As chance would have it, on a quick errand into town, we’d spotted an old brick tower protruding through the trees off in the distance. We were standing on a ridge when we spotted it, and this was on the ridge opposite us, with a valley in between. THIS, we decided, WAS THE DESTINATION FOR OUR QUEST.

Honestly, if we never found our way up to this tower, that would be fine. But it gave us something to orient ourselves toward. The journey is what counts, right?

Well, the journey did not disappoint!

There are few cities on earth—certainly none more notable than Barcelona—whose architectural identities have been shaped so profoundly by just 1 person. Sure, other famous architects have left their mark on some of the other great cities of the world over the years, but none that I can think of whose work has so strongly and completely defined the identity of a single city as Antoni Gaudí for Barcelona. You may never have even heard of Gaudí, but if you know anything about Barcelona, chances are good that when you picture this city, you are picturing something that originated in this guy’s imagination.

So, the “Sisters” are a series of massive hills that have each essentially been sliced down the middle by natural erosive processes to reveal massive, sheer cliffs that stretch along the English coastline like a series of rolling waves. To make the scene all the more striking, these cliffs are entirely white. Perhaps you’ve heard of the “White Cliffs of Dover”? This is part of the same system of cliffs, which is called the “South Downs”, but Seven Sisters is arguably even more iconic because the entire stretch has been kept completely natural and undeveloped. The white color comes from the fact that the earth here is made of an extraordinarily pure form of limestone: chalk! Indeed, the earth here contains about 98–99% calcium carbonate, with very little clay or sand, making them appear dazzlingly white! They stay so white because they are in a constant cycle of erosion, where after some time the outer layers of chalk crumble away revealing fresh, white chalk.

“Cinque Terre” literally translates to 5 lands, and indeed, it is not 1 place, but 5 places. It is a collection of 5 historic towns dotting the rugged, mountainous Mediterranean coastline between La Spezia and Genoa. These towns emerged between 1000 and 1200 AD, and—in their prime—were able to flourish because they combined fishing, boat building, agriculture, and maritime trade. You’ll hear them referred to just as “fishing villages” but that is only part of the story. Agriculture is also massively important to the appearance of these towns even today. The main staple of these towns, in additional to olives, was wine.

I doubt you will be surprised to learn that the Leaning Tower of Pisa was actually not supposed to lean. In 1173, when work began on this structure, the intention was for it to just be your typical free-standing bell tower. Although I should acknowledge that there was really nothing “typical” about this in the 1100s; Italy was leaps and bounds ahead of (most of) the rest of the world, which is part of what makes these sites so incredible. Anyway, construction took about 200 years, including an almost 100-year-long pause due to wars and political instability. It was officially finished in 1372.

Although Florence was founded under the Romans in 59 BC, its meteoric rise did not begin until about ~1,000 AD. The intervening years saw Florence weather Gothic invasions, Byzantine rule, Lombard control, Frankish conquest under Charlemagne. A thousand years of the same struggle for incremental gains that most every city in the world was experiencing, until Florence’s petri dish yielded something entirely unique. Going into the 1400s, Florence had a unique combination of enormous private wealth, political competition, educated merchants, civic pride, and intense rivalry among wealthy families. You might assume that they the powers that be would opt to duke out their competitions in war, business, and industry (and there was certainly some of this), but the Florentine elite chose a new arena for competition: the arts. You may have heard of the Medici? This was one of those wealthy families that is famously supported some of the artists that would establish Florence as a cultural juggernaut and kick-start the Renaissance. They even have their own Netflix show now.

Poland’s reputation is for being an overwhelmingly flat country, and that is mostly true, but its far southern border, which it shares with Slovakia, is marked by a particularly jagged section of the Carpathians known as the Tatra Mountains. Although they are much smaller than other European mountain ranges—such as the Alps, Pyrenees, and Caucasus—they are extremely dense, rugged, and beautiful. In fact, they are SO beautiful that—although they only stretch about 57 km (35 miles)—the Polish and Slovakian sides receive a combined ~8.5 million visitors per year, skewed toward the Polish side. That makes them the most intensely visited mountain landscape per square kilometer in Europe. And yet, I’d never even heard of them before this trip!

