Monthly Archives: November 2024

Algiers: Rockin’ the Casbah (an old quarter with a difference).

Algeria’s history – from ancient to modern times – is a rich and interesting one. If the internet is to be believed, the first inhabitants here appeared some 300-400 thousand years ago! That means that before it was conquered by the Romans, several ancient states had already existed on the territory. After the Roman colonial period came barbarians, followed by Byzantines; next there was the Arab expansion, and that was followed by a succession of the Spanish, Turks, and finally the French. Then, in 1962, after an eight-year war against the latter, Algeria gained its independence.

Given such a rich history, there’s plenty of it to check out as a tourist! And of course there’s the Sahara desert with all its sand-and-rock beauty, and sensational sunsets and sunrises. Alas, my business schedule was full and hectic – lots of meetings, getting acquaintends, discussions, and a regional partner conference, so we couldn’t check all that much out. We had to settle for micro-tourism: a brief stroll around the capital, Algiers. All righty – off we pop…

First up – Maqam Echahid: the monument commemorating the Algerian War ->

Read on…

Six Days of the Caldera – and the Valley of Geysers.

Onward – along Route 264. Ahead lie difficulties and hardships, raptures and amazements, volcanisms and bubbling-springisms. In short, what we were here for – what we love!…

And it all started here:

This is the estuary of the Semyachik river – a few kilometers from the tiny settlement of Zhupanovo (so tiny it’s not even on the Google map: somewhere here; oh – it is on Yandex Maps though) on the Pacific coast:

Read on…

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Space museum extraordinaire – with an 18+ twist at the end.

It’s been ages since the last time I wrote about outer space – too long; for space is cool far out!…

Exploration of extraterrestrial space in any form, manned or not – plus cosmonautics, astrophysics and telescopes at the top of volcanoes, it’s all extremely important for the whole of mankind – and fantastically interesting for the individual (for example, me). So when I was invited to the Museum of Cosmonautics in Moscow, I immediately accepted…

Read on…

Winter’s coming; best get the beers in then.

Hi folks!

I’m back home in Moscow – where it seems the fall has been cancelled! I flew out in summer – and flew back in winter! ->

The contrast was remarkable – from the tropics to this. And winter’s still a month away! All this talk of global warming? It doesn’t seem to apply to Moscow in November 2024!…

Right on cue to brighten-lighten my wintry mood, when I returned to my office for the first time in ages there was a surprise waiting for me in there…

Read on…

Kamchatka-2024 – pt. 5: Kizimen… now and then.

It was farewell to what is possibly the world’s remotest hotel complex, and off we choppered south to our next Kamchatkan volcanic wonder – Kizimen (pronounced KizEEmen). And here she is – the view from the south:

And from the north ->

What differentiates this particular volcano of Kamchatka from others are the two lakes at its foot set among wonderfully “designer” landscapes. There’s also the amazing view of nearby Kronotsky volcano – here on the horizon to the right, upon which you can meditate for an eternity.

Read on…

Another country (Indonesia) – another volcano (Ijen).

Just like in Kamchatka, in Indonesia (where last week we had our super-successful Security Analyst Summit), there are a great many really cool hot volcanoes! I should know, since I’ve checked some of them out a few times – in 2018 around New Year, and last year after a press event (when we scaled Mount Rinjani). Fast-forward to this year and it was time to leave Bali and head on over to Java – Indonesia’s main island – to check out the mighty Ijen (here)…

Read on…