Albania, the Africa of Europe:
We had been told that Albania is the “Africa of Europe”, meaning that it is wild, third-world and perhaps “Just a little bit dangerous” (one of the tracks on the 3-CD set of music – “Cape to Cape: the Official Soundtrack” – compiled by our Finnish friends Jani and Hanna). Well, in my opinion, that statement is rather unfair on Africa, since nowhere in any of our African travels have we encountered such extreme levels of litter or a capital city with such bad roads as we did in Albania.
Bogotá, the Athens of South America:
Bogotá as the Athens of South America is the emblem of a hierarchical sociery barricaded against the experience of the political and social change of modernity. Its ideal is an organic social system, a unified complex of religion, metaphysics and politics that effectively destroys the remnants of political life. . . . After the discourse that would make Paris the capital of the 19th century, Victor Hugo began to make Paris the new Memphis, the new Babylon, the new Athens and the new Rome; while Maxime Ducamp, the intimate friend of Gustav Flaubert, made Paris the city that would replace Thebes, Assyria, Babylon, Athens, Rome and Constantinople. It is against modernity that Bogotá is proclaimed, toward the end of the century, the Athens of South America. For Bogotá, Paris is the capital of immorality, vire and impiety.
Eritrea, the Prussia of Africa:
Ethiopia already lost its other potential coastline to Eritrea, the Prussia of Africa, and they're damned if they're going to watch the last bit of ocean-view property fall into the hands of some sleazy worry-bead fingering Mullah-slash-condo developer.
Soviet Union, Upper Volta with Rockets:
The Soviet Union was famously described as "Upper Volta with rockets", a catchphrase that was updated by the geographically precise to become "Burkina Faso with rockets". It was a powerfully succinct description. The United States was rich and space-age powerful; the Soviet Union was poor and space-age powerful. The contradictions and paradoxes that stemmed from that could never fully be resolved - least of all by the citizens of the Soviet Union themselves.
Rwanda, the Israel of Africa:
In some ways, Rwanda is the "Israel" of Africa. The conflagration there set the entire region on fire - witness the two Congo wars, which were largely the outcome of the events in Rwanda. The two peoples - Tutsis and Hutus - had been at each other's throats for decades, and foreign powers had not desisted from meddling in their conflict.
Thessaloniki, the Jerusalem of the Balkans:
Thus, in the 16th-18th centuries, Thessaloniki housed one of the largest Jewish communities in the world, and a solid rabbinical tradition. The city had become the Jewish centre of Europe, the Jerusalem of the Balkans - the “city and mother of Israel," according to the Jewish poet Samuel Usque. During the 16th century, there were numerous important rabbis whose influence spread beyond the borders of the Ottoman Empire. Although Thessaloniki suffered from plagues and fires in the course of the 17th century, the city remained a centre of religious studies and Halakhah (Jewish Law), as well as an international centre of Jewish Printing, as the city’s approximately 30.000 Jews constituted nearly half of its total population.
Uruguay, the Switzerland of South America:
Banks across Uruguay were shut down for a week yesterday as the government of "the Switzerland of South America" attempted to contain a spiralling economic crisis which has spread from neighbouring Argentina.
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