It’s a new country for Peter’s Big Adventure! Welcome to Poland 🇵🇱

Our journey in Poland starts in Krakow. This is a city that I knew first from the WWII history books, and later as a desirable and beautiful European destination that I’d be well-advised to bump up to the top of my priority list of future trips. Indeed, Krakow is many different things to many different groups of people, and today we’re going to do our best to understand as many of these layers as we can. So let’s get started, eh?

Literal paradise.

Ushguli is a small cluster of towns that sits right on the Georgia-Russia border in the mountainous northerly region of Svaneti. It’s remote, difficult to access, and it’s got a population of less than 250 people. And yet, a quick Google image search for Georgia (the country of Georgia) will often return images of Ushguli even above images of the capital city. Clearly there is something special about this place.

The Caucasus Mountains don’t hold many superlatives or titles because, compared with other major mountain chains like the Andes or the Himalayas, they’re boxed into a pretty small area. They also rise up basically straight from sea level (they border the Black Sea to the west and the Caspian to the east), so there was virtually no chance of them having the highest anything. Compare that with the Rockies—driving west across the U.S., by the time you get to Denver, which is still in the Great Plains, you’re already more than a mile above sea level! So the Caucasus range flies below the radar, but once you get yourself into the middle of it, it’s pretty overwhelming. It is a world unto itself, with all sorts of interesting secrets and idiosyncrasies. Today we’re going to focus on glaciers.

Svaneti is the highest inhabited region of the Caucasus mountain chain. The whole region is studded with snow-capped 3,000–5,000 meter (~10,000–16,500 foot) peaks and sprinkled with small glaciers. In fact, the highest mountain in Georgia, Mount Shkhara, is located here in Svaneti, which stands at 5,201 meters (17,059 feet) tall. But in between all these mountains and glaciers are some of Georgia’s most picturesque little valleys and towns. These town are inhabited by an ethnic group known as the Svans.

Finally, we arrived at our destination. Before we re-enter our narrative, let me introduce you to the famous Georgian mountain town of Kazbegi. It’s basically just famous because the mountain peak that towers over this little town is particularly dramatic and maintains a snowcap year round. This Mount Kazbek. In short, it’s super pretty! Everybody I had brushed elbows with up to this point in my trip recommended Kazbegi profusely.

From Saudi to the UAE, to Yemen, to Oman, there are all lots of sub-regions of the Arabian Desert, which have emerged over time based on a combination of local tradition, geographical features, and scientific classification. The geography of this particular corner of the desert is largely dominated by long, parallel dunes (also called longitudinal dunes). A single dune can stretch from 5–20+ km (3–12+ miles) in length. And, in terms of height, they can reach 100 meters high (330 feet). To put that into perspective, that could be roughly equivalent to a 30-storey building!

The theme of today is old Arabian fortresses scattered throughout Oman’s Al Hajar mountains. Oman has a lot of these old relics, and we’re going to be visiting 3 of them. We’ll start with Nakhal Fortress, move on to Bahla Fortress, and finish with Nizwa Fortress, which is actually part of a very cool little town bearing the same name. In the past two articles, there was a LOT of information about Oman and the geopolitical neighborhood it calls home. Admittedly, during these articles I was still getting my feet under me in this new country. But this is where we’re going shift gears from educational exploration to something a bit more fun.

So, go use the bathroom now because it’s about 1 hour from Muscat to Nakhal, and we’re not going to stop until we get there. 👀

The first time I learned about Dhofar was actually in a BBC nature documentary! Although they are pretty obscure in the wider world, within Arabia the Dhofar mountains are quite famous for the incredible transformation they undergo each year during the monsoon season. During the “Khareef” (the local name for the monsoon season), this whole place transforms from a desert into a massive, green oasis! It happens from June to early September, peaking in July and August and, in addition to being misty and wet (already very unusual within the region), Dhofar also becomes much colder than the rest of the Gulf. There even seasonal waterfalls that pop up all over the mountainous landscape! During this time, there is a huge influx of tourist (mostly from Saudi Arabia and the UAE) that come in to enjoy the greenery and cool temperatures. There is even a Khareef Festival that happens during this time. UNFORTUNATELY, we’re not visiting during the Khareef. This visit happened in mid-December, so Dhofar will be in peak-desert mode.

