Kruisherenhotel

The first time I've been to Maastricht (Netherlands), we passed an old cloister with a very peculiar entrance. Curious, we went inside and it turned out to be a hotel. We were quite impressed by the contrast between the century-old building and the design interiors. And the holographic light bulbs in the toilets! I thought, one day I'll come back to stay there.

said peculiar entrance

2 years later I did come back, and there we were. See the pictures below. This must be one of the 3 most expansive places I've stay at, though.

the lobby

the courtyard

the wine bar

the breakfast room

...the breakfast buffet was a 10m-long table with food so diverse, there's no way you could have tried half of it!

Maastricht is home to the Caves of St. Pieter, an underground labyrinth with over 20,000 (unlit) passageways, started by the Romans. Visits are made with torches. You get lost, you never come out...

Kaamos

I've just seen an impressive video on the Dot Earth Blog that shows northern lights filmed from the ISS. After that I really want to see northern lights again :-) Remember my post about Kakslauttanen? In the FAQ section on their website they have an entry "What is Kaamos?". They state "Kaamos is a time of phenomenal Arctic light performance, during which sky is blue when look North and red in the south." Somehow hard to imagine, until I ran into this picture...

Historic Stay-overs

I like old buildings reconverted into places you can stay at. Like this old abbey turned into a hotel, in Kientzheim, Alsace (France). Founded around the 12th century, it was an abbey to the St-Claire religious order.

Kientzheim is a medieval village with preserved fortifications, old stone houses and town square.

It also happens to be on the famous 'route des vins', that historic road runs along the Vosges mountains through picturesque villages and wine estates. On a nice sunny autumn day, go for a great drive and stop at the wineries for wine-testing! Make sure to bring a non-drinker along to delegate the driving part :-)

Salt Lake Country

Bolivia offers great scenery. The capital La Paz, at 3650m, is just about as high as the Mt.Fuji. One thing the country is famous for are the salar, these dry salt lakes that stretch for thousands of square miles.

©petuniverse

Rocky 'islands' pop out here and there. Someone that has been there once told me that if you camp on one of these hills, you are litterally surrounded by stars. They fill the sky in all directions from above your head to below the horizon! (since you are above the surrounding plain).

In this empty, featureless landscape, you can achieve funny photographic effects by playing with perspective. The possibilities are only bound by your imagination.

©gakout

Riviera Luxury

Maybe you have seen the movie "The Bucket List". If not, I recommend it. Anyway, in one scene of the movie Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman are having dinner in a spacious room with wide bay windows overlooking the mediterranean. That's the restaurant of Le château de la chèvre d'or in Eze, France. Eze is a nice old medieval village with stone houses, perched on a hill above the see.

Hotel entrance

Now that hotel is beyond romantic-getaway; more honeymoon-grade (or bucketlist-grade :-)
Watch out for the price though... a real wallet-buster.

Retreat On The Zambezi

At the corner of 4 african countries are found the great Victoria Falls, where the Zambezi river storms down a narrow gorge to continue its course 100m below. The "Smoke that Thunders" can be seen from afar in the savane plateau surrounding it. Haven't been there, but definitely tempted.
At bit upstream on the Zambezi, in Zambia, sits a beautiful luxury lodge. Now I always have a bit of an ethical problem with enjoying luxury in Africa, considering the extreme poverty in the continent. Anyway, just for the atmosphere it gives off, look at the pictures below.

Pictures from the website of the Tongabezi lodge

Victoria Falls. Pic found on Internet

The White Pyramid

In the Karakorum, near the K2, stands a mountain with a remarkable shape. And a very nice name. "Chogolisa"... sounds feminine somehow! Incidentally, in local culture this peak is considered the 'bride' of the K2 (aka Chogori = king of mountains).
This 7,665m-high rectangular pyramid just looks like a big ski jump. It also saw the death of great austrian mountaineer Hermann Bühl, first to summit the "killer mountain" Nanga Parbat.

Once again, pictures found on Internet. I'd love to do a trek in these regions, to the base camp of K2. But I don't see this happening anytime soon :-(

1001 Nights

In the city of Khiva, Uzbekistan, is a hotel that will transport you 10 centuries ago back to the world of Scheherazade. Made into an hotel from an old Medressa (koranic shool), its mosaic-covered arches under the stars will make you feel like you're in one of these 1001 stories.

