travel
Zaher Rezai: dead after eight kilometres of illegal immigration
In December 2008, the 13-year-old died under the wheels of a lorry after trying to evade Italian immigration officials. A year on, artist Gianluca Constantini's cartoon strip tells the story
travel, afghanistan, comics, gianluca costantini, poetry, venezia, immigration
Getting to grips with djembe, tro-tro and obronis in Ghana
I was told before I arrived in Ghana that everyone wants to speak to the foreigner or the obroni (‘white person’) as they say in Twi, one of the main dialects of the forty spoken in Ghana. I had several on the spot marriage proposals; but that’s Ghana and its people for you
UK to Poland via France: hitch-hiking Europe
You could stay in a hotel in Egypt for a week. Or you can spread the same amount of money over a month and a half for a trip of an alternative kind: hitchhiking Europe. Here’s one way to do it, which included 30 drivers, volunteer work and new friends
travel, money, backpacking, jazz, hospitality club, perpignan, budget
Dismantled: five myths about Kosovo
On 17 February, Europe’s youngest country celebrates its second anniversary. Presumably, most still wouldn't find Kosovo on a map. We regularly read about its soldiers, organised crime and demand for visas. Two roommates in Prishtina – a Kosovar and a German – share their most striking and basic common observations
travel, balkans, serbia, nightlife, documentary, religion, kosovo
In the middle of our street
You have to know how to choose them, have fun in them, and leave them. Having a neighbourhood is a bit like having a second skin. It typically has your local, your loyal neighbours and shops. But neighbourhoods have their own skins too. Take the Gazi quarter in Athens which shed its industrial skin to become the latest craze, as happened to Kreuzberg in Berlin, or the renewed district of Jozsefvaros in Budapest. We take a little stroll around some European streets
Meet the Erasmus elite: bright stars in a global recession?
What do a loud-mouthed English ladette, a svelte Ukrainian vamp, a dashing Polish casanova and a bagpipe-playing Frenchman all have in common? Bar-stool jokes aside, they're all members of YRN - the association of European regions' youth network. About 150 people meet annually to discuss how to use Europe to hoist them out of the economic doldrums. cafebabel.com caught up with them in Paris this December
travel, economic crisis, erasmus, paris, youth, eurogeneration, regions
Rock climbing Europe: discovering El Chorro in Spain
Every winter, rock climbers from across northern Europe arrange to meet in southern Spain to tackle one of this season’s biggest challenges. El Chorro is a limestone gorge hippy haven and small island of green in the Andalusian desert
travel, backpacking, sport, spain, climbing, mountain, nature
And every disco in between
When the sun goes down, life goes on. Not in Paris, where smoking bans and anti-noise laws are part of a grand blanket of silence coating the city, much to the artists, venue owners and partygoers disdain. Other European cities aren't faring too badly - there's an abundant ragga identity to Milan, mythical erasmus parties all over, the 'white night' all-night street party concept, as well as the DJ culture striding in from Berlin. Who cares what time you have to work tomorrow?
Scandinavia, new top erasmus destination?
In 2008, almost 13, 700 students on the 'erasmus' student exchange programme were drawn to countries in northern Europe. Finland, Sweden and even Norway aren't yet threatening Spain in its pole position as Europe's most popular destination, but they're generating an enormous amount of debate, between cliches and untruths. From student salaries in Denmark to Finnish e-courses, we tackle the young man or woman's Nordic myth
- Why Scandinavians do life better
- University in Denmark is free for EU citizens, plus other fantasy-realities
- Sauna, an A-level in drinking beer: my erasmus semester in Tampere, Finland
- Fever Ray, Peter Bjorn and John: Swedish music right now
- Young Europeans would like to be Scandinavian
- Flexicurity is Scandinavian example for European model
Guide: the curiosity of Tel Aviv's dog, gay and religious beaches
A lowdown on the rules - or lack of - to alternately abide by at neighouring sections of the city's 14km stretch of coastline
travel, dog, separation, gay, religion, men and women, beach
Picture that: it's only been 20 years since the Berlin wall fell
For its twentieth anniversary Europe will euphorically celebrate the fall of a wall that didn’t just split Berlin in two, but an entire continent. At 6:57 pm on 9 November, the GDR's Politbüro member Günter Schabowski announced that from now, east German citizens could travel freely. Hours later, Berliners were hugging each other from the east to the west. Another 20 years later, and the eurogeneration have made their motto out of this freedom of movement - eastern working girls invade Europe’s labour market, symbolic walls come to a fall in Paris, or exist in people’s heads. Does the spoiled post-89 generation know how lucky they are? Perspectives
- Czech internet forums, KSCM: disillusionment and nostalgia for communist past
- 9/11 - the fateful day of German history
- Twenty years on: why Berlin is not Germany
- What communism means to three central and eastern European women
- 20th anniversary: go and see the 'Berlin wall' be destroyed in Paris
- Jean-Christophe Bas: 'the erasmus generation doesn’t know how lucky it is'
There's no place for art in Tirana
One German visitor paints a bleak picture of the Albanian capital as a city of art and culture. In delapidated surroundings, the small seeds planted by creative folk via the Marubi academy and Tirana international contemporary art biennial struggle to grow
Brits in the Baltics: Kaliningrad's shed soviet skin
‘Where are you from?’ asks Irina, a wealthy Muscovite, ‘and why are you in Kaliningrad?' She’s right to ask - without a McDonald’s or a stag party in sight, it's an unusual destination
Expats abroad: ze big jump
Mobility in Europe is a political issue: only 1.5% of Europeans live and work in another EU country, and this figure hasn’t changed in three decades. Freedom of movement is a giddy adventure in practice; the young French who leave the ‘old’ continent behind for the maple-tree dotted landscape of Quebec can testify to that. You’ve got to ensure you’ve got insurance to get a job abroad though. And whether your reasons to move country are to join your love or to have a professional experience, expatriation is a little like plunging feet first into the unknown. Read some experiences
- ‘Outlandish’, ‘comical’, ‘shocking’: volunteers for international experience speak
- NHS, EHIC, mutuel: young expats get to grips with healthcare abroad
- London's so 2008: Quebec is the new Eldorado for the French
- Are you young, employed and on the move?
- Going on a gap year? Watch out for the taxman
- Administration: Kafka effect for expats working abroad
How to seek the Holy Grail one hour from London
As American author Dan Brown's follow-up to 'The Da Vinci Code' is released on 16 September - 'The Lost Symbol' focuses on the Freemasons - we uphold tradition and go questing for the cup that Jesus used at the Last Supper at its rumoured location in Hertford
travel, tom hanks, dan brown, books, holy grail, hertford, conspiracy
On the road in a misunderstood country: tips for Albania
The most difficult aspect for travellers to this Eastern European country, which is about one quarter the size of England, is getting hold of a guide that speaks English. Despite this, with 400km of coastline, lakes and picturesque villages, Albania has something to offer for those in search of authenticity
travel, travel writing, albania, aeroplane, autostop, tourism, society
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