Bourdain said it best: “The Sultanate of Oman defies expectations”. It occupies a very tricky slice of the map indeed, a smaller nation holding its own against all odds in some extremely treacherous geopolitical waters. Its neighbors are the war-torn, perpetually-collapsing Yemen, the conservative and ruthless Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the opulent, high-flying United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Iran, which needs no introduction. It also shares responsibility with Iran for the Strait of Hormuz; maybe you’ve heard of it? Literally the entire world has had their eyes glued to this strategic global choke point on the world’s oil supply for the past few months… things are TENSE. And right in the middle of this pressure cooker sits Oman: safe, moderate, reserved, modest, welcoming, and beautiful.

The first time I came to Istanbul—which was 10 years ago now!—I spent most of my time in Kadiköy. In the crisp autumn air, fresh off months spent backpacking through the sweat and humidity of South Asia, I was absolutely charmed by this place! It caught me completely by surprise; I didn’t want to leave! The streets were bustling with cool-looking young people, there was an amazing coffee shop on every corner, and the steep, narrow streets provided a treasure-trove of urban ocean views, similar to those of San Francisco or Stockholm.

This time around, I visited during the summer months, and Kadiköy felt different. I think both of us had changed a bit over the past decade; I’d be lying if I told you it felt familiar. Nevertheless, I retained some conceptual familiarity with this place. Far from the touristy bustle of Galata, Karaköy, and Taksim over on the “European Side,” decidedly more humble than the Westernized glamor of Bebek and Nisantası, and much softer than its hardline conservative neighbor, Üsküdar, Kadiköy managed to feel at once both comfortable and local. It’s likely still too Western to truly be considered representative of Türkiye or even Istanbul as whole… but this is where a more local and authentic version of Istanbul feels accessible to me.

So let’s breakdown both Kadiköy and Moda; they aren’t exactly the same place.

In positioning Üsküdar right after Bebek in this series, I’m hoping to give you a bit of whiplash. If you’re not reading these in chronological order, I’ll fill you in: Bebek is an affluent, socially progressive community on the northern (European) banks of the Bosphorus. There’s a gorgeous promenade where you can walk along the banks of the Bosphorus amongst fashionable people who seem—at first glance—to be quite Western! But make no mistake: Türkiye is not the West. Places like Istanbul can be confusing, because they often present as very European, but if you dive just a bit below the surface, you’ll discover a world that is quite unfamiliar to Westerners. This is a complicated place, because it contains both realities in parallel. We’re going to use Üsküdar as a vehicle to explore the more culturally conservative side of Istanbul.

My fascination with Pondicherry began many years ago when I saw it in the movie Life of Pi. It’s an incredible film, and while most of it takes place at sea, the beginning of the film, as well as the narration throughout, is all set in this idyllic French colonial town in India. Of course I was curious about this place, so I looked it up, and there it was: Pondicherry! It had been sitting on a quiet part of South Indian coast this whole time, but there weren’t many major cities around it so my eyes had never lingered on this particular part of the map. I remember thinking that this far-flung place seemed a bit surreal… it looked like France… but it was in India? I knew very little about South India at the time, and I’d probably never go there… but the way it was represented in the film was absolutely intoxicating!

With a metro area population of roughly ~14.5 million people, Chennai is currently the 4th largest city in India, behind only Delhi, Mumbai, and Kolkata. It’s also the capital of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, which is the formal administrative division corresponding to the Tamil cultural identity. Tamil culture is unique because it is one of the most ancient surviving cultures not only in India, but in the whole world. Its roots can be traced back to ~300 BCE and the Tamil language—one of the world’s oldest living languages—has more than 2,000 years of recorded literature. The Tamil-verse includes multiple different religions (such as Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity), so religion’s typical role as a cultural unifier does not apply here. In its place, the language itself has taken on a unique level of significance.

So, what exactly is Goa? Because it’s so tiny, I was surprised to learn that it is actually a stand-alone state in India, on the same administrative level as Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, or Maharashtra! Indeed, it is the smallest state in India, and its modern-day borders correspond to the legacy boundaries of Portugal’s once-upon-a-time colony on the Indian Subcontinent.

