Bordered by Israel and Syria on the East Coast of the Mediterranean sea, Lebanon is something of an unknown quantity in the eyes of the world. Its position in the Middle East has never given it much stability in recent history. The lives of the people who live there, even the young adults, are tarnished with conflict but also an undeniable resilience and perspective.

The Lebanese are impassioned, intelligent and intense personalities and we are lucky enough to call the brilliant Hasan Chaaban a friend. We sat down with him here in Barcelona to get deep into the culture, the conflict, the history, the food and the customs of one of the strangest and most complex countries in the world.

For this episode’s full show notes, download the free CERCA app, available for iOS. Get maps, photos, and info on the places mentioned. Plus, ad-free listening, bonus content, and early access to other episodes in this guide.

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CONNECT WITH OUR GUESTS!

Hasan Chaaban on the web: kolaps.com

CONNECT WITH US!

On instagram: @passportpodcast | @cerca_travel 

On the web: frequencymachine.com/passport | cercatravel.com

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MisInfoNation returns with a trip to Belgium - a place that's often overlooked and mostly defined in popular imagination by bureaucracy, beer, fries, chocolate, Tintin and a statue of a boy peeing.

But Neil and Dré aren't content to just let these easy oversimplifications define a whole country and its people. That's why they've invited their friend and 3D Designer Dennis Vanneste to help set the record straight.

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Follow Dennis on Instagram: @vannestje.

For this episode’s full show notes, download the free CERCA app, available for iOS. Get maps, photos, and info on the places mentioned. Plus, ad-free listening, bonus content, and early access to other episodes in this guide.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

There are things we think we know about places. But history, prejudice, stereotypes and the nature of 24 hour news and social media has made common knowledge about far away places even more twisted than ever.

So we’re taking the initiative once more, putting ourselves in the line of fire and asking the dumbest of questions so you never have to ever again. MisInfoNation is coming back!

Come and join Neil Innes and Andrés Bartos as they try their hardest to clear up some of the outright lies and stereotypes from Japan, New Zealand, France, Belgium, South Africa, Spain, Ireland, Germany, Canada, Mexico and more this year… by doing what they do best. Having a chat with someone who actually knows what they’re talking about.

MisInfoNation returns with hilarious guests and all new episodes starting Tuesday January 17th.

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For this episode’s full show notes, download the free CERCA app, available for iOS.  Get maps, photos, and info on the places mentioned.  Plus, ad-free listening, bonus content, and early access to everything Cerca has to offer.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

While we gear up for all new episodes of Passport and MisInfoNation we wanted to share something with you guys in our feed. Greetings from Somewhere is a beautifully produced podcast about the world. 

A show after our own heart, obviously. 

A charismatic host named Zack Mack, some excellent sound design, and we were instantly in. So we wanted to share with you one of our favorite episodes so far. 

Zack has gone to Burning man, Mount Rushmore, Disneyland, he’s taken trains, planes, automobiles and wheelchairs, he’s lived the van life… and asked a man who walked 4,000 miles across the USA the big questions… 

But to get into this brilliant new show we wanted to share with you Episode 1… It’s the story of Marfa, Texas. 

Enjoy!

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Neil and Andrés make a very special announcement. Or is it just a thinly veiled apology for not having season two ready just yet...

Introducing CERCA by Frequency Machine. The world's best audio travel guide.

Want a sneak peak? Want to help shape what we make? Drop us a line at [email protected]

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For every Celestial Emu there’s a planet-killing space rock on an inevitable path towards earth. In our season 1 finale, Passport producers Jennifer Carr and Andrés Bartos head back Down Under to talk about asteroids, the scars they leave, and the stories they’ve created.

For all of the wonder and the fascination the night sky holds, it’s also filled with warnings, omens and pure chaos. Australia’s First Nations Peoples have been interpreting those signs for longer than any other culture on earth - and their myths and stories are an ecstatic truth used to pass that knowledge down through generations. But can these fables live side by side with science? This week, Jenn and Dre talk with the world's original astronomers about the scars of the people, and on the land, to find out.

