En 1972, Philippe Gloaguen set off from the Porte Dorée in Paris to reach India by hitchhiking. At 21, the founder of Backpacker’s guide intended to follow, as they said in these carefree times, the “route des Zindes”. His journey took him to Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan… Destinations that made the young beatniks of the time dream and which, fifty years later, are all forbidden to us. If we can always see Naples and die, it is almost certain that we will die without seeing the oldest souk in the world in Aleppo, the sumptuous al-Saleh mosque in Sanaa, the heads of Sumerian kings in the Baghdad museum, the ancient city of Susa in Iran or the sacred clock of Kandahar, which would have belonged to Muhammad…
“The younger generations now have the impor…