We mostly associate India’s colonial period with Great Britain, but France and Portugal both had small carve-outs in South India too. When the British finally left India shortly after WWII, the newly independent Indian government had expected Portugal to pull out of Goa as well, but Salazar (dictator of Portugal at the time) had other ideas. Long story short, India reclaimed Goa from Portugal via military force in 1961. The story of Goan identity as it relates to India and Portugal is quite complex, so I won’t delve into it fully here; hopefully in a future article. But I will tell you that Portuguese culture is still part of Goa’s DNA. It’s even got a large catholic population, which is quite out of place in India.

When I first began traveling, my operating assumption was that pretty much everything was a “once in a lifetime experience”. Because, for most people, they are! “Next time” was absolutely never guaranteed. That was definitely the case when I visited the Taj Mahal for the first time in 2015. It’s only just now that I am starting to have the experience of going back to places I’ve already visited. Initially, I was resistant to this, but I’m starting to realize that life is a bit longer than I’d originally thought when I was in my early 20s… I have enough time to do things twice. Or, hell, maybe even 3 or 4 times if I’m lucky! But don’t worry—we’re going to be back to breaking new ground after this article. 😉

I wouldn’t be writing this article at all if I didn’t have a slightly new dimension I wanted to explore on this topic. Unfortunately, it’s pollution. I touched on this while I was in Delhi, but this little excursion was where the issue really slapped me in the face for the first time.

With a metro population of roughly 33 million people… (pause for dramatic affect)… Delhi is the largest city in the largest country on earth. In the overall world rankings, it is 2nd only to Tokyo, but it’s gaining ground fast! In the average Delhi day, there are ~837 births and ~360 deaths, which gives us a natural increase of ~477 people per day. On top of that, there are an additional 200–275 migrants that arrive here per day, mostly from neighboring countries, or rural parts of India. Meanwhile, Tokyo is actually shrinking.

You may have heard about Indian weddings before… TL;DR, if you get invited to one, try your very best to make it. They are extremely cool. But this wedding… I need to disclaim now that this is absolutely NOT representative of what most Indian weddings are like. This is going to be extravagant. My other Indian friends in attendance would caption the obvious, saying “most Indians will never go to a wedding like this in their whole life.” But I’m not going to spend much time talking about the economic dimension of this event. We’re just going to enjoy it for what it is.

Bagan is an enormous temple complex, not unlike Angkor in Cambodia, about 430 miles north of Rangoon (Yangon). Unlike Angkor however, Bagan is still relatively unknown to tourists. Imagine going to Angkor 50 years ago, before backpacking became a thing. That is Bagan. Unlike Angkor Wat, there are no guards or signs. Literally the only rule is to take your shoes off before entering a temple. That is the Buddhist custom.

When I got to the ticketing counter for Tiger Air, I told the woman at the counter that I was traveling to Yangon. She looked skeptical. “You’re traveling to Yangon? Really?” she said, squinting.

“Uhh… yes?” I replied groggily.

I was required to go through security twice before I got on my flight (the second time at the gate) and when I finally did, the plane was only about 1/3rd full. It was not a smooth flight, so while I’m white-knuckling my seat, let me fill you in on Burma really quick.

Angkor Wat is perhaps, behind the Great Wall of China, the most recognizable landmark in all of East Asia. But despite its fame, is actually one of the smaller members in a much bigger complex of temples. Angkor is an area of about 20 square miles, containing more than 200 temples. Angkor Wat is special amongst these temples because it is perhaps the best preserved. This is thanks in part of the giant moat that surrounds the temple, keeping the jungle from swallowing it back up like so many of the other temples in Angkor. 

With the 40-year anniversary of the end of the war between Vietnam and America in a few days, the timing of this was fortuitous. Our story begins with a dinner, as many of my stories do. One of my former students, Linh (pronounced “ling’), had invited me to have dinner with her and her family. Soon they would be leaving for Newfoundland, Canada. They would be living in a small college town on the Eastern coast while her husband, Dzung (pronounced “zoong”), earned his Ph.D. At the end of this dinner they invited us to come to Bac Ninh Province (just North of Hanoi) to have a large dinner with their extended family.

