Discontinuing his Where Is The Idiot Today? blog after fastidiously posting over 2,500 daily items and photo(s) during the past seven years.
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Although no longer seriously Medtrekking since he completed his 20-year circumnavigation of the Mediterranean Sea in 2018, The Idiot frequently takes a freewheeling amble on the Med a few times a year. This spring he was on the seaside and in the interior of Albania for ten days.
The Idiot’s squat in Durrës, Albania, where he celebrated the Spring Equinox in 2026.
One of the 175,000 bunkers built in Albania to prevent a nuclear attack during the nation’s communist era (1944-1992). This one is on the seaside south of Durrës.
A view of the Mediterranean Sea from an Albanian seaside bunker built in anticipation of a nuclear attack during the nation’s communist era (1944-1992).
Lunch on the Mediterranean Sea to celebrate the Spring Equinox at a nearly empty restaurant.
A seen-better-days water park on the Albanian coast.
Dog day afternoon.
A view of Tirana, the Albanian capital, from the top of Mount Dajti.
Bunk’Art at a bunker in Tirana features this depiction of a “pickaxe and rifle” which was a powerful symbol during the Albanian communist era from 1944-1992.
Forest art seen during a hike down Mount Dajti above Tirana, Albania.
The mosque in Tirana, Albania’s capital. About half the country’s population is Muslim.
A sculpture of Iskander, Albania’s national hero who led a rebellion against the Ottoman Empire in the 15th Century, in the main Skanderberg Square in the capital Tirana.
A heart at the top of Mount Dajti above Tirana, Albania.
A heart on the beach in Durrës, Albania.
The Idiot led a group of Australians on an art and literary walk around Antibes in mid-May and introduced them to F. Scott Fitzgerald, Graham Greene, Victor Hugo, Nikos Kazantzakis, Jules Verne and other writers who have found inspiration on this part of the Mediterranean Sea.
The walk followed the path taken by The Idiot when he began his 20-year-MedTrek around the world’s largest inland sea on January 1, 1998. To his delight, not much has changed and there have been a number of physical improvements.
The alphabetic “Nomad” statue was added to the Antibes port in 2010.
This plaque honoring F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald is at the Belles Rives Hotel in Juan-les-Pins.
The ramparts in Antibes are now decorated with contemporary sculptures.
The Idiot chatted about Graham Greene in front of the apartment building in Antibes where “The Power and The Glory” author lived from 1966-1990.
A “Jardin Des Poètes” has been added on what was once a street along the ramparts in Antibes.
The “Jardin Des Poètes” features a bust of Victor Hugo and quotes by a number of writers, including Jules Verne, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Guy de Maupassant.
Nikos Kazantzakis, who wrote “Zorba the Greek” and “The Odyssey: A Modern Sequel,” lived in Antibes from 1948-1957. He now has a small square named after him near his former home at 8 rue de Bas-Castellet.
The Bacon restaurant on the Cap d’Antibes has been modernized but still serves delicious cuisine.
The Idiot led a literary tour around the Cap d’Antibes on May 16, 2025.
There are still inviting swimming holes on the Cap d’Antibes.
The Idiot didn’t realize that Jules Verne, one of his favorite authors as a kid, had spent six winters living and writing on the Cap d’Antibes until he walked by this plaque on January 1, 1998.
The Idiot accepted comments about the quality of his art and literary tour in Juan-les-Pins.
The Egyptian Tourist Police frequently “insisted” that The Idiot be accompanied by armed guards when he MedTrekked from the Suez Canal to the Libya Border in 2017 to gather information for the third volume of The Idiot and the Odyssey trilogy of travel narratives.But today they let him roam footloose and fancy free throughout Cairo’s newest GEM, aka the Grand Egyptian Museum, which officially opens on July 3 (the original, and much-postponed, opening date was 2012).
It was worth the wait to see over 20,000 ancient artifacts, ranging from beads, small stones and coins to towering stone statues, mummies, sarcophagi and jewelry.
The unrestrained Idiot arrives on a Sunday morning at the gargantuan GEM (Grand Egyptian Museum) which will officially open in July when it will be the largest archeological museum in the world.
