We are in the last month of December 2023 and feels like it just flew away. The year had its ups and downs and so did many of us in our lives. Hope things are better in the coming year and we all get to do things we love and spend time enjoying these.
Keeping up with my writing I thought of ending this year’s last travel story with a few highlights from my 2023 travels. I was lucky enough to travel to a some wonderful countries this year. I enjoyed most of the places I visited in all of these countries.
In this travel story I am writing about three of the natural wonders that I really loved exploring. I wrote about my Wadi Rum experience in Jordan last month so not repeating it. There are definitely more, but I am trying to keep the end year story short and plan to write about the other places sometime in the future. This also helps me to go back to the wonderful memories of my travel experiences, the sights and sounds of the places, the people, the food and the overall experience.
Thinking of all the places I travelled to, here are the three natural wonders:
Sumidero Canyon, Mexico
My first travel of 2023 was to Mexico. I travelled to Mexico City and from there to Tuxtla, San Cristobal, Palenque, Campeche, Merida, Chichen Itza on to Playa del Carmen. It was an exceptional trip and the weather was gorgeous.
From Mexico City, I flew to Tuxtla and visited the natural wonder Sumidero Canyon in the Chiapas state of Mexico. Sumidero Canyon is a 41 kms long and about 1000 m deep rift cut by Rio Grijalva which is about the same age as the Grand Canyon in the USA. At its highest spot marks the place where about 1000 Chiapa people committed suicide rather than submit to Spanish rule. I took a 2 hour speed boat ride through the canyon as that is the best way to explore and truly appreciate the beauty of Sumidero Canyon.
The speed boat stopped at many places during the ride and one thing I enjoyed in particular was a waterfall called the Christmas Tree. The waterfalls along the ridge really looks like a Christmas tree.
Plitvice National Park, Croatia
From Croatia’s capital city Zagreb, I took a day trip to Plitvice National Park which is a UNESCO World Heritage site. The travel from Zagreb takes about 2.5 hours but road conditions are quite good so the journey was pretty smooth.
At the main entrance of the National Park, along with the entrance ticket, map of the park is available showing many hiking trails within the huge area. Because I was there only for half a day, I took the help of a park guide to cover the main spots within the park. I started off initially with a long hike along and over the lakes, walking on the winding wooden pathways just above water levels. It was like walking over the crystal clear waters of the water while enjoying the surrounding views.
Plitvice National Park is absolutely stunning with its magical landscape, breathtaking sceneries and stunning waterfalls. Both the walk within the park and the boat ride on one of the lakes were wonderful. Walking on the wooden pathways, standing beneath the many waterfalls along the hike and looking up or down based on wherever I stood will remain an unforgettable experience.
Lake Ohrid, North Macedonia
During my travel through the Balkan countries I visited some places in North Macedonia out of which Lake Ohrid definitely took the top spot. After having visited various cities next to huge lakes in mainland Europe, I was mesmerised by the beauty of Lake Ohrid, which one of Europe’s oldest and deepest lakes. Lake Ohrid spreads across Albania and North Macedonia. Every part of this city is spectacular. If you have visited other lakes in Europe like Like Como or Lake Lucerne, I can tell Lake Ohrid will not disappoint you at all.
Ohrid and Lake Ohrid are UNESCO Cultural and Natural World Heritage Sites. The curved wide promenade along the lake with mountains on both sides as if they are hugging the lake was a great place to enjoy the sunrise and sunset. I stayed at one of the hotels along the promenade so could spent some relaxing time sitting on one of benches while enjoying nature.
One end of the lake has huge reeds spread over a huge area and there were many birds perched on these. I am not much of a bird watcher, but I enjoyed them as the overall scenery made it totally worthwhile. I took a 20 mins boat ride to the bottom of a hill side from where it was a short uphill hike to St Johns Macedonian Orthodox church situated on the cliff top. The views of Lake Ohrid and the city from here is gorgeous and luckily the weather was perfect on the day I was there.
Keeping the last travel story of the 2023 a short one, here is wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful 2024. My plan is to continue writing and sharing my travel experiences at the same pace next year.
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