Jaap van 't Veen's photos

Paria Rimrocks are part of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. It is a quite unknown area of fantastic rock formations just north of US 89, nearby the crossing of the Paria River. The Paria Rimrocks are easy accessible through a short trail. The area has an scenery based on bands of rock in many different colours; yellow, purple and red are the most prominent. In the rimrocks the layers are mostly white and red-brown. The differing hardness of the strata have created a great expanse of cliffs, plateaus, canyons, washes and badlands. The more unusual feature of the rimrocks is the many balanced boulders, known variously as hoodoos, goblins, toadstools or mushrooms, where flat blocks of hard sandstone are perched atop narrow columns of softer rock.

The Papingo rock pools can be found a long the stream Rogovo. They are easy accessible along a path (PiP1), starting at a small parking place along the road between Megalo Papingo and Mikro Papingo. Soon the first rock pools - locals call them ovires - are visible. These fonts are actually cavities, which were created in the limestone rocks by the movement of the water of the Rogovo. The valley narrows and becomes a kind of gorge without a real trail, but with numerous pools, filled with crystal clear water. In summer locals often close artificial barriers (PiP4), creating ‘swimming pools’.

Stanton was one of the prettiest and picturesque villages of the Cotswolds during our visit. Walking around it looked as if time had stood still and little or nothing had changed in the past years and that all without tourists (and shops). It has a couple of streets lined with ancient houses (PiP1), built in authentic Cotswold style with honey coloured Jurassic limestone walls and pitched gables. The village has some 16th, 17th and 18th century houses and a restored medieval cross (PiP2). Stanton is derived from 'stan' (stone), from which it is built. At the end of the village stands the Mount Inn on a mount. From the terrace one has wonderful panoramic views of the village and the surrounding Cotswold landscape. Just a pitty that we were too early, as the pub was still closed. Mount Inn is a village pub, dating back to the early 17th century, when it was a farm house.

Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park is situated at an altitude of 1,800 metres; the dune field is 14 km² large. It became the status of a state park in 1963. The (more or less) coral pink coloured sand of the dune field consists of grains of sand, which - as a result of erosion – come from Navajo Sandstone of the Moquith and the Moccasin Mountains. The strong wind, which is characteristic for this area, finds its way through the narrow opening between the two mountain ranges. The tunnel effect ensures that the speed of the wind is increased to the point where grains of sand can be carried along (this phenomenon is called venturi affect ). After the wind has passed through the notch and reaches an open valley, its power decreases considerably, causing the sand to be deposited. The Coral Pink Sand Dunes are estimated at 10.000 to 15.000 years old. They are not very high, the highest are about 12 meters. The area has relatively much rainfall. This is why there is plenty of vegetation present on and around the sand dunes, which is quite amazing to see. The dunes and hills of sand can move as much as almost 20 meters a year.

During our travels through Greece - late May / early June - it was almost impossible to miss the poppies. Whether it’s surviving between the ancient stones of ruins or flamboyantly splattering on the green fields, we found those striking red ‘paparounes’ everywhere. Googling around I found out that poppies in Greek mythology were used as symbols of sleep and death. In ancient Greece, the poppy was associated with the god of sleep - Hypnos - and the god of dreams, Morpheus. The drug morphine, got its name from Morpheus.

Lower Slaughter is one of the most authentic and beautiful Cotswold villages with its limestone cottages in the traditional style (PiP 1 and 2). During our visit not overcrowded with tourists (like other nearby villages like Bourton-on-the Water or Broadway) and an ideal peaceful place for a walk around the splendid Saint Mary’s Church and along the River Eye, a stream peacefully running through the village crossed by two narrow footbridges. The name of the village of Lower (and Upper) Slaughter derives from the old English name for a wet land 'slough' or 'slothre' (= muddy place) upon which it lies. “The Old Mill” is the main attraction in the quaint village. Already in the year of 1086 a mill is recorded on this site; in the 14th century it had begun to be known as “Slaughter Mill”. The present mill was built in the 19th century. Nowadays it offers a museum, craft shop and tea-room with a wonderful terrace along the River Eye (PiP 3 and 4).

Goosenecks State Park lies northwest of Mexican Hat, where the San Juan River flows through a couple of bends in a deep canyon. The landscape is similar to the Horseshoe Bend (Page - Arizona), although personally I found Goosenecks more impressive because it has more bends. For visitors Goosenecks State Park is ‘only’ a viewpoint for spectacular views over the river. There are no trails and/or access to the river. The San Juan River meanders – about 300 meters below the viewpoint - through the landscape in a number of large bends, covering a linear distance of about 2 kilometers, but the real distance is no less than 9 kilometres. The bends are popularly called “goosenecks”. Goosenecks is considered being one of the most striking examples of a river meander on the North American continent. Various geological activity have contributed to the creation of this landscape. About 300 million years ago, the rock was pushed up by movements in the earth's crust. In addition, folds in the earth caused the river to carve out the enormous bends. Water, wind and frost erosion further shaped the landscape. (For this panorama I had to stitch a couple of images together.)

