The bone white buildings outline the hillsides on Serifos Island, Greece. Against the dark brown jagged rocks, the towns seems to fall into the blue Mediterranean waters like an avalanche of cubic snowflakes. Stereotypical Greek island? Maybe not, since it is missing one key feature of many a Greek island which are the hordes of tourists. As always, I’m constantly on the lookout for unspoiled pristine beaches and it does get harder and harder everyday. Latelym, it seems that my hypothesis stands (vis-à-vis tourism development) – The harder it is to get there, the more beautiful it is. In addition to that though; the fewer things to do, the higher the quality of cultural and environmental preservation. I’m sure that there is someone much smarter than I who can better articulate what I attempt to.

The island of Serifos is only accessible by water, the nightlife in its capital Hora is minimal but appropriate as the calm of the island (I feel) is a major part of its charm. A couple of museums to note are the Architectural and Folklore museums. Visiting the Cave of the Cyclops (complete with lake) along with the ruins of the Castle of the Old Lady (Kastro tis Grias) and the Taxiarches Monistary are key sites if you want to explore outside of the capital.

Now, about those beaches. They are all in great condition and you really can’t go wrong in which you decide to go to. I think the beach overlooked by Agios Sostis is beautiful. Ironically (at least to me) is that this is a beach that is frequented by nudists. Then again, we are all naked in the eyes of our makers right?

Above is a short video of Serifos by Vimeo user ilias Tsivgoulis. I felt that it does a fantastic job of conveying the relaxed atmosphere of the island.

In my getaway to Italy, finding a moment of pure serenity is one of the best feelings that I can think of while sea or lakeside. Usually I find myself having to travel somewhere far and remote to find that feeling. I think of paying long-tail boat captains to go island hoping in the Gulf of Thailand, deep sea excursions in Indonesia. An urban setting of any size does not come to mind though but after seeing Lake Orta, I may have found that balance at the foot of the Italian Alps.

Nietzsche was inspired here, Balzac was drawn to it and Robert Browning mentions it in his poem “By the Fireside.” I don’t blame them. The Alps serve as a backdrop to the Baroque architecture in the town of Pella while the Island of St. Giulio sits at the center of the lake surrounded by a sense of mystique – almost like the center of a story where the protagonist is unable to get the local townspeople to tell him about the mysterious island.

This video, IL LAGO DORATO (On Golden Lake), by Vimeo user PLMONZA captures the serenity and mystique of this beautiful Italian gem.

View original video here.

Myrtle Beach's Brand New Boardwalk

I’ve been to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina only once – during New Year’s 2009/2010. It was fun, but cold, and we could tell that the area would be entertaining to come back and visit come summertime. (We’d probably spend a lot of time playing miniature golf – we saw about twelve awesome looking courses!)

Of course, I’d also love to go back and visit the actual beach in Myrtle Beach, which was just lovely in December, as cold as it was. And now, there’s a fantastic, 1.2 mile long boardwalk to enjoy as well! The boardwalk was opened on Saturday, May 15, 2010 (as I was getting married in Key West, Florida), and it looks fabulous. The boardwalk is at times wooden and at times concrete, and it curves along the coastline like a giant sea snake. No longer do pedestrians have to trudge through the sand or risk walking along Ocean Boulevard – they can view beautiful Myrtle Beach from the safe vantage point of a lovely boardwalk.

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Block Island escaped from Hurricane Irene unscathed

I hate to say it, but if you have not yet booked a hotel on the beach in Outer Banks or Atlantic City for Labor Day weekend, you could probably get a very good deal right now. Both these areas were hit pretty hard by Hurricane Irene, which couldn’t have come at a worse time: one week before one of the year’s busiest beach weekends. So, I decided to write this post – not to encourage “disaster tourism” per se, but to help out these areas which are facing a very grim situation monetarily. Hotel cancellations are flooding in faster than the floods brought by storm surges and high tides as  many tourists are deciding to cancel their “last hurrah” trip of the summer and stay home instead.

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