Tag Archive for ‘Travel’
Iceland: Drangey Island, a puffin paradise
Even the islands around Iceland are volcanic in origin. So, too, Drangey, a 180 meter high steep-cliffed, tuff-stone blob of about 20 hectares in diameter, that is the remnant of a 700,000 year old volcano dominating the Skagafjoerdur fjord in the north of Iceland. Now uninhabited (except for a small cottage for bird catchers), it [...]
Iceland: Hotpooling with heroes
Although the north west region of Iceland was only permanently settled by Norwegians in the mid 19th century, a natural hot pool located about 18 km north of the town of Saudhakrokur was already mentioned as being enjoyed by the great outlaw hero Grettir, protagonist of Grettis Saga, one of the famous Icelandic sagas from [...]
Iceland: Akureyri Botanical Garden
Just 100 km south of the Arctic Circle, Iceland’s second largest town Akureyri (pop. approx. 20,000) boasts a mostly ice-free port and one of the most charming Botanical Gardens I have visited so far. My visit at the beginning of August coincided with the explosive bloom of thousands of delphiniums in a rainbow of blue [...]
The world of cruises
After my recently completed 257 day around the world trip, there was only one mode of transportation that I had not used: cruise ships. Simply the idea of not packing/unpacking and to be taken to a destination is utterly appealing! I think I have saved the best for last and who knows, may become a [...]
Japan: Kyoto fleamarket around a temple
Voices hushed, feet in socks shuffling softly on tatami mats, sandalwood smoke from incense sticks, heads bowed in ancestral prayer … not so at the Kyoto temple fleamarket: a cacophony of voices, from shrill to shriller, boom to bass, everyone trying to overtrump the other and all with the same message: “buy me”. Hundreds of [...]
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