Nikiti is a popular tourist town on the west coast of the Sithonia peninsula. In the summer months, the terraces along the sea are crowded with tourists. In the port of Nikiti tourist boats, yachts and fishing boats moor (PiP1). The village offers many restaurants, bars, cafes - especially along the seafront - and shops. The northern part of Nikiti is the most traditional neighborhood (PiP2). The old houses from the beginning of the 19th century along the narrow streets are built of stone. The red tiles and gardens create a friendly atmosphere in this (quiet) part of Nikiti.

Schloss Weißenstein (Castle Weissenstein) looks for me more like a palace. This palatial residence is a masterwork of Franconian baroque architecture. It is considered being one of Germany’s most beautiful baroque buildings. In 1710, Lothar Franz von Schönborn, Prince-Bishop of Bamberg and Archbishop of Mainz, inherited the estate after a local family had died out. He ordered the construction of a palace as a private summer residence. He employed some of the best known architects of that time to construct a building of European importance. The palace was built between 1711 and 1719 from local sandstone material. During the Seven Years' War (1756 - 1763) the palace was attacked and damaged by Prussian troops. Minor restoration work was done in the late 19th century. More recently, preservation work has been done in 1975 to 2003. After the death of Lothar Franz in 1729, the palace passed to his nephew Friedrich Karl von Schönborn who had the park expanded. In the early 19th century, the park was converted into an English landscape garden. Weissenstein is still the property of the Schönborn family. Weissenstein Palace has a fully fully furnished interior and a splendid staircase. It has the largest private baroque art collection in Germany with more than 600 pictures, including work of Peter Paul Rubens, Albrecht Dürer, Titian, Rembrandt and Anthony van Dyck. The castle can only be visited within a guided tour.

The landscape of Valley of the Gods - located just north of Mexican Hat - is a scenice backcountry area, which is more or less similar to that of the much more famous Monument Valley, which lies about 30 miles to the south. Valley of the Gods is also home to magnificent buttes and towering pinnacles scattered in an empty and vast desert landscape. The sandstone valley is accessed - free admission - by a 17 mile long dirt road. During our visit the road was very easy to ride in the beginning, but at the end were some rocky parts. Unlike Monument Valley we didn’t see almost no other tourists. Main picture: Valley of the Gods seen from the Moki Dugway PiP’s: panorama and rock formations of Valley of the Gods

Just a flowering tree (Persian silk tree or pink silk tree) on a beach along the coast of the Gulf of Corinth north of Galaxidi; a small harbour and fishing village.

The (old) monastery Agios Dionysios is located in the Enipeas gorge at an altitude of 850 meters in the Olympus Mountains (PiP5). The monastery was directly subordinated to the patriarch of Constantinople. The monastery was founded in 1542 by Saint Dionysios. Its name was Agia Triada, which means Holy Trinity. Surrounded by strong high walls and equipped with a watchtower, it looked like a small fortress. During various conflicts the monastery served as a refuge for civilians, but also for military personnel. In its history, the monastery has been plundered and burned, but also rebuilt several times. In April 1943 the monastery was attacked by the German army. Assuming that the building could be a refuge for Greek resistance fighters, the Germans first bombed it and then destroyed it with explosives. After the destruction of their monastery in 1943, the monks moved to an annex fifteen kilometers from the old monastery and much lower on the slope of the Olympus. That complex, dating from 1650, grew in the following years into the (new) Dionysios monastery. The remains of the old monastery and the walls that surrounded it are still visible. The main church has been restored and renovated. Its location and the mixtures of ruins and the renovated katholikon (= main church of the monastery) made it for me a special and very charming site.

Zion National Park is Utah’s first national park, which is located the small town of Springdale. With millions of visitors it is the most visited park in Utah. Zion has an area of almost 600 km² and it consists of a number of high plateaus that are intersected by deep canyons. Zion NP is located at the junction of the Colorado Plateau, Great Basin, and Mojave Desert regions. The most important part is Zion Canyon. That is a gorge - 24 kilometers long and 800 meters deep - with high rising walls and slopes. The canyon walls are reddish and tan-coloured sandstone. The gorge has been carved out by the North Fork Virgin River and thanks to the river the canyon has a richly varied flora and fauna with numerous plant and bird species, as well as many different mammals and reptiles. In spring, when the snow in the mountains melts, the Virgin River drains large amounts of debris and sediment. As a result the erosion is still in full swing. In 1909 the area was named “Mukuntuweap National Monument” in order to protect the canyon, which nine year later became Zion National Monument; Zion being a term used by the Mormons, who were living in the area. In November 1919 the monument was redesignated as “Zion National Park”. Main picture : View from Canyon Overlook into the Pine Creek Canyon PiP1 : Checkerboard Mesa along the Zion - Mount Carmel Highway PiP2 and 3 : Zion Canyon near the Zion Lodge

