pdg | Ramblings

Is this the world’s most bizarre place for a castle?

July 22, 2020July 26, 2020 pdg 0 Comments Corvin Castle, Hunedoara, Hunedoara Steel Works, Hunyadi Castle, Romania, Transylvania

It has everything you’d ever want in a medieval castle. There’s only one problem: It’s in the middle of a giant steel mill.

Caucasus Photos

Georgia in pictures

July 5, 2020July 6, 2020 pdg 0 Comments Batumi, Caucasus, Georgia, Gori, Kazbegi, Sakartvelo, Sighnaghi, Tbilisi

Straddling cultural and geographic boundaries between Europe and Asia, Georgia is one of the most fascinating — and scenically diverse — countries on Earth.

Europe Photos

Former Yugoslavia in pictures

May 15, 2020June 23, 2020 pdg 0 Comments Bosnia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Budva, Durmitor, Kosovo, Montenegro, Mostar, Prizren, Sarajevo, Yugoslavia

Images of the dizzyingly diverse former Yugoslav republics of Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo.

Pacific Photos

Tonga in pictures

May 2, 2020June 23, 2020 pdg 0 Comments Ha'apai Islands, Neiafu, Nuku’alofa, Tonga, Tongatapu, Vava'u Islands

Unspoiled beaches, decrepit ferries, spontaneous schoolkids and a slow-paced way of life in one of the world’s last absolute monarchies.

Europe

Cares Gorge: Is this Spain’s best one-day walk?

May 2, 2020 pdg 0 Comments Bulnes, Cares Gorge, Cares Trail, Garganta del Cares, hiking, Picos de Europa, Poncebos, Ruta del Cares, Spain, walking

The Cares Trail clings to the side of a 1.5km-deep gorge in the Picos de Europa mountains of northern Spain.

Europe Photos

Spain and Portugal in pictures

April 25, 2020April 26, 2020 pdg 0 Comments Bilbao, Picos de Europa, Porto, Portugal, Santiago de Compostella, Spain

A wonder of modern architecture, a spectacular mountain range, one of Europe’s deepest canyons, and the charming city that gave port wine – and a country – its name.

Featured Middle East Photos

Iran in pictures

April 18, 2020June 23, 2020 pdg 0 Comments Chakchak, Esfahan, Iran, Kandovan, Kerman, Persepolis, Qazvin, Qom, Shiraz, Yazd, Zoroastrianism

Former US President George W Bush called it part of “the Axis of Evil”. I call it one of the most fascinating and welcoming places I’ve been.

Middle East Photos

Turkey in pictures

April 12, 2020April 18, 2020 pdg 0 Comments Ani, Diyarbakir, Dogubayazit, Erzurum, Hasankeyf, Istanbul, Kars, Mt Ararat, Turkey, Yusufeli

A snow-bound palace, a ruined city, welcoming locals, a shipwreck and a fabled mountain — those are just a few of the things I photographed in Turkey in 2004.

Middle East Top stories

Remembering Syria: Photos before and after the war

April 11, 2020April 25, 2020 pdg 0 Comments Aleppo, Aramaic, Arwad Island, Damascus, Deir az-Zor, Hama, Krak des Chevalliers, Maaloula, Palmyra, Syria

In 1995 I spent three unforgettable weeks in Syria. Now, after almost 10 years of civil war, many of the places I visited are no more.

New Zealand

Takahē and naked trampers on the Heaphy Track

April 4, 2020May 15, 2020 pdg 0 Comments Gouland Downs, Heaphy Track, hiking, Kahurangi National Park, Karamea, takahe, tramping

The author encounters takahē, kleptomaniac weka and naked trampers on New Zealand’s longest Great Walk.

Pacific

The Pacific’s forgotten slave trade

April 1, 2020April 18, 2020 pdg 0 Comments Australia, blackbirding, Port Vila, slave trade, slavery, Tanna, Vanuatu

It’s Australia’s shameful secret: A human trade in which tens of thousands of Pacific Islanders were kidnapped as labour for Queensland’s sugar plantations. Their descendants’ calls for an apology have so far fallen on deaf ears.