entries to a travelogue blog of individual travels I have made
Just to put the things we are going to see in perspective, it is good to pay a little attention to the history of Algeria. Of course, as per my introduction, I already knew a thing or two: there were people here in the country’s prehistory, the ones who painted the rocks in the Sahara, … Read more
One of my favourite subjects, followers of this site will know. For an Algerian visa you are advised to apply at least 90 days before your departure. That is not going to happen, of course, much too early. And it takes at least two week to issue. That sounds more reasonable, but we’ll give them … Read more
Right, we do have a plan, but unlike our normal trips, this one depends quite substantially on local partners. First, the disappointment. We had wanted to travel by train to Marseille, in the second half of September, and from there take a ferry to Algiers, a somewhat more romantic way to travel then just taking … Read more
During our West Africa trip in 2023 somebody mentioned that the best rock paintings in Africa were to be found in Algeria. Good reason to go and have a look, also because Algeria is not your foremost tourist destination, a quality that happens to appeal to us. When a retired professor in archaeology specialised in … Read more
In a busy, rush-hour Paris Metro I had my telephone stolen. Pickpocketed. Precisely that what they warn you for, time and again, in the busy Paris metro. This is already bad enough, but what happens to you afterwards, you don’t want to know. We were on our way to friends, and luckily, with my wife’s … Read more
By far the best museum in the country when it comes to antiquities is the Museo Nacional de Antropologia in Mexico City. To do justice to the museum, you will need more than one day, which we didn’t, of course. There is a vast collection of artefacts of superior quality and aesthetics – compared to … Read more
Obviously, just the few pictures in the Mexico City (2) entry are not going to be enough to demonstrate the beauty of the work of Mexico’s muralists, the painters who are responsible for the many large frescoes in several public places. From the early 1920s onwards the big three, Diego Rivera, Jose Clemente Orozco and … Read more
And then, suddenly, everything works. On our last day, we once again focussed on the murals, but this time in the museums. The most impressive collection is inside the Palacio de Bellas Artes, a building that in itself deserves a visit, because of its exquisite architecture as well as its Art Nouveau inside, an enormous … Read more
It is not that we weren’t prepared. I had read extensively on where in Mexico City we could find the murals of Rivera, Orozco and Siqueiros, and what needed to be done to visit them. Not all of them are in museums, some of the most famous ones are in the National Palace – where … Read more
Time for an intermezzo. Hernan Cortes defeated the Aztec emperor Moctezuma in 1521, and was subsequently appointed governor on behalf of Spain, from then on the colonial power for the next three hundred years. Spanish success was relative: thousands of churches were constructed, hundreds of towns built. But at the beginning of the 19th century … Read more