Tag Archives: must see

As many of you will know, I have a special list of what are to me the most beautiful – must-see – places on the planet. I call it my Top-100, and it’s updated regularly – here. I haven’t been to all of the places on the list, but I do add checks against some of them often – to put them into the ‘been, seen, snapped, etc.’ sub-category of the list. Just this year I’ve been, seen and snapped: the Galapagos Islands; Lake Baikal; the most beautiful volcanoes in the world (on the Kuril Islands); perhaps the clearest, bluest sky in the world (also – Kurils); the Gobi Desert (hmmm: not on the list, but will be soon after a touch of rearranging/editing:); Baalbek; and the stone miracles of Cappadocia. And just the other week – my newest check against an entry: Potala Palace, Lhasa, Tibet – both day and night, no less.

And here she is (“Oh – that palace!” I can hear many of you thinking:) ->

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Hi folks!

It seems a bit strange looking at some of my summer holiday photos and editing them, especially when they don’t even relate directly to the Kurils, even though they were taken on our Kurils-2019 adventure! But we’d gotten to the end of the Kurils, so there were no more of them in line for us to check out. The next island after Kunishir is Japan’s Hokkaido. So we took a right (westerly) turn, and headed toward the island of Sakhalin. I say toward, as we didn’t make it to that island. Instead we stopped at a micro-island just off one of its three southern capes – Tyuleny Island; which is appropriately named, as you’ll see in the vids and pics below: Tyuleny means Seals – Seal Island!

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Hi folks!

The next port of call on our Kurils-2019 adventure was… not one of the Kurils ). Nope, it was a next-door neighbor: the southernmost point of the island of Sakhalin – here – on the end of Cape Aniva, where there is a lighthouse of the same name. Very impressive it is too – check out the pics and drone-vid:

Дальше: разруха, запустение и чайки…

!folks مرحبا

Now, if ever you’re in Lebanon, whatever you do don’t miss out Jeita Grotto, which is just 15 minutes outside Beirut in a car. It’s title is in the singular, but the grotto actually refers to a ‘system’ of two separate (though interconnected) karstic limestone caves. The upper one is mostly dry and gigantic; the lower one features a river, is generally smaller in size, but it’s length is a full seven kilometers (!), which is five kilometers longer than the upper cave.

Here’s the upper cave:

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If you’ve heard of Cappadocia, you’ll probably know it for one of two things – or maybe both: its strange-shaped pyramid-columns, or (and) the many hot-air balloons that often fill the sky there. Well I’d heard of the place, but had never been, but wanted to for a very long time. The place even has a spot in my Top-100 Must-See Most-Beautiful Places in the World, so it was high time I made a visit seeing as though I was in the region recently…

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مرحبا (marhabaan) folks!

Baalbek, Lebanon: it’s likely you’ve heard of it; maybe you’ve been, maybe not. If not – here’s your primer. If been – as it’s such a special place, you’ll probably enjoy revisiting it, albeit virtually.

All righty. First things first – when planning a half-day (that should be sufficient) at Baalbek, make sure to take at least a liter of drinking water with you, slap on plenty of high-factor sun cream, and wear shorts and a t-shirt. Then get ready to take in a ton of information while strolling around this place. Ready? Right – off we go up these steps:

So, without further ado, let me tell you this. Actually, I’m simply paraphrasing what I was told by our guide, Olga (mostly confirmed by the internet).

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Lebanon: the photos – and a few videos – have been sifted, edited, spruced, and are ready. My tales from the country are ripe and also ready – to be blogged. But first – a photographic introduction: this post is made up of a few dozen pics of the country’s monumental historic places of interest.

While you view them, I recommend you update your knowledge of the geography and history of this part of the world; in particular of the following: Baalbek, Byblos, Phoenicia. There’s also the name Jeita Grotto, which may be new to you as it was for me (get ready to be astonished thereby). And, while you’re at it, you may as well refresh your memory of the modern history of Lebanon on the whole – Beirut in particular.

Ok. Now – the pics…

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Hi folks!

You didn’t think there’d be just one post on Ushishir, did you! )…

Of course not! Why limit probably the best volcano in the world to just one? No reason at all; accordingly, here we go – deeper. Literally! Into a cave here! For example – the one ringed red, here:

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Let’s say you’re near the top of Krenitsyna Volcano in the Kurils, you’ve applied the Strategic Stratovolcano Stratagem to secure some imminent sunny weather, you have tents with you, sleeping bags and gas stoves (no firewood up there) and all the rest, which you’ve carried with you 500+ meters along the vertical and 9km on foot (7.5km to the edge of the caldera; 1.7km to the pond), you dump it all down on the grass (or put up the tents straight away if the weather’s still poor), sit on the very edge (ideal spot – very comfortable) and are ready to behold the most mind-blowingly picturesque volcanic scene on the planet…

So, what next?…

Next, you just sit and wait. Everything will work itself out. Namely, that just-mentioned most mind-blowingly picturesque volcanic scene on the planet slowly but surely comes into full view. Oh my grandiose! Then, you just stay sitting there, unable to tear your eyes away from it – as if you’d want to ).

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Hi folks!

It was a bright, clear morning, and it was time to head further along the route of our express-journey across the Gobi Desert. Next port of call – the Flaming Cliffs, aka Bayanzag.

It’s around about here where many dinosaur bones and even whole dinosaur skeletons have been discovered. And the internet tells me it was here where the first fossilized dinosaur eggs were found. Yes, I think that’s highly likely: I’m sure they could have simply fallen out of these here red-rock cliffs that were eroded over the years to expose them. And anyway, besides their usefulness to prehistorical studies, these red rocks and cliffs are also delightfully beautiful – and very reminiscent of Utah. U.S.A.:

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