The Incas are noteworthy for their contributions to religion, architecture, and their famous network of roads throughout the region I recently visited in South America. The country’s name means “Equator” in Spanish, an abbreviation of the Spanish official name, República del Ecuador. Likely you’ve heard of Cusco, Machu Picchu, The Lost City of the Incas, The Sacred Valley of The Incas, and the legendary Inca Trail. But Ecuador played a major role …
I’ve visited many beautiful cathedrals but this one one stands apart from the rest for its incredible beauty and mind-boggling excesses! Competition Between Orders During the 16th century, religious orders were busy building churches in Quito. Franciscans, Dominicans, Augustinians and finally, Jesuits. Last in, the Jesuits were determined to build the MOST impressive church in the city. One hundred sixty years later, with a combination of four different architectural styles, …
Iceland’s gastronomy is inventive. A function of it’s extreme climate, Norse/Irish influences, rich natural resources and creative food culture. Until very recently, fishing was the primary industry, now second only to tourism. Sheep outnumber the Icelandic population. Not a single citrus fruit can be grown but root vegetables are abundant. Winters are long, dark and cold and summers are brief and cool. Here are my top tasting recommendations if you’re …
I wasn’t expecting “holy ground” when we stopped in the tiny town of Stöðvarfjörður (pop.184), tucked between Iceland’s eastern-most fjords and mountains. But that’s the way it felt. One woman’s collection of stones, cleaned and on display outside the home where she’d lived and raised four children. Where now ten years after her death, her family welcomes visitors to view their mother and grandmother’s life’s work. “Petra was sincere and …
Filling the valley between the mountains with blue-white light. Vatnajökull Glacier in Iceland is the largest glacier in Europe, covering eight percent of Iceland’s landmass. This glacier looms in the distance. It appears to breathe, a living organism. I can imagine it shape-shifting under its own weight, a moving sea of many century’s old ice. What is a Glacier? And Why is the Ice So Blue? A glacier is a …
The country has over three thousand NAMED waterfalls and countless unnamed. They thunder over rocky mega-crevasses left by million year old volcanic eruptions. Deafening. Hypnotic. Intimidating. These are Iceland’s “Foss” or falls which, along with their fjords and the glaciers, define the country’s landscape. Here are three of my favorites: Seljalandsfoss This 1.2-mile out-and-back trail near Þórsmerkurvegur is an easy, but slippery hike once you’ve climbed down into the area …