Part 3: The Mornington Peninsula We continued with a scenic drive that took us along mountain passes, eucalyptus forest and misty mountains. We were greeted by a gentle rain as we crossed the border to Victoria. Then the weather got increasingly worse that it was hard to see the road. Three and a half hours later, we arrived in Metung. We missed our scheduled arrival at the hotel that after checking in, the only thing left to do was to have dinner. But most of the restaurants were closed. Luckily, we found an Indonesian/Mediterranean restaurant not far from our hotel. Oddly enough, it was still light after dinner, so we were able to catch the setting sun and take pictures of the sunset and its reflection on the water. When I woke up the next morning, R had already done his morning walk. He brought us coffee and scones that he got from the farmer's market across the street. It was the best scone I have ever had. We all went back to the farmer's market to get more scones, jam and...
Chapter 6: Axum, Cradle of Ancient Civilization After days of winding mountain roads, rugged landscapes, and stone castles that felt pulled straight out of legend, we finally reached Axum. This wasn’t just another stop on our Ethiopian journey—it felt like stepping directly into the heartbeat of history. Ethiopia calls itself the Land of Origins, and in Axum, I understood why. With more than 2,500 years of history, Axum was once the capital of an empire that traded with Rome, India, and Arabia. Its name alone carries the weight of myth, faith, and mystery. Most famously, Axum is believed to guard one of the greatest treasures in religious history: the Ark of the Covenant. The Church of St. Mary of Zion The Stelae of Axum Our first stop was the Stelae Fields, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. These towering granite obelisks are unlike anything I’ve seen before. Some stretch nearly 20 meters high, carved from a single piece of stone, their faces etched with windows and doors as tho...
When we hear the place Transylvania, we almost always think about Dracula, the bloody vampire, that always makes a good Halloween story. So, when I visited Transylvania early this year, it's hard not to associate the places, like the Bran Castle to the famous novel "Dracula" by Bram Stoker. It’s said that Bram Stoker’s inspiration for the Dracula was a historical character Vlad Tepes or Vlad III, the ruler of Wallachia in the 15th century. During Stoker’s research on the region of Transylvania, he came across the brutal accounts of the atrocities committed by Vlad III, also known as Vlad Dracul, aka Vlad the Impaler. He was known for committing brutal acts of war and was under constant threat of attack from the Ottoman and Hungarian forces. During his infamous retreat from the Ottoman forces, Vlad the Impaler had the bodies of his enemies and his people alike impaled on large spikes in the field surrounding his county. The inspiration for the made-up character ma...
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