Standing in the Sicilian sun with your feet washed by the waves of the Tyrrhenian Sea, it’s easy to forget that there’s more to the tri-corner island than beauty. The beaches are magnificent—turquoise waters stretching out to the horizon, soft sand, gentle waves and some of the clearest water in the world. In the distance, on the rockier portions of the coast, volcanic rock juts out of the sea, its dark color and jagged edge adding drama to the vista.

Inland, the hills rise up and greet the sun, patched with golden fields of grain, vibrant citrus orchards, and the vineyards that produce Sicily’s fragrant nero d’avola wines. The skies are blue, the weather is warm, and somewhere, a few steps down a narrow street, someone is rolling fresh pasta to tempt you back from the shore. (more…)

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Take the Zambezi, one of Southern Africa’s largest rivers. Let it loose across the floodplains of Angola and Zambia, tributaries swelling it until the river is as large as a racing track. Once the waterway is flowing with full force over the basalt plateau of southern Zambia, cut a 1700-meter wide gash in the valley and watch the entire width of the river come pouring down an 180-meter face of rock into a narrow gorge. That is Victoria Falls, one of the most monumental waterfalls in the world.

The falls’ indigenous name, Mosi-oa-Tunya, means “the smoke that thunders”. And indeed, it roars, it throws up spray, it crashes and it swirls – Victoria Falls is an overwhelming sight, twice the height of Niagara Falls. So spectacular, in fact, that it already was a popular tourist attraction in 1905, when the railway from then-Rhodesia to Cape Town was completed under British colonial rule. Now a World Heritage Site, Victoria Falls attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors every year, some content to simply take in the natural wonder, others, like me, daring (or brainless) enough to bungee jump over the gorges, too. (more…)

Tags: air, Angola, assignment, attraction, basalt, basalt plateau, Bounced, bragging, bridge, british colonial rule, bungee, bus, Cape Town, capital, cash, center, century, chasm, chatter, circle, cloud, colonial, content, crest, cry, David Livingstone, Day, departure, departure time, direction, Doctor, drizzle, dry savannah, end, entrance, explorer, eye, face, fact, fall, fame, Fell, fine, floodplains, footbridge, force, friend, gash, gear, glimpse, gorge, ground, haze, headfirst, height, Heritage, honor, indigenous name, jump, Leila, light, Livingstone, loan, Lusaka, meter, mid, monarch, morning, Mosi-oa, name, narrow gorge, Niagara Falls, o clock, One-two-three, opportunity, park, path, payday, plateau, platform, presume, protection, Queen Victoria, railway, rain, rainbow, Rhodesia, ride, river, rock, rule, Saturday, savannah, Scottish, scottish explorer, side, sight, site, smoke, smoke that thunders, Southern Africa, southern Zambia, spray, stand, statue, statue of david, Stream, structure, sun, surprise, swing, then, time, tourist, town, track, traffic, transportation, transportation schedules, Tunya, underfoot, valley, victim, Victoria, victoria falls, visit, void, walkway, water, waterway, way, width, work, work assignment, world, world heritage site, year, Zambezi, Zambia, Zimbabwe

The view of the valley is perfect from the alpine meadow, as we sit warm in the sun, listening to The Magic Flute at the annual Mozart Festival. This could easily be Salzburg or Kitsbuhl, but actually is the mountain village of Stowe in the Northeastern U.S. state of Vermont. Stowe lies in the heart of the Green Mountains, where the cold winters make for fantastic snow sports, and the fall brings leaf peepers to see the foliage. I’m most fond of the summers though, when the forest seems to be in full bloom, and the weather is pleasant. (more…)

