Copenhagen (or, in Danish, København) is the capital city of Denmark. It is also the most populous city, with a metro area population of 2.1 million people, which is almost double the population of its next largest city, Aarhus. If you’ve never taken a moment to observe the geography of Copenhagen, you can do so on the map below; it’s actually pretty interesting. It sits on an island in the North Sea called Zealand—which is home to a whopping 40% of Denmark’s population!—right between Sweden and the peninsula that forms mainland Denmark. This stretch of water is known at the Danish straits, and it separates the North Sea from the Baltic Sea. Thusly, it is quite a consequential water way for trade with Poland, Finland, the Baltics, and Russia.
Camden Town is a vibrant little area in north London that is famous for—among other things—its rich history with London’s musical lore. This area has long been associated with London’s punk scene, and indeed you’ll still see some people walking around this area sporting 2-foot high mohawks and all kinds of punk stylings that strike one as being almost performatively contrarian. Camden had deep ties to the early punk movement in Britain, with bands like The Clash, The Sex Pistols, and The Ramones famously frequenting this area. Apparently the photo on the cover of The Clash’s debut album (the real ones will know) was shot here in Camden. Later on, bands like Joy Division and The Cure would play here frequently, but Camden’s most recent contribution musical lore was none other than Amy Winehouse. She actually lived here, and as such, this neighborhood’s already-crowded mural scene is now infused with her likeness.
Maasai Mara—which is often locally referred to as simply, “The Mara”—is the name of a giant nature preserve in southwest Kenya. Its namesake, the Mara River, runs through it, and the word “Maasai” refers to the original tribal inhabitants of this area, who can still be found here today.
Well, as far as I know, the only difference between Maasai Mara and the Serengeti is the border between Kenya and Tanzania. The Mara is the Kenyan side, while the Serengeti is the Tanzanian side. Looking at the map, it might be tempting to think that Maasai Mara is the lesser of the two experiences because it’s so much smaller than the Serengeti, but—while I have not personally experienced both—I’m told this is not the case.
We only saw a couple of Lions at Lake Nakuru, but in Maasai Mara, we’re going to see a LOT of them. Here we saw a male and female lion relaxing in the shade of a big tree. We sat here for quite a while just admiring them. These really are massive cats. But if you watch they way they behave, they really are just cats—the same as the cute little ones we have living in our houses.
The safari continued. The further we drove, the more incredible it became. There were just so many animals out here. I think I saw more animals here than I had in the past decade of my life in aggregate. These environments are truly just bursting with life! Is this what planet earth was like before humans ruined everything?
There was some rain that came through in the middle of our visit, so I got to see the light chance a good deal throughout this photo shoot. I look at these photos and I can almost hear the gentle sound of rain on the tea fields.
It was the British who introduced tea to Kenya in 1903. And, apparently the place where it was introduced was right here in Limuru! Today the majority of tea in Kenya is grown in the Kenyan Highlands, mostly on the upper slopes of the Great Rift Valley. As I understand it, a good proportion of it is concentrated on the slopes of Mt. Kenya. So, Limuru is definitely the easiest area of tea fields to access from Nairobi.
Clocking in at the projected 12th largest city in the world by 2100 (a title that is today held by Lagos, Nigeria), Nairobi is the capital city of Kenya, and by far its largest population center. The most common languages spoken here are Swahili, and then English (Kenya is a former British colony). This pretty much covers “mainstream” Kenya, but like most nations on this vast continent, there are a LOT more languages being spoken here in addition to these main 2. In fact, there are a total of 68 languages spoken in Kenya!
The #1 rated hike in Madeira on AllTrails is the one that from Pico do Areeiro to Pico Ruivo. These are the two highest peaks on Madeira. And in the middle you pass over Madeira’s 3rd highest peak: Pico das Torres. AllTrails ranks this hike as “Hard” and I think most people who do it would agree. But there’s some serious hype around this trek!
“It’s gonna be the coolest hike of your life” my friend said to me confidently after we landed in Madeira.
“…Like, my life specifically?” **Subtext: “You don’t think I’ve done any other cool hikes?” 🥺
“No, dude, like the coolest hike of anyone’s life.”
When you fly into Madeira—assuming you are coming from Europe, which is undoubtedly the most common flight path—you will fly over this jagged, sun-soaked rocky outcropping. Even from the window of the plane, it seems really long. It makes an impression on you immediately that Madeira is going to be a rocky, mountainous place. Which is true. I had sort of forgotten about this little land formation until I looked at the map on the morning of this hike (I wasn’t responsible for planning this portion of the trip 😂)—it turned out, we would be hiking out to the very end of it!
At the time of our visit, Farol da Ponta de São Lourenço was the 2nd most popular hike in Maderia on AllTrails, which I just found out has this cool map embed feature. So here’s the info from AllTrails: it’s categorized as an “intermediate” hike, and you can probably knock it out in a few hours. There are definitely som very steep stretches of trail, but there are also flatter portions where you can catch your breath. And there is also a little oasis in the middle of it in the form of a cafe! I have no idea how these restock that place.
Our time in Portugal continues! Now we’re going to head to the Lisbon airport and catch a plane to a little-known island off the coast of Africa that… somehow… is still part of Portugal?? It’s called Madeira.
To be perfectly honest, even I—PETER, THE MAP ENTHUSIAST—wasn’t sure where Madeira was when the idea of traveling here was first posed to me. This is why it’s good to plan trips with other adventurous friends: they will push you to places you wouldn’t have otherwise considered! Once we settled on going to Madeira, it turned out that we had quite a few friends who had traveled here before us, so perhaps this island isn’t so “little-known” after all. 🤷🏻♂️
The historic center of Lisbon, predictably, is too dense with beautiful historic buildings to allow for many murals. The truly gorgeous European cities—and Lisbon is definitely one of them!—typically make the most of space in a way that doesn’t leave room for big murals. Street are needs empty walls. So in a city like Lisbon, you have to look outside of the city center.
So the majority of these murals came from neighborhoods called Ajuda (west of the city center) and Graça (just east of the city center).
