Lebanon, one of the smallest Middle Eastern countries – smaller than the state of Connecticut – is one of those crazy creations that emerged out of the dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire post-WWI, a result of the wranglings of the British and French over the territory between Anatolia in the north and the Arabian Peninsula to the south. One look at a map will show just what an odd jigsaw puzzle this region is. That weird wedge wedged into Jordan? That is often termed “Winston’s Hiccup” due to the most likely apocryphal story that the map was drawn on a dinner napkin by Winston Churchill – who then felt his dinner a bit too well. Lebanon, at least from a geographical perspective, also seems an odd gouge out of the coast, a bite into Syria. Why ... read more

Blink and you’ll miss it. The micro-micro state that is the Principatu de Múnegu – or, for those not familiar with the Monégasque tongue, the Principality of Monaco – almost makes little Liechtenstein seem gargatuan. While it has a similar population to Liechtenstein (Monaco has about 36,000 inhabitants, though actually Monégasques are a minority at less than 8000), Monaco is a miniscule 1.98 sq. km. (or .76 sq. mi.)* – meaning you could fit around 80 Monacos inside of the other principality! Not only is it tiny, it is rather vertical. Much of that approximately 2 sq. km. seems to be composed of a cascade of rocky cliffs. There are even public elevators to get from one level to the next, like trains and subways in countries tending more to the horizontal. It is hard to ... read more

In my years of wandering the planet, I have had the opportunity to visit kingdoms, constitutional and otherwise, as well as the odd emirate and sultanate. But I had never been to a principality until I set foot in teeny-tiny Liechtenstein a couple days ago. When I was in elementary school, I stumbled on a book about the micro-states of Europe – Andorra, San Marino, Monaco, the Vatican City, and, of course, Liechtenstein (Luxembourg, although on the small side, is a giant in comparison to these guys, so was not included) – and I was entranced, sparking an early interest in such compact political entities. How can such a country exist in this day and age? How can it sustain itself as a distinct unit in this globalizing world? My travels have taken me to some ... read more

I. "No Shoes, No News"! I have never really been a beach vacation-type of traveler. I’ve generally focused on historical and cultural explorations and/or outdoorsy endeavors of a physical nature (trekking, particularly). Just hanging out at the beach, especially with tons of other people around, has never appealed to me. But Zanzibar might have made me a convert – at least Matemwe Beach has. For some, Zanzibar is all about the beach; tourists coming from safari in the Serengeti beeline it directly to one of the seaside hotels, sometimes bypassing fascinating, beguiling Stone Town altogether. Several acquaintances back in Sudan actually thought it was odd that I was planning to spend most of my time in town, rather than relaxing under a palm tree. (Of course, these are the individuals who might find it odd that ... read more

I. Jumba la Mtwana North of Mombasa, over the bridge to Mtwapa, and then right down a deeply rutted dirt road towards the sea, you stumble on to the evocative ruins of a pre-British, pre-Omani, pre-Portuguese Swahili town. Known now as Jumba la Mtwana, or the “Big House of Slaves”, there’s apparently little information on just who lived here and what they did (it’s only conjecture that it might have been a slave-trading port – there’s no physical evidence that it was). All that remains are the stone walls of several large homes, each with its own internal well and an early version of indoor plumbing, along with several mosques, including a large one built right on the shore of the Indian Ocean. The ruins are entangled in lush greenery and shaded by barrel-trunked baobab trees. ... read more