Tags: accidental, Alpenhaus, alpine, alpine meadow, Alps, André, answer, Attached, Austrian, beer, bike, bloom, brew, Brewery, center, chatty, cheese, cold winters, couple, cream, Dining, dinner, dog, Emmenthaler, everything, experience, fall, family, fare, festival, flower, flower boxes, Flute, foliage, fondue, forest, full bloom, german dishes, Germania, Green Mountains, greenway, half, heart, herb, inn, Innsbruck, inquire, Kaesespaetzle, Kitsbuhl, lack, leaf, leaf peepers, Lederhosen, Lodge, Long Trail, love, lunch, macaroni, Magic, matter, meadow, menu, Mount Mansfield, mountain, Mozart, mozart festival, mushroom, music, New York, Noel, none, Northeastern U.S., Northern Lights, notch, number, offer, owner, page, pancake, path, patio, paved bike path, place, plethora, private residences, Pub, quality, reservation, resort, restaurant, right, river, road, room, Salzburg, sauce, scenery, Schnitzels, season, setting, Shed, snow, sound, soup, state, state of vermont, Stephensplatz, story, Stowe, Stowe Mountain, stowe mountain resort, strudel, sun, Swisspot, symbol, tea, theme, time, Touring, town, Trapp, trapp family lodge, trapp lodge, Tyrol, United States, valley, variety, vegetarian, Vermont, Vienna, view, village, visible symbol, Von, von trapp family, weather, Weizen, weizen beer, white flower, Wiessner, Woods, Wursts, year

Admittedly, it takes some will power to peel off your sleeping bag and get out of a car when mist still creeps across the fjells – the mountain plains in Norway – at 45°F on a chilly summer morning. However, traveling by car is the best option to explore this country, which would reach from the mouth of the Mackenzie River to Bristol Bay in the south-west of Alaska, if you transferred it from Europe to the American continent – or, in other words, it would stretch from Maine to Alabama.

The Norwegian Automobile Federation offers 268 camp sites and additionally there are about one thousand other camp and cabin sites as well as parking lots for caravans and recreation vehicles throughout the country and its fifteen national parks. Due to the Norwegian allemannsretten (everybody’s right), you may also park your car somewhere beside the road for just one night, which makes it easy to follow Norway’s national roads and enjoy the quiet lakes, dense woods, gentle hills, steep mountains, roaring waterfalls, sparkling glaciers and narrow fjords alongside. (more…)

Tags: Alabama, Alaska, allemannsretten, altitude, american continent, art, Artists, August, Automobile, bag, Baltic Sea, Blessed, boat, Bristol Bay, building, cabin, camp, canal, car, Caribbean Sea, century, chilly summer, church, cliff, coast, Columbus, cone, continent, Copenhagen, country, cradle, cycling, Dalen, difference, Eighth, eighth wonder of the world, end, energy, entrance, Europe, everybody, exaggeration, fall, farm, Federation, festival, fifteen, fjellveien, foot, Gaustatoppen, gentle hills, geology, gulf stream north, Hardangervidda, Heddal, hiking, history, home, hotel, house, hydroelectric power stations, interior, isn, itinerary, Jens Esmark, king, Kjerag, Krokan, Lake Bandak, Lake Norsjoe, level, longships, lot, Lysebotn, Lysefjord, Mackenzie River, Maine, masterpiece, Meandering, medieval, middle, mist, morning, mountain, mouth, Museum, narrow fjords, national roads, Newfoundland, night, north, North Sea, north sea oil, Norway, Norwegian, Notodden, offer, oil, option, Oslo, paddle, parish, parking, path, peel, place, plenty, power, Preikestolen, professor, pulpit, quiet lakes, raft, raft wood, recreation, region, resort, right, Rjukan, road, roaring, rock, sail, Sauland, scenery, sea, season, sentence, Skagerrak, Skien, skiing, south, southern neighbors, steel, steep mountains, Stream, summer, summit, Telemark Canal, Textiles, the Gulf, Tinn, Today, tourism, tourist, town, trip, troll, Tuddal, vacation, valley, Vemork, Vestfjorddalen, Via, view, visitor, waterfall, waterway, west, Wonder, wood, world, year

Watch out! Here comes another one. We’re walking down the boardwalk in Oludeniz, Turkey which also doubles as a paragliding landing zone. It’s no wonder people leap from the surrounding mountains and glide down to a soft beach landing, into this bay that’s one of the most photographed areas of the Mediterranean coastline.

Oludeniz means “dead sea” in Turkish. The actual town is named Belcekiz, but if you walk a couple hundred meters down the beach, you reach a peninsula of sand which creates a sheltered lagoon. The still, deep blue water behind this spit of land is the “dead” calm sea.
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