The rest of us, strangers to one another at this point, looked at each other, and then with an uneasy shrug climbed down onto the deck of this tiny boat. It bobbled precariously with every passing wave. One thing was certain: this was going to be interesting. So let’s fast-forward a little bit, shall we?

We were driving overnight and I was doing my best to sleep but it was tough with our bus driver trying to break some sort of land speed record on the winding, bumpy mountain roads. It didn’t help that I had to twist and mangle my long white-person legs into terrible positions to fit into my seat in the first place. We made it to Mù Cang Chải a little bit before sunrise. This town would serve as our ‘base camp.’

There’s a lot more to Bushwick than I’m going to cover here; it’s known for having a large Latino community, especially Puerto Rican and Dominican, and since the gentrification of Williamsburg, it has also become the new center of indie culture in Brooklyn. But that’s not what this article is about. Today, we’re here to go mural hunting!

We rode the L train to the Jefferson Street station in Bushwick, and basically from the moment I stepped out of the station, I was in mural heaven.

As one of the 5 boroughs of New York City (the others being Manhattan, The Bronx, Staten Island, and Queens), it’s home to some 2.6 million people, which—if it were a stand-alone city—would make it America’s 4th largest city, nearly as large as Chicago! It has a stand-alone GDP of approximately ~$120B, which—for context—is more than the country of Ethiopia.

While the ascent of NYC’s Chinatown may have coincided with the shrinkage of Little Italy, giving the impression that the former was “taking over” the latter, the truth is that, by the 1990s, both of them were under equal economic pressure from encroaching gentrification and rising real estate costs. In spite of that Chinatown didn’t start to shrink until the early 2010s. By that point, as had been the case with the Italian immigrants who’d followed a similar path before them to achieve widespread integration into American society, the next generation of this Chinese community soon relocated to other parts of the city, especially Queens and Brooklyn. And just like Italians are now an integral part of the New York identity, this Chinese community is part of the deal now! There are 4th and 5th generation people of Chinese descent walking around New York, which means their families have been here longer even than mine! Cue my recommendation for you to go watch Nora From Queens. Great show.

New York City not just one thing; the whole is formed of many thousands of individual threads woven and intertwined together. All of these parallel realities existing on top of each other is a big part of what makes New York so captivating… but some of these threads are more visible to the outside than others. One of New York’s most visible threads is its status as ground-zero for Italian-American culture. Yes, from Frank Sinatra to George Costanza, few immigrant communities in the US managed to balance the simultaneous integration with American society with the maintenance of a shared collective sense of identity like the Italians. Ironically, Italian-American culture has strayed hilariously far from actual Italian culture at this point; the two groups barely even claim each other at this point! But, within the U.S. at least, this shared homeland is a powerful unifier. Indeed, there are about 16 million Americans (~4.8% of the population) that have some level of Italian lineage, including yours truly. 🍕

Although the beginnings of the U.S. as we know it today began with British roots, New York City actually began as a Dutch colony called New Amsterdam. It passed into British hands in 1664 and actually served as the capital city of the newly independent United States from 1785 to 1790. So it has been vitally important since the very beginning. As of 2023, the city alone (its metro area, that is) had a stand-alone GDP of $2.30 trillion, making it the most valuable city in the world. In fact, if treated as an independent country, New York City would rank within the top 10 largest economies in the world, ranking above Italy, Canada, and Australia, to name a few. For a domestic point of comparison, the next largest economy in the United States is Los Angeles with an approximate GDP of $1.1 trillion.

Finally, we arrive at Canyonlands National Park, which is the largest and most remote place we will visit on this trip by far. A couple hours southwest of Moab and Arches, Canyonlands spans an area of more than 300,000 acres. It is not a place that can be seen fully in a single day… but we’re going to do our best. Indeed, this particular trip will be most confined to the northern regions of the park, but I want to underscore that there is a LOT more of this landscape that we won’t see today.

As you will see, Canyonlands is a VAST area of canyons carved by mighty rivers that still flow through them to this day. Thousands of feet above the water, towering mesas look out across seemingly endless canyon-scapes. It offers more than a few STUNNING views.