hemisphere.

Even earlier at the western cost of northern Africa, on the Atlantic rocky bank, the harbor city of Essaouira, with a fortress, had been constructed by the Portuguese. Hence, already in the 16th century they were active along the three oceans, taking care of their businesses. At that time, however, the notion of "globalization" did not exist yet... It is here where Orson Welles shot the famous movie "Othello".

Guam. The 800 hundred years old Latte Stones are stone pillars of ancient houses notable for their two-piece construction; the supporting column (halagi) topped with a capstone (tasa). The latte is the signature of the Marianas Islands (Guam, Rota, Saipan, Tinian,  Pagan), since the most massive ones - up to 4 meters high - are found primarily in the Marianas.

In Andes, on pick-up, with the people from the pueblos...

...and lonely ride on motorbike.

Morocco, winter 2010. By the truck through the Dades Gorge, Atlas Mountains.

Waiting for an airplane to San Blas Archipelago at the Caribbean cost of Panama...

...and for a ferry to Ile de Gorée at the other end of Atlanic Ocean, in Senegal.

On the lake Malawi to disembark, while sailing by the famous Ilala steamer, one has to take an overcrowded cockboat...

In turn, in Japan the most convenient way of traveling is by super express
Shinkansen which can go as fast as 200 miles per hour!

Maglev in the Shanghai

Maglev rides to the Shanghai airport with the speed of 430 km per hour!

The failure of a bus engine is always a problem, but especially if it occurs at the desert of Dankalia in Eritrea, probably the most inhospitable place on earth with the temperature reaching 115F!

NISSAN 4WD

Better with own NISSAN 4WD.

only tarred road in Bhutan

Yet it happens - as on the only tarred road in Bhutan - that even the good car may be not enough...

Quite tranquil is trekking, the more so while surrounded by the green hills of eastern Africa.

Yet not everywhere and not all the time... Trekking in the Caribbean rain forest.

Yet there are the place where one can move forward only by the 4WD car, as is the case at the extremely heat African desert close to the border of Djibouti.

At Czukotka one has to travel a lot by the small and rather slow, especially while going up the river, motorboats.

Yet in Tuscany one may drive Ferrari.

Where the cherries and plums trees blossom. At the Osaka castle, built by famous Japanese leader Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

...and to have a magnificent panoramic view at the lake from historical town of Livingstonia one must climb for the hours the escarpment.

In Swaziland there is still possible to buy more traditional medicaments at the local market than in the modern town pharmacy.

Not only Africa is beautiful. So is Amsterdam. Especially at the autumn.

And on the road again... Africa...

Just to Tombouctou!...

Along the Atlantic cost a lot of Wolof people are traditionally involved in fishery.

Barbados. The room with a view... And nobody's calling!

And balcony with a view... Panorama seen from Arch 22 in the Gambia capital, Banjul.
And also nobody's calling!

ATLANTIS submarine. Not yet "20 thousand miles...", but at least a short yet
breathtaking underwater journey at 140 feet below the surface of the Caribbean

Where the lemon tree grows. With a friend from the students days - Peter Trus -
in Southern California

At the City Wall (muralla) in Avila, Spain. This magnificent structure from XIth and XIIth century is protected as the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage

Dogon country in Mali has been included on the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage List for its unique village architecture and its nature

Quite different, but still beautiful, are the buildings erected by Fulani, also in Mali

Everybody needs a break! Especially the camel...

In the ancient times the caravans were traveling from Chinquetti (in today's Mauritania) to Timbuktu (in Mali) in 55 days. The short distance to Ouadane can be traveled in some 3 days...

Among the Tuaregs during the journey on a camel through Sahara

Twilight at Barbados

The great and unique temple of Angkor Wat built in the XII century

Ta Som temple built by Jayavarman VII in 12th century. The magnificent ruins of Angkor, Cambodia, are indeed fascinating

At the eastern cost of New Britain, Papua New Guinea. The inhabitants are extraordinary kind and hospitable...

...and at another end of the global village, in Cambodia...

... and yet another one in Mali...

.

...and in Tayrona Indian village in Colombian jungle...

...and one more in Mauritania

And in Mongolia

And at the Panama's coast on the Caribbean Sea, at the Archipielago de San Blas, between Cuna Indians.

And in Dong minority village in Chinese province Guizhou.

Among the Karibs at the Atlantic coast of Dominica.

Karibs

In the village of Antaimoro tribe at the eastern coast of Madagascar.

Savai'i island, Samoa. The only place on Earth where - looking to the West - one always sees TOMORROW
P.S. After moving the date line to the East, at midnight, on December 29th, followed by December 31st (hence, there wasn't December 30th), it is not so anymore. One sees, as elsewhere, today...

There are only seven Bahia temples in the world. The one in Delhi is shaped after the lotus flower

Next temple shaped after the Lotus flower. This time on Samoa - islands of southern Pacific

On the Chinese Great Wall

In the Tibet's capital, Lhasa, the mighty Buddhists monastery Potala, with the Red Palace --traditional home of each successive Dalai Lamas -- dominates the whole city

Time to leave Pyongyang – and let’s go to Beijing!

The railway station at Vladivostok. The end or the beginning of the great Trans-Siberian Railway?

And in Krasnoyarsk, at the two third of the way to Moscow, on the longest in
the world (9289 km) Trans Siberian Railway.

 

Of course!

And not at all any sign of Nessie, the famous monster from Loch Ness in northern Scotland. Yet plenty of rain.

Ngorongoro, Tanzania. For Masays the time runs as if slower...

The May's ruins located in the center of the tropical jungle, in Tikal (Guatemala) fascinate theirs beauty and grandeurity

No less impressive are the Maya ruins Chichen-Itza at the Mexican peninsula of Yucatan...

...and the pre-Hispanic city of Uxmal

The holy Indian city of Teotihuacan was built between the 1st and 7th centuries A.D. It is characterized by the vast size of its monuments, in particular the Temple of Quetzalcoatl and the Pyramids of the Sun and the Moon.

tiwanaku

Tiwanaku still remains mysterious and splendid. What had happened with a civilization that here - at the high Andes, on the shore of today some dozen kilometers retreated bank of the Titicaca lake - already two thousand years ago was able to construct such wonderful monuments?

On the "Silk Track". Registan - the mosque and Muslim seminars in Samarqand in Uzbekistan

 

The Mystery of Stonehenge still imperf. These stones are here from 5000 years...

...and these ones - in the Hagar Qim temple on Malta - even since 500 more

Lisbona. With Polish TV star and deputy prime minister advisor — Anna Popek

Rapa Nui (Easter Island). Moai figures at Tongariki

Alaska. Winter at Glacier Bay National Park

...and Spitsbergen (Svalbard). Summer at Kongsfjorden.

In New Your with daughter Gabriela

On the September 11th, 2001 the world was shocked by the terrorist attack on America

Washington. With Elżbieta Dzikowska, famous Polish globetrotter and art historian in the builiding of the World Bank

India. In the midst of the Assam tea fields

At the Sheraton Resort in Haikou, on the Hainan island, at the South China Sea...

...but more comfortable at the Phousi guesthouse in Luang Prabang in Laos...

...and - no doubt about that! - still more comfortable at the bed on the road in Ditochi, on the Ethiopian and Djiboutian border.

And now where?...