Top Spots
Thingvellir, Iceland
I am biased probably, owing to my affiliation with Iceland, but the great parliament plains are still amongst my top 10 spots anywhere. The flowing river, the grass, the moss, the flowers, the pure white of the church, the ravines and distant volcanos. The history. Picture the scene: every summer for over 700 years, chieftains and their retinue converge here from all over Iceland. It takes a couple of weeks for those the furthest away to arrive. The Law Speaker pronounces from the law rock, people converse, argue, trade, romance; horses graze, fires burn. Summer lights. Smells of soft moss, wild flowers. Trees too, before they were all chopped down for firewood. Before the great tourist influx I remember camping in a small tent amongst the lava. Just a few visitors here then. But there is room for all in this beguiling place.
Philae temple, Aswan, Egypt
Maybe because it was the first temple I saw on my Egypt tour; maybe because we approached it by boat; maybe because the temple was moved stone by stone from its original site (now under the water), it is the one that sticks most in my memory. The soft golden stone, the amazing columns with their carvings and capitals, the Greeks, who built it, the Romans who added to it, the Christians who carved their Coptic crosses, Napoleon’s men who carved their inscriptions, a site of continuous worship for centuries. The rocks, the pools, the palms, the birds, the sun.
Statue of Liberty, New York, USA
I was rather surprised I was so overwhelmed by the Liberty statue. It is just gargantuan. And it commands the gates to the free world, towering like a sea goddess above the water. The sculptor, Bartholdi, apparently, was influenced in his design for the statue by the Colossi of Memnon which guarded the entrance to Amenhotep III’s funerary temple in ancient Egypt (See Egypt, part 2). Liberty is beautiful. At the same time it is a symbol of hope, of welcome to the oppressed, of freedom to the enslaved. And it is a woman of course. It is associated with many of those ideological sentiments which, sadly, we often fail to attain.
Seville Cathedral, Seville, Spain
Words can barely describe the magnificence of Seville cathedral. It is an immense and stunning Gothic building with a twelfth century bell tower, once the minaret of the mosque built by the Almohads. Within are eighty chapels, splendid vaults, golden ceilings and tiled floors. It is stuffed full of treasures: masterpieces by Spanish painters, fortunes in gold and silver, intricate stone carvings, stained glass windows, gilt covered woodwork, statuary and relics. Who needs an art gallery? Housing Christopher Columbus’ tomb, as well as that of King Fernando III and more, there is enough history here to satisfy the most zealous history buff.
Top Experience
Balloon flight over Luxor, Egypt
Even at a mature age, it is possible to feel a childish glee at trying something new. And wending our way through the darkness in a police convoy to take off from an airfield brimming with balloons in the early morning was just one of those gleeful moments. Even though normally in a stupor before two mugs of tea have been imbibed to wake me up, I was able to rise to the occasion. Literally. The bustling activity, the noise of the burners, the anticipation. The slight tip of the basket as we levitated with the dawn. Floating over ancient tombs and temples, 4000 years of history passing underneath us and the ever flowing Nile. Thrilling, magical. Possibly never to be repeated.
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