Nota Bene

Just a 30-minute drive from the German city of Mannheim is the picture-postcard town of Heidelberg. If ever you’re in the vicinity and have some time to spare – a day or even just half of one should be spent here.

Read on: Lots of fog, but still – check out my mini-photo-logue…

Be careful what you wish for!…

…I’d been wishing for an aerial view – from an airplane – of Santorini for years. Well now it’s come to pass.

I had in fact flown over the Greek island before, only at night and/or on a cloudy day, so I never saw anything. This time, the conditions were perfect: a bright, clear day. The conditions were so perfect that even the pilots were taking pics!

Santorini!

Read on: Santorini from a plane – the beauty’s almost insane…

Hi folks!

There are some places on the planet that need to be checked out purely for simple touristic pleasure – but which also highlight one’s scandalously scant level of knowledge of important historical events. One such place I visited last week. And if you’re ever in Israel, don’t be lazy to get there.

Absolutely recommended, especially if you’re near Jerusalem.

This is one of Herod the Great‘s palaces: Herodium, or, at least the ruins thereof.

The life, adventures and exploits of King Herod could only really be found out about if one were to travel back to the decades before Christ in a time machine. The folklore that’s been handed down through the ages may be based on any number of sources, and they can hardly be checked for accuracy 2000 years later now can they? Even the mighty internet has its limitations!

Read on: An underground fortress built ‘into’ a hill…

Hi folks!

Since April 2016 I’ve been sneaking in strolls marches along the River Thames, since I’m lucky enough to visit London rather regularly on business. Not repeat marches of the same stretches of riverbank of course, but different sections – since there’s quite a lot of riverbank to be marched here. Here’s my first stretch, here’s the second, the third… so that makes this riverbank ramble my fourth already.

So what’s the attraction? Why a whopping four (and counting) visits (and saunters) already? Well, it’s mostly all down to something called the Thames Path – a neat and well-paved/tarmacked pathway that runs along the full length of the river – all ~300 kilometers of it!

Now, I’m never shy of extreme tourism, where there are precisely zero paths – plus zero civilization whatsoever, come to think of it – but when I’m short of time, and in London that’s always, I like to rely on paths to make sure our trekking is just that – straight trekking – not finding the way, losing our way, navigating tricky unforeseen obstacles and so on. Make sense? Alrighty. Just had to explain that in case you think I’m going soft :).

This time our Thames-walking took us away from the capital’s center – and turned into a veritable ‘London as you’ve never seen it before’ experience…

Read on: A green and pleasant land, floods, pubs, allotments, stormtroopers…

I’ve been getting about quite a bit this fall, and practically every day I’ve been as busy as a bee. It’s that slightly disorienting routine I get into every few months or so: each day something new – starting with the hotel room I wake up in.

But the other day it wasn’t a hotel room. Upon waking, my first question to myself was the usual ‘Where am I?’, but the answer this time came ‘in an Airbus!’ Indeed I was, flying Xi-an – Beijing – Moscow – London – the Bahamas – London over several days.

Such continent hopping in a short time with lots on the work agenda forces my happy-snapping habit into its minimalist regime. This isn’t so bad, as the pics that do manage to get taken are normally very much ‘greatest  hits’ and no padding. Thus, this post: ‘Greatest Hits of the Last Several Days’!

First, here’s a masterpiece from Petrovich taken at dawn at Danxia:

Before you ask about the fly, let me make the introductions: please meet our pet fly, whom we carry around the world with us in a jar and sometimes let him out for a walk fly :).

And now for a brief rundown of my recent continent hopping…

Read on: Asia > Europe > North America > Europe…

Hi folks!

Today’s post is all about a sacred mountain, Mount Hua, which is about 120 kilometers to the east of Xi’an.

It’s big in terms of size, and big in terms of oh my gorgeous (the mountain itself plus the views to be had from it). Just have a look:

See – told you!

Read on: Up the funicular – to the top of Mount Hua!…

There are many reasons to visit the city of Xi’an and environs. But if those given, and exhibited by way of photos in my previous two posts (Terracotta Army and the old city walls) haven’t convinced you yet, just keep reading…

Between 10 and 15 kilometers from the city there’s a totally ace place called 华清池, aka Huaqing Pool, aka Huaqing Hot Springs. This is a real pretty spot, but at night… more about that in a bit…

Straight away at the entrance you’re knocked off your feet by the sight of some Victoria amazonica – a native plant from, as the name suggests, the Amazon River basin; yep – that Amazon: the one that runs through South America. So what they doing here? I never did get to find out, but it doesn’t really matter… in fact it adds to the mysteriously pioneering spirit of this perfectly peerless plant!

Read on…

Nihao folks!

The Chinese city of Xi’an is 100%, mandatorily, necessarily, must-visit. Why am I being so emphatic? Because of just one of its tourist attractions…

The most awesome tourist attraction of the city, to me, has to be the city’s fortifications, which are kind of like Xi’an’s Kremlin. The bonus for us was that we got to ride some cool bikes there. These were just perfect for tourists already pretty tired of all the walking before we even got there. Before the bikes appeared though, we got in some of the regular ‘walk and snapping’ first. Just as well – snapping ain’t easy on a bicycle; and there was plenty to snap:

Read on: Ancient walls, funky bikes, and remarkable contrasts…

Nihao folks!

Onwards we fly on our China-2017 tour… Next stop: the city of Xi’an – pronounced Si-an – meaning ‘western peace’.

It was a nice day, which is just as well, as there’s plenty to do and see in and near the city. Our itinerary went so: city walls and the old town; ancient pagodas; and (not far from the city) Mount Hua – one of the Sacred Mountains of China. Anyway, more on those later. For now, the Terracotta Army, no less!

You may have heard of this UNESCO World Heritage Site of funerary art; yes, it is quite famous. But the unexpectedly fine detail and massive scale of the mausoleum are only really grasped when you see it in the flesh. A truly grandiose historical site.

Read on…

Onwards we travel around China. Next up: grottos…

Specifically, the Huashan Mysterious Grottos, officially called ‘Flower Mountain’ (花山), here.

Nothing grotty about these underground wonders:

There’s practically zero info about these here caverns. They were discovered accidentally only in the year 2000 by a farmer who for some reason was digging there with a shovel. (He was lucky – what if he’d have fallen in?) Anyway, a while later the authorities cleaned them all up, signposted them up, and added multicolored lights to make them nice and touristy.

Read on…