Eight years ago The Tourist Police requested that The Idiot be accompanied by armed policemen during his walk on the Mediterranean Sea in Egypt. Today they let him run wild at the GEM.
The Idiot is greeted by a towering statue of King Ramses II in the GEM atrium.
The Idiot checks out King Ramses II from one of the twelve upper galleries.
Mummy may I?
The Idiot’s favorite mummy in the GEM is a crocodile.
This ancient bangle box inspired contemporary jewelry cases.
Romancing the Stone at the GEM in Cairo.
The Idiot purchased a coffin box at the GEM gift shop.
“Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil,” in ancient Egypt.
A typical display depicting ancient Egypt at the GEM.
A typical display depicting ancient Egypt at the GEM.
A typical display depicting ancient Egypt at the GEM.
A typical display depicting ancient Egypt at the GEM.
The staircase (there’s also an escalator) to the galleries at the GEM.
The view of the Pyramids from the GEM.
The Idiot walks across the Nile River in Cairo to get to the GEM.
The Tut collection at the less grand, but still very crowded, Egyptian Museum in downtown Cairo will be moved to the GEM before July. It will be replaced with a new array of antiquities.
The Idiot’s most viral “athletic” moment in 2024 might have been a 15-minute pre-Olympics swim in the Seine in Paris on July 4. But he also managed to walk 4.77-million steps with his iPhone in his pocket.
Here’s where he did it a stroke and step at a time to prepare for more in 2025.
The Idiot walked to swim at a distant pool in near-freezing temperatures in Paris on the last Sunday in 2024.
The Idiot’s most viral “athletic” moment in 2024 occurred after he swam in the Seine before the Paris Olympics.
Some of The Idiot’s favorite hikes in 2024 were in the Buddhist kingdom of Bhutan in October. (Photo: Kim Devoe)
After swimming in the Seine in Paris, The Idiot swam in the Mediterranean Sea in Antibes in July. (Photo: Sonia Stratte-McClure)
Photo ops on the hike up Table Mountain in Cape Town in February tended to be a little more dramatic than the walk to a pool in Paris. (Photo: Aimee Friederich)
The uncrowded outside pool at the YMCA in Redding at 6 a.m. definitely beat the crowded indoor pools in Paris.
The Idiot bought a copy of the detailed GR75 guidebook before he launched the 50-kilometer hike around the perimeter of Paris in August.
The Idiot prepared to swim in the Seine, in the same location he took a dip in 1976 for a magazine cover story, on July 4 at 11:11 a.m. (Photo: Luke Stratte-McClure)
The Idiot walked 4.77 million steps (that’s 3,344 kilometers or 2,077 miles) with an iPhone in his pocket in 2024.
The Idiot completed a training swim in Paris in June that prepared him for a dip in the Seine before the Paris Olympics.
The Idiot hiked over 35-kilometers solo around the 600-kilometer GR1 that encircles Paris on February 17.
The idiot swam past the Notre-Dame Cathedral when he took a dip in the Seine on July 4, 2024.
Here’s how The Idiot’s steps looked during a week in London in late December 2024.
The time has come for YOU to visit the Amazon and expand your travel horizons for Christmas.
Just take a look at what you’ll find @ https://www.amazon.com/kindle-dbs/entity/author/B004KA6V5O?_encoding=UTF8&node=2656022011&offset=0&pageSize=12&searchAlias=stripbooks&sort=author-sidecar-rank&page=1&langFilter=default#formatSelectorHeader
Interested in more about the pleasures and perils of this trip? Listen to a recent interview with The Idiot on NPR’s “Nancy’s Bookshelf” @ https://www.mynspr.org/show/nancys-bookshelf/2024-09-18/nancys-bookshelf-a-short-swim-in-the-seine-river
Get thee to the Amazon for Christmas travel adventures.
Start with The Idiot’s first book in “The Idiot and the Odyssey” trilogy of travel narratives.
Continue with The Idiot’s second book in “The Idiot and the Odyssey” trilogy of travel narratives.
Conclude with The Idiot’s third book in “The Idiot and the Odyssey” trilogy of travel narratives.
See what The Idiot did before the Amazon was on the radar.
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