The answer to this burning question is at the end of this post. Enjoy the visual feast until you get there…. The country ranks #2 to the world wide leader, the Netherlands, in the export of this flower. Here, roses grow longer, thicker and heartier stems, with larger buds and fuller blooms making them the premium choice. In fact, rose stems from this country can grow to be over five …
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, …
Getting there is an odyssey of its own! A flight from Guayaquil to the Baltra Airport, water taxi to Santa Cruz Island, half an hour hike with backpacks to the speedboat dock, three hours on the waters to the small village of Puerto Villamil on Isabela. Largest of the Galapagos and considered the “gem” of the archipelago. Then a bus ride to Scalesia Lodge, situated in the highlands of Isabela …
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 …