Estrada Real - Conceição do Mato Dentro

I made it to Conceição do Mato Dentro, a small city with about 20,000 people. Modern buildings lined the main street that ran through the centre of the city. About halfway down the main road, I found a quirky path that zigzagged up the hill to another street. Curious about what was at the top, I hiked up and came across another path, much wider that led to Bom Jesus de Matozinhos Sanctuary.

The sanctuary was built in the 1930s replacing an earlier dilapidated version. Whilst the building seemed somewhat stark, its cream brick façade with burgundy grouting gave it a unique look that was a little unusual for a church design. Gorgeous stained-glass windows ran along the church's length. Located high up on a hill, the sanctuary offered great views of the city and mountains.

Meandering through the streets I visited the various churches and chapels with their white facades and blue trimmings. One of them had a bandstand at the front and a marketplace behind where I could indulge in fresh produce, a touch of sweets and local crafts.

After an amble around a wooden townhouse that served as a jailhouse and town hall, I headed into nature to visit the numerous waterfalls surrounding the outskirts of the city. The most famous one nearby is Minas Gerais’ tallest waterfall, Tabuleiro Waterfall. At the top are more waterfalls and lakes whilst at the bottom is a 59ft (18m) deep pool surrounded by large blocks of stone.

About 27mi (45km) southwest of Conceição do Mato Dentro is the Juquinha sculpture. It’s quite big, measuring 9ft (3m) in height. Made of cement by a plastic artist, the large sculpture pays tribute to a local hiker who was renowned for picking flowers and offering them to passing tourists, sometimes in exchange for objects of interest. He was a simple mountain man who easily befriended travellers, becoming an increasingly popular and beloved figure. After he passed away in 1983, the statue was erected in Serra do Cipó National Park and today is considered a symbol and protector of the Serra.

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Ring Road Iceland - Reykjavik

I have completed my 1,332km (828mi) journey around the Ring Road of Iceland finishing at the Árbæjarsafn Open Air Musuem, a historical museum about Reykjavik. The museum was born as a result of concerns that the city's historical legacy is disappearing. Built in 1954 the museum provides an insight into the lives and work of the people pre-20th century through displays of various types of buildings and cultural artefacts.

Any art or architecture enthusiast would revel in the exploration of The Einar Jónsson Museum. The first art museum in Iceland, it was the pipe dream of Iceland's first sculptor Einar Jónsson. Einar gifted all his works to the country on the proviso that a museum was built for them. Although the gift was initially rejected, following fundraising between Parliament and private contributors the art museum came into existence in 1916. The building, designed by Einar, is as much a sculpture as all the works it holds within its walls. The nearby sculpture garden is keeper of 26 bronze casts of his works. Einar worked with clay and plaster and in order to protect them the museum actively turns the sculptures into bronze casts. I also found many of Einar's works just meandering around the city.

No Reykjavik visit is complete without seeing Hallgrímskirkja, a parish church and national sanctuary 41 years in the making. At 74m (244ft) high, it is the largest church and one of the tallest structures in Iceland. It is an architectural feast with a façade reminiscent of the basalt column rock formations found throughout the island.

Outside the church is the statue of explorer Leif Erikson, which was a gift from the United States commemorating the 1000th anniversary of Iceland's parliament. Leif was a Norse explorer from Iceland and considered to be the first person to reach the North American continent around 1000AD.

Now if I had the time, I'd swing by the Golden Circle for a few days to see the Thingvellir National Park which is also a UNESCO site. Thingvellir is a rift valley where the North American and European continental plates separated. The nearby Thingvallavatn, is the largest natural lake in Iceland and reaches depths of 114m (374ft). On the northern shore of the lake is Silfra, a fissure filled with incredibly clear blue water. A perfect site for scuba diving and snorkelling. One of the diving sites is 100m (328ft) long with clear visibility from end to end.

However, I must end the journey here and as I travel homewards, I'll happily reflect on the natural and beautiful wonders I've experienced on this trip.



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Trek to Petra - Petra Theatre

Making my way downhill through a series of steps, I found myself in a very narrow canyon barely a metre wide in some sections and the rock faces towering above filtering limited light. The path ahead was somewhat rough and uneven with a fissure beside it that was sprouting with pretty pink bushes. The path narrowed further until more stairs led me down to the city centre of Petra.

Located in a basin and surrounded by mountains, Petra was at the centre of two major trading routes: 1. connecting the Gulf of Aqaba in the south to the Dead Sea in the north and 2. Connecting the Persian Gulf from the east to the Mediterranean in the west. Caravans travelling the routes would look for supplies and water stopping in Petra as the midway point. The Nabateans recognised the opportunity before them and charged taxes on the caravaners and fees for services supplied, subsequently getting involved in trade themselves. Petra flourished, giving the Nabateans the means to build their rock-cut temples and royal tombs.

The main street began with Qasr al-Bint, a religious temple that was one of the best preserved and largest freestanding buildings to survive. Next I passed the Great Temple. Built in the early first century AD, the Temple was a large complex of around 7,560 m². A steep set of stairs led to the entry of the temple, which consisted of a small theatre, a residential quarter, roman baths, water tanks, places of worship and rows of columns.

As the street curved there was a turn off to see the Royal Tombs, a collection of four grand tombs grouped together in the cliffs. The first one is the Urn Tomb carved with two columns on either side of a massive entrance and a chamber that is 56ft (17m) deep. Outside was a courtyard flanked by a 5 column colonnade on one side and a small gift market on the other. The next one was the Silk Tomb and although not particularly interesting architecturally what made this tomb impressive was its marbled façade in shades of red, pink, white and grey. The marbling effect was so striking that it has been likened to watered silk. Moving onto the Corinthian Tomb, it has sadly been weathered so extensively that the once polished façade and precisely cut columns are slowly returning to their natural state. Finishing with the Palace Tomb, this three storey building at 160ft (49m) wide and 150ft (46m) tall is one of the largest façades in Petra. What makes this one unique is that part of the structure is actually built above the rock face whilst the rest of it is carved into the rock. It is the only such structure in Petra. The first storey consists of four irregular entrances flanked by columns with the outer two entrances having arched pediments as opposed to the triangular ones on the inner two. The second storey had 18 columns unevenly spaced. The third storey was above the existing rock and was constructed with blocks making it prone to decay along the left side of the building. What little remains shows signs of even more columns although not quite as elaborate as those on the lower levels.

Heading back to the main street I made my way to the theatre. It was largely carved out of rock with the exception of the stage and exterior walls that were constructed from blocks. The semi-circular seating had a diameter of 310ft (95m) and was carved in three distinct sections with passageways in-between. Beneath the seats were a network of passages to help exit the auditorium via barrel-vaulted entrances located on either side of the theatre. Able to accommodate 8,500 people, the seating order was dictated by social rank with the lower seats reserved for the elite. The theatre was positioned in such a way that it brought as many tombs as possible into view. When the Romans annexed Petra in 106 AD, the theatre was enlarged by cutting through some of the older tombs that are still visible in the smoothed rock face at the back of the seating area.

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