Plus, a conversation with very special guests Clive Oppenheimer and Werner Herzog - master travellers and directors of the new documentary Fireball: Visitors From Darker Worlds.

For more, including links to the things we talked about, and the places we visited, plus a full transcript, visit https://www.frequencymachine.com/passport

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For this season one finale of Passport, we head to Australia to explore the star-studded skies of the country’s Western Outback. Scarce on people and heavy on sheep and cattle stations, the vast expanses of land and desert here offer pure darkness and one of the top global destinations to stargaze. Astro revellers travel from all over the world, but what many miss out on is the rich tapestry of indigenous creation stories, myths, and customs that the stars can all point to.

The Australian Aboriginals have been reading the skies above this land longer than any culture on earth. They possess a deep understanding of cosmology and how to accurately read the stars for navigation, water sourcing, animal migration and breeding patterns, natural law, customs, and spirituality. For thousands of years, this profound astronomical intelligence has been buried. Fortunately, this is changing.

Passport producer Jennifer Carr took a trip Down Under for Part 1 of this double episode season finale of Passport, and discovered there’s a whole lot more to the Cosmos than meets our Western eyes.

For more, including links to the things we talked about, and the places we visited, plus a full transcript, visit https://www.frequencymachine.com/passport

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South Africa, the rainbow nation. A place of dazzling sun, incredible wildlife, rugged coasts, and tabletop mountains, with a people as diverse and creative as the landscape. The country’s art scene too is in rude health, one of the most forward thinking on the continent. But South Africa as a place of space, of technology, of the future? It’s not where your mind immediately goes.

Today, the country’s creatives are not remaining stuck in tradition. Take one look at South Africa’s best young artists, especially those in the vibrant city of Johannesburg, and you’ll notice a theme. They’re all following a code, an aesthetic, known as Afrofuturism. It’s an artistic concept which places people of the African diaspora in the future.

But why are South African musicians, writers, and artists looking forward not back? To space not the earth? How did apartheid cause utopian visions of the future? What links ancient African mythology with Black Panther? This week on Passport, we’re headed to Johannesburg to meet the South African afrofuturists to find out.

For more, including links to the things we talked about, and the places we visited, plus a full transcript, visit: https://www.frequencymachine.com/passport

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Clowns: freaky, funny or downright mystifying?

This week, we tread the boards of the French capital and dive into the city’s age-old love affair with this very distinct form of theatrics.

Paris has been an epicentre for performance artistry since the 1800s, but today the face of clowning and the circus look and feel very different. These days, clowning is cutthroat – demanding, grueling, and for some in the industry, a dying art that few can master. Besides a look at some of Paris’ most competitive clown schools, we also delve into the dark side of clowns and how pop culture has given us more than we bargained for beneath all that grease paint and innocent smiles: coulrophobia – the fear of clowns.

Join Passport producer, Jennifer Carr, for a fantastical journey full of conversations with clowns and artistic directors and a front row seat for an impromptu performance by Russian clown Igor, in our Barcelona studio.

For more, including links to the things we talked about, and the places we visited, plus a full transcript, visit https://www.frequencymachine.com/passport

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Traditions are weird, almost by definition. But where do they come from? In this week’s special Xmas episode of Passport, Neil and Andrés talk to Sergi Del Bas and historian Dani Cortijo about one of the most misunderstood regions of Spain. Catalonia. Or as the locals call it Catalunya. This is Spain, but it is very much not Spain.

And here in Catalunya, there exists what is perhaps one of the strangest Christmas traditions in the entire world. There is no Santa here. Here Xmas involves a log. About two feet long. With a face. Named Caga Tio. The Sh!t Log.

This week, Neil and Dre take you home for the holidays to put on your scatological detective hats and try to figure out how the personality of a culture created one of the most incredible symbols of the festive season in the world; A log, with a face, that you beat with sticks to encourage him to poop gifts.

For more, including pictures of Neil’s very own Caga Tio and others from all over Barcelona, plus links to the places we visited and a full transcript, visit: https://frequencymachine.com/passport. Just click on Episode 34.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.