COLOMBIA: Barichara – Colonial Hormigas

Barichara is a municipality in the department of Santander and famous for its “Hormigas” – grilled and spice-flavoured ants. Yes, ANTS! Of course we tried some! The little village is located in the province of Guanentá at an altitude of about 1280 and close to San Gil. It´s a perfect dinner stop when you travel between Venezuela and Colombia. The colonial architecture is unique and well preserved. Here you can imagine how it was some centuries ago, the buildings and plazas didn´t change much. Around the city are wonderful mountains to explore, several hike routes are possible. If you are in a rush, stay the afternoon, try the Hormigas and check out the pueblo. If you have more time, stay for one or two nights.

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GREECE: The COLORS Hotel Thessaloniki – Modern style in historic walls

While staying in Thessaloniki we spend a lot of time on going out, having delicious meals and enjoying the vibrant nightlife. During one of these evenings I met Christina Drakopoulou and asked her, if she knows any graffiti artists or recommendable places for streetart. And yes, she knew. Her place: The Colors Hotel. Actually there are three of them. The Colors Hotels are old remodeled buildings with artworks of local sprayers. Again a magic meeting, it could have been fate or it just happened by accident, but of course we made an appointment for a visit. A few days later I met Christina at the building in 13 Tzimski Street, she showed me the place and we recorded an informative interview, as well we made a little movie about the place and some of the artistic rooms.

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ALBANIA: Durrës – Historic Epidamnos and Dyrrachium

After we had left Tirana our first stop was the big city Durrës at the Adriatic coast of Central Albania. Durrës is the most important port city in the country and therefore an economic centre. In terms of population, Durrës is the second largest city in the country after the capital Tirana, 30 km away, and the official seat of the Qark of the same name. Durrës and Tirana together form a metropolitan region. We could find a lot of nice street art here, but the historic buildings from antiquity and the Middle Ages, mixed with modern architecture, are also quite astonishing.

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JAPAN: Anago No Nedoko – Onomichi

The few but increasingly growing tourists who travel to Japan first of course visit the major cultural centers or high-tech cities such as Kyoto, Osaka and Tokyo. But if you have a little more time for your trip to Nippon, you have the opportunity to get to know many other sites in the country. Often the smaller villages are hidden and undervalued delicacies. For example, the fishing town of Onomichi (Japanese: 尾 道 市, -shi) on the southwest coast of Honshū Island.

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VIETNAM: Crazy House – Đà Lạt

The name significates very nicely that the building is kind of wired and crazy. But just only the description „crazy“ isn´t adequately sufficient for this wondrous place. There should be added the terms „fantasy“, „fairy tale“ or „other world“. But well, then the name would be too long. When you step into the Crazy House in the south of Vietnam you literally enter another world. A little magic land. We have a lot of great photographs and a walk around video.

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