TANTRIC BHUTAN

The most fabulously exotic country on earth is the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan. The Bhutanese religion of Tantric Buddhism is here exemplified by a prayer hall wall painting of Yab-Yum – the physical union of Compassion and Wisdom. Male compassion is personified as the deity Samvara with a blue body, multiple faces and arms. He embraces his consort of female wisdom Vajra-varahi.

It is important to understand that Yab-Yum is considered a sacred act as a path to Enlightenment. It is just one example of how Bhutan may stretch our comfort zone to learn ancient ways and practices, giving us (more…)

INSIDE GIBRALTAR

We’re all familiar with the famed Rock of Gibraltar, huge and imposing from the outside – but inside the Rock itself is the enormous St. Michael’s Cave with fantastical formations colorfully illuminated.

For millions of years, rainwater created fissures in the Rock’s limestone widening into huge caves with the steady drip of mineralized water creating massive stalactites hanging from cave ceilings and stalagmites rising up from cave floors. A phantasmagorical experience.

Gibraltar has been a British territory since 1713 when Spain ceded it in the Treaty of Utrecht. Thus also high up inside the Rock are the Great Siege Tunnels (more…)

FLASHBACK FRIDAY – SHACKLETON

You likely read the new story this week of the extraordinary discovery of Antarctic legendary explorer Ernest Shackleton’s ship The Endurance 10,000 feet deep at the bottom of the Weddell Sea: Ernest Shackleton’s Sunken Ship Endurance Found 107 Years Later (3/09/22).

Perhaps you read my account of his incredible exploits in Endurance (April 2013). I thought to commemorate the ship’s discovery with this photo of me at Shackleton’s gravesite at the abandoned whaling station of Grytviken on the Antarctic island of South Georgia.

Shackleton was the most heroic arctic explorer of them all. The famous eulogy at his funeral says (more…)

SLOVENIA’S VINTGAR GORGE

In a hidden corner of Europe, the Radovna River pours off the Julian Alps to carve out the Vintgar Gorge with crystal clear water. A mile-long walkway with towering limestone cliffs on either side is your access.

Nearby is the gorgeous Lake Bled, with Bled Castle suspended atop a shoreline cliff. The medieval village of Piran, built on a spit of land projecting into the Adriatic Sea and encircled by a white sand beach is a short drive away. Ljubljana is one of Europe’s most utterly charming capital cities.

Most people have only heard of Slovenia as the birthplace of (more…)

ROME IN AFRICA

The best place to see Roman ruins is not in Rome or anywhere in Italy. It’s in Africa – specifically on the Mediterranean coast of Libya. This is the Roman theatre at Sabratha built in the 1^st century BC. Over 2,000 years old, it’s still mostly intact. Starting as a Berber village, the Phoenicians founded the city as Sabrat by 500 BC. Then came the Greeks, then the Carthaginians, and after the Punic Wars came Rome.

The Libyan coast was a lush fertile place back then. So much so that Sabratha and the other major Roman city nearby, Leptis (more…)