I had seen pictures and TV-video’s about Meteora and it was on my bucket list for a long time. Having seen quite a lot of different countries and sights I only can say that this extraordinary place now is one of my top ten places. Meteora combines unique natural rocks with unimaginable human efforts. Meteora (from the Greek adjective meteoros - which means "elevated above the earth"), refers to the group of isolated rock pinnacles and to monasteries built on them. The height of these rocks varies from 300 more than 600 meters. The rock pillars of Meteora - also called “the rock forest of Greece” - tower hundreds of meters above the plain of Thessaly and the towns of Kalampaka and Kastraki. In the dark grey rock masses vertical grooves are carved out by rainwater that seeped down along the rock walls. The horizontal lines are much older and were created by waves hitting the rocks when the plain of Thessaly was the bottom of a sea. Millions of years ago, the pillars were part of the rocky bottom of that sea. A series of powerful earthquakes pushed the entire region out of the sea, creating a plateau with countless fractures in the thick sandstone layer. Weathering of the broken sandstone by water, wind and strong temperature changes then created the towering outcrops The natural sandstone towers of Meteora were first used as a religious refuge when the hermit Barnabas retreated to a cave in 985. Around 1350 Nelios, prior of the Stagaik monastery, built the first small church. Soon afterwards the monk Athanasios, from Mount Athos, founded the monastery Megalo Meteoro on one of the many rock formations. It is still not quite clear how the first hermits reached the top of the steep cliffs. Probably they slammed hooks in the rock and lifted building materials. Monasteries could be reached by rermovable ladders and later windlasses were used to haul monks in nets. There followed 23 more monasteries, most of which fell into disrepair at the end of the 18th century. In the twenties of the 20th century stairs were cut into the rocks to make the remaining six monasteries (Agios Nikolaos Anapafsas, Roussanou, Varlaam, Megalo Meteoro, Agios Stefanos, Agia Triada) more accessible. Now monks and nuns live there again. Since 1988 the six monasteries are listed as a cultural UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Plaka - considered being the sea port of Leonidio - is one of those quaint picturesque seaside villages on the Peloponnese. Plaka has a little harbour with some (fishing) boats, a couple of small taverns, cafes and shops adjacent to the clear water and a pebbled beach. At least during our visit it looks if tourism had not spoiled this authentic fishing village.

In 1948 National Geographic explored the region and published some photographs in their edition of September 1949. The area was named “Kodachrome Flat”, after the relatively new brand of Kodak film they had used. In 1962 the state of Utah recognized the area as a state park, albeit under the name “Chimney Rock State Park”, for fear of repercussions from Kodak. A few years later the park was named “Kodachrome Basin State Park”, with the permission of the Kodak Film Corporation. Kodachrome Basin State Park features a unique landscape with 67 towering monolithic rock spires or chimneys. These sand pipes, or chimney rocks, are believed to be remnants of solidified sediment that filled the ancient geysers that dominated the landscape. Red, brown, white and yellow layers of sediment became exposed as outer layers of Entrada sandstone eroded. Today, these multi-coloured sand pipes range in height from a couple of meters till more than fifty meters (the largest spire is the so called Chimney Rock). Kodachrome Basin State Park opened to the public as a state park in 1963.

Driving around in Greece we had seen already quite a lot of tortoises along the road. But this was the first one being so friendly to pose for the camera. Although I’m not sure I suppose it is (must be) a Greek tortoise, also known as common tortoise ; one of five species of Mediterranean tortoises. Depending on the subspecies, Greek tortoises will grow to between 11 and 20 centimeters. The Greek tortoise is a very long-lived animal, achieving a lifespan of upwards of more than 100 years, but in the wild, many do not live past the age of 20, due to predation and other factors.

Like many other Byzantine monasteries, Osios Loukas Monastery is situated in a picturesque valley with olive trees on the slopes of Mount Helicon - opposite Mount Parnassus. The monastic complex is in harmony with the surrounding landscape, following the example of the ancient temples. The buildings are considered being the largest and best preserved of the Middle Byzantine period, with extraordinary architecture and excellent decorations of mosaics, frescoes and sculptures. The complex is enclosed by a wall and comprises blocks of cells, a bell-tower, the refectory nowadays a museum - and two churches. The katholikon - main church of the monastery - was built in 1011-12. This cathedral is the only surviving structure to have eight pillars surrounding the central dome. The second one is the Church of Theotokos (Virgin Mary). This is the only church in Greece that is certain to have been built in the 10th century. The architectural design of the church follows the typical Byzantine architecture of "cross-in square" type and the walls have been built out of a mixture of bricks, marble and stone. It became the prototype for all the classical Byzantine churches of southern Greece. The monastery was founded around the middle of the 10th by the monk Loukás (St. Luke). His relics are exhibited in the katholikon. They were stolen by the Crusaders during the 13th century and kept in the Vatican for centuries. The monastery of Osios Loukas - still inhabited by monks - is included in the list of world heritage monuments of UNESCO.