Alinja | Alinja Castle in Julfa region | Here is the Azerbaijan’s answer to Machu Picchu! Legend has it that Tamerlane used the castle to house his tr

leg - Fernwayer Travel Stories & Experiences

Azerbaijan

Here is the Azerbaijan’s answer to Machu Picchu! Legend has it that Tamerlane used the castle to house his treasury which may still be hidden somewhere in the surrounds. Epic landscape views can be discovered from the mountaintop

Alinja Castle in Julfa region

Greece

The perfect way to view the red pumice layers of Santorini is to walk from Oia to Ammoudi. Just 214 steps down, the going down part was easy since the reward is a meal at one of Ammoudi’s legendary fish tavernas by the sea. 

🐙,| 🦑 | 🐡 

We buy fresh seafood by weight - the classic order of octopus and calamari along with some fish -  and it’s grilled right then and there. The sights and smells of the sea are so familiar and similar - whether in this hidden Santorini cove or at home in San Francisco.

[🧗]

The walk back up to Oia is challenging on a more than full stomach. As we reach the top, we see the setting sun and that makes it all worthwhile.

Fish Tavernas

United States

Myanmar (Burma)

On a foggy morning as the sun rose over Lake Inle, my boatman took me to the rendezvous point deep inside Inle Lake. Three fishermen sat in their boats with little fires to warm them up. They had promised me the previous evening to do a demonstration of their fishing technique. 

The quintessential pose of the Inle fisherman involves standing at the end of the boat on one leg with the other wrapped around his oar. Inle is a shallow lake and standing wouldn’t let they see the reeds below, they explain. Plus they use their body to propel the boat, leaving their hands free to collect their fishing net. 

Then they throw the cone-shape nets into the water, pressing on it with their foot so it sinks to the bottom where the fish are and traps them in.

One-leg Fishing

Philippines

United Kingdom

I once owned a MINI Cooper. 

On a recent trip to Morocco, I had a l-o-n-g layover in London between planes at Heathrow and Gatwick. So I organized to meet my charming chauffeur of smallcarBIGCITY at Paddington Station for a personal tour of London in a vintage red Mini. 

I may have been jet-lagged but I remember the Beatles blaring on the stereo. And of cruising through St. James Park as sunlight broke through the morning fog. A scandalous story about why Green Park has no flowers. Quirky bits of history. Narrow, cobbled streets that only a Mini can negotiate. Crowds outside Buckingham Palace. The legend of the Noses of Soho. Saturday markets. Floral Street in Covent Garden. Whizzing past sparkling new Routemaster buses. The story behind “London Bridge is falling down”. And my favorite view of London from inside a Mini on Westminster Bridge.

All the while, passers-by waved, smiled and photographed us. I felt like a mini celebrity!

Azerbaijan

Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic

Alinja Castle in Julfa region

Greece

Decentralized Administration of the Aegean

Fish Tavernas

Myanmar (Burma)

Shan

One-leg Fishing

United Kingdom

England

Mini-Tour