The Magic Hippie Trail

40 years ago, a "world full of rucksack wanderers" set out in search of lost horizons and expanded consciousness. Most of these rolling stones eventually returned the way they had come, some only years later, while others found their private paradise and stayed put. In our series "The Magic Hippie Trail", veterans of the backpacker scene revisit their old stomping grounds.

Part 1 - On the Hippie Trail to Ibiza and Formentera

The Spanish island of Ibiza, as yet undeveloped for mass-tourism, gained a reputation as Europe's hippie paradise. The mild, Mediterranean climate, the nature and the remoteness from Franco's Spain made Ibiza and its tiny neighboring island of Formentera important stops along the hippie trail. In Part 1, renowned designer Philippe Starck shows us around his dream house on Formentera.

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Part 2 - On the Hippie Trail to Morocco

By the late 1960s, Jimi Hendrix and the Rolling Stones had found their way to Morocco on Africa's northwestern coast, looking for musical inspiration. Beatnik authors William S. Burroughs and Paul Bowles told of the African rhythms, the Berber culture, the diversity of the countryside and the mystique of Tangier. That and the ready availability of premium-quality hashish made Morocco a prime hippie destination. In Part 2, '68 icon Uschi Obermaier takes us on a tour through Morocco.

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Part 3 - On the Hippie Trail to KabulFrom 1968 until the military putsch of 1978, Afghanistan, the fabled land of the Hindu Kush, was an exotic new frontier for young globetrotters. Spectacular landscapes, unspoilt nature, the hospitality of its nomadic peoples and a reputation for the world's best marijuana and hashish made the perfect recipe for a hippie paradise. In Part 3 Lonely Planet founder Tony Wheeler guides us through Kabul and explains what motivated him to write yet another Afghanistan travel book.

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Part 4 - On the Hippie Trail to GoaFor many of the flower children, India was the final destination on the hippie trail - the land of enlightenment and spirituality. In 1968, the Beatles and other sixties-generation celebrities converged on Rishikesh in northern India to seek instruction from Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in his Transcendental Meditation and spend time at his ashram. In Part 4 we pay a visit to Woody Pumpernickel, born as Klaus Gutzeit, a former Berlin bookseller who emigrated to India.

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Part 5 - On the Hippie Trail to Kathmandu

Nepal, the former kingdom on the slopes of the Himalayas, was known as the "land of the gods". In the 1960s, Bob Seger wasn't the only one going to Kathmandu, the exotic, still largely undiscovered capital of Nepal. Hippies of all countries came here, many to rest up from the stress and strain of their Indian travels. The people here were gentle, kind, tolerant and not "on the make and on the take", as in so many other places. In Part 5, we meet Jürgen Schick, a German attorney who found his love in Kathmandu and made his life in Nepal.

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