Adventure


Exploring the unexplored

Recents Posts :

Naples

Naples is my favorite city in Europe. She is home to countless treasures, many of which lie beyond the knowledge of guides and are known only to the city’s inhabitants. It is easy to lose yourself among the immense palaces, towering monasteries, and marble churches overflowing with gold. Every time I visit, I find something…

Akbar

India is the mother of all. For millennia, the Indians were vanguards of metaphysics, philosophy, and mysticism. Their epic poetry guided the mind of man to new heights. India has inspired all of Asia and influenced western antiquity, the extent to which we have yet to fully grasp. India is polytheistic at its core, yet Islam…

The Caste War of Yucatán

While traveling throughout the Yucatán I stopped at the former colonial city of Valladolid. Upon entering the cathedral I was shocked by its magnificence. “How beautiful,” I said aloud to myself. “Yes, but this church is punished,” said a voice. Punished? How strange. I had never heard this word used to describe a church before. Why punished? I…

The Begum

On one of my trips to India, I met a rather exceptional maharani. Her husband owned the most beautiful library in India, filled with ancient manuscripts dedicated to the study of medicine and botany. The maharani herself was short and round. She wore the garlands of an actual Christmas tree as a necklace, and on…

The Cathars

Two centuries after the death of Christ, Mani, an exceptional magus and prophet, rose to prominence in Persia. He mixed the religion on his country, Zoroastrianism, with a fiery interpretation of Christianity. Mani himself would not end well, as the shah eventually had him executed, yet his followers would multiply. These faithful soon emigrated, reappearing in Asia Minor in…

Mithra

When the Orient arrived at the gates of Rome, it brought with it a rather discrete deity. This god was born to a virgin on the 25th of December. He was frequently represented as an infant, seated upon the knee of his mother before a group of kneeling wise kings who offered gifts. He was…

Urfa

Abraham, contrary to what was commonly held until recently, did not come from the village of Ur in Mesopotamia, but rather the town of Urfa in southern Turkey. The confusion, as one might have guessed, was likely a consequence of phonetic confusion. Long ago, Abraham, the father of monotheism, had lashed out against Nimrod, the…

Zoe Porphyrogenita

My favorite empress is Zoe Porphyrogenita, from the Greek meaning “born into the purple,” signifying the child was born to the reigning emperor, for the prince or princess would see the purplish porphyry columns within the ornate palace. She was the daughter of Emperor Constantine IX, the perfect embodiment of frivolity and indifference during his long reign….

Göbekli Tepe

Professor Klaus Schmidt was one of the most distinguished German archeologists to have worked on Turkish sites. One day he was informed that at Göbekli Tepe, not far from Urfa in southern Turkey, a gang of laborers had uncovered a large monolith. They were making preparations to destroy it so they could continue their work and not…

Scotland and Northumbria

Since first discovering Scotland, when I was sent there during my adolescence to learn English, I have felt attached to the country. Scotland has everything I love: romantic monuments, ghosts by the dozen, charming cities, and a countryside amongst the most beautiful in Europe. Scotland reminds me of Greece, but with different colors. Greece is…