Here you find some pictures from different places I've been to.
One of the most popular places in the winter to go to for us Swedes are the Canary Islands.
Many people believe that the Gran Canarias just is hotels, night clubs, and the beach. And it is. Mostly. It really is crowded, and all the negative things that comes with too many tourists at the same spot are there.
But rent a car and go up in the mountains! You will se a completely different island than you could imagine. Like this amfitheatre in the little village of Artenara. Beautiful and so far away from all tourists.
Small villages seems to have been thrown out on the mountain sides by a giants hand, the nature is wild and the total opposite to what you see down at the hotelcrowded coast. You eat in small tavernas, real food and have a good glace of wine, manufactured in the neighborhood.
One other popular island, but in the Mediterranian, is Crete. Here you just have to visit the Palace of Knossos. With just an ounce of imagination you can see the big palace as it was 2000 years ago, when it was alive, full with people. If you listen carefully you almost can hear the whispering voices them, laughing, talking, making intrigues...
...if you don't just relax on the beach, of course. This was supposed to be a calm relaxing week with my mother, sister, sisters daughter and an uncle and an aunt. Well, it was, but this is where I sat not more than 5 meters from a tornado that swept chairs and tables high up in the air before blowing out to see. Now that I know what those small ones can do, I have the highest respect for tornados.
This is also the place where a wild, rather big dog decided to be my guard during the night. She came to my hotelroom in the evening, and slept on my feet. She really was determined to make my sleep safe; every time she heard anything, she raised her head and made a growl to scare any intruder away. She left early in the morning and never came back.
Another place where you really can feel the wings of history sweep around you is Israel.
Almost every square meter contains history. You get this feeling of already knowing this land, simply because you've heard about it from the Bible.
As well as there are som many holy places for Christians and Jews, like the Wailing Wall...
..there are equaly holy places for the Muslims, like the Akaba Mosque. No wonder it's hard to find solutions for all the problems in the area...On the other hand - sometimes I get the feeling they don't want to have a solution. They behave like small kids fighting in the playground and the only thing that will help is mummy and daddy interfering, breaking the screaming kids apart.
One other place where you have a possability both to stay on the beach and see historic places are the Italian island Etna. When my mother turned 75, she, my sister, her daughter and I went there for the first time in our lives.
The island is very famous for the still active vulcano...
I stayed in the village of Letojanni
If you go there, don't miss to visit the Greek Theatre in Taormine. It's magnificent!
One other magnificent building, still in Europe, but very much more north, is the Cathedral in Cologne. I was taken on a tour in former West Germany by a German friend many years ago, and this was one of the places we visited.
If you go to Florida, you have to visit the Everglades.
There's a big chance of meeting some of the wild animals like this alligator. Even though I used the maximum close up possability of my camera, I'm still in reach of this not-so-cuddly-and-nice animal.
or experience the complete tranquility watching hundreds and hundreds of white birds in a lake. This picture a lies a bit. You don't see that I'm surrounded by lots and lots of people...
Just to sort of conclude this page:
The world is full of nice beautiful exciting places. Even the ones you didn't expect to be anything special might surprise you. Just keep your senses wide open - your eyes might see unexpected fascinating beautiful exciting things, your ears might hear sounds never heard before, your hands might get in contact with something that you've never touched before, your nose gets sensation that you might recall long time after, you taste something you'll long for to taste again....Your sixth sense puts all of this together and tells you that this really is what life is all about....
Feel free to write me your opinion, advice, tips...Aladdin helps you to mail me....
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This page was updated 1st March 2000, and moved 21 February 2002.
All pictures copyright Johan Steenhoff Eriksen