Hotel Khiva

Khiva also happens to be one of the most beautiful cities I've been to. The old city center feels just like Agrabah in Disney's Aladdin :-)

Heights Rush

Do you know about the famous glass-floor in at the CN Tower in Toronto ? Walking with 350m below your feet, quite an experience.

What about the new Skywalk at the Grand Canyon, Arizona ? A glass pathway built as a horseshoe 1100m above the Colorado River. The emptiness directly below your feet is only about 200m, though.

The environemental aspect of this is questionable, but at least it brings extra income to the native-american tribe that is operating it.

In any case, hard to beat the Leukerbader Klettersteig in switzerland, where, right after coming out of a vertical cave, you will end up with 1000m of void right under your foot! Been there, done that :-)

Petra

Updating blogs again between two work shifts, this time having Pastis and listening to 'Mediterranean Odyssey' from the Putumayo Collection. This anis-based drink is common to many mediterranean countries, just with different names. Pastis in France, Sambuca in Italy, Ouzo in Greece, Rakı in Turkey, Arak in Jordan. Speaking of Jordan, most people know of the archaeological site named "Petra", made famous by "Indiana Jones And The Last Cruisade". But really, most people only know about this one facade carved in the rock named El Khazneh ("The Treasury"), which appears in the movie. It's most notable for being the end-point of a very narrow, winding dry canyon that opens up on this grandiose 40m-high monument.

El Khazneh

As the names suggests, you might wonder what treasures can be hidden inside. Well, actually nothing! The inside is very small and almost empty...
People know much less about another monument in Petra, which I personally find even more impressive. El Deir ("The Monastery") stands out in the open on top of a small mountain which you reach through a long narrow rocky path.

El Deir

Many people associate the name "Petra" with just this one famous monument (from the Indiana Jones movie), but Petra is actually is a very large site with countless monuments carved in the rock. We were there 10 hours and couldn't see everything. The picture below shows a big part of the site from the above. Notice all the small building in the distance.

A Night In The Vineyards

I'm drinking Tunisian red wine right now, "Sirocco", 2008, a great Cabernet-Syrah mix. The taste of the sunny south. I love the name and the word 'Sirocco'. It's the name of a warm wind that comes from the Sahara, sometimes crossing the entire Mediterranean to drop red-yellow african sand over the cars in Marseille. Anyway, I thought, let's make a relevant post.
In south france, you can actually stay at some of the wine estates. The ultimate romantic getaway: an old mansion surrounded by vineyards, the deep blue mediterreanean sky, the purple, pink, red, yellow of traditional south-france interiors, regional cuisine... and of course wine to savor, straight from the estate!

Château Roumanières

 

A room style for every taste... take you pick! (some maybe a bit kitsch though...?)

Steppe Meets Snow

At the border between China and Tajikistan, in the Pamir mountains, stands a high peak with a very peculiar environnement. The Mustagh Ata, or K5, instead of being lost a in a sea of snowy peaks, is surrounded by grassy steppe, yourts, and the beautiful Karakul lake. With its 7546 meters, it highly contrasts with its surroundings. Unfortunately I've never been there but I've once read someone's comment saying the shores of the Karakul lake was the most beautiful place that person had been to.
The Muztagh Ata also happens to be one of the easiest 7000er to climb. You can end the trek in with a visit to the renowned Sunday market in Kashgar.

Pictures found on Internet... apologies to the rightful owners!

The Gateway to Paradise ?

There exists somewhere in Jordan a natural site so beautiful you'd think it leads to some great place like Paradise or Shangri-la. It's a very narrow, winding canyon called Wadi Bin Hammad. The high walls are exotic-shaped but smooth and show colorfull metallic inclusions in the rock. The ground is a volcanic water stream up to the anckles or the knees, naturally-heated to a perfect 30-32°C. Palmtrees grow on the upper-reaches of the wall, shedding shimmering light rays into the canyon. Fresh water droplets fall from the above, creating light displays now and then. The pictures below barely render the atmosphere of being there.

The exit of the canyon, near the dead see, isn't the glorious place expected, but it's still a very nice spot with impressive contrast between the dried landscape and the bright pink rhododendrons.

The Cabriolet Room

Close to Lake Iseo (see the blog's first post), half an hour away from beautiful Bergamo, there is a hotel that has a room with retractable roof! An (expansive) romantic retreat under the stars. Just a notch above camping with the head outside :-)

Hotel L'albereta