Middle of the Earth
The Mediterranean islands are the closest to the expanses of our homeland. Here it is - the childhood of humanity, the cradle of European civilization, the velvet season of a resort romance.
The ancient Greeks, in essence, had a very correct idea of the universe: the Earth was encircled by a mighty Ocean, all in whirlpools and whitecaps, and across the Earth spread the ever-noisy Sea with a capital letter - the most important, the most unique, the most Mediterranean. In all its manifestations, on all its islands, the essence of the Mediterranean is simple: it is the best place on Earth. Here everything glitters in the sun, although covered in the dust of centuries: on Crete you can still see the traces of the white bull that abducted young Europa, in a cave on Mljet the coals of a campfire lit by Odysseus have not cooled, on Cyprus the echo repeats the laughter of the newborn Aphrodite.
At the same time, any Mediterranean island is by no means a dusty history textbook. It is the ghostliness and transparency of everything above your head and under your feet, it is old crooked olive trees and prickly cactus patties, it is blueness, azure, aquamarine green - the color of eternity, muted by healthy optimism, and thousand-year-old elders herding sheep, it is cheese, wine and olive oil, and fish on the grill grate, and woven lobster traps, and spaghetti marinara, of course, and octopuses drying on strings like kitchen towels. In short, the Mediterranean is life.
By and large, there is only one independent island in the Mediterranean Sea - Malta. The rest are part of continental countries. Cyprus is still a fragment of Greece, and there is nothing to say about the rest. The islands differ greatly from the mainland parts of their country. First, in their patriarchal nature: traditions that can only be preserved in the deepest hinterland still live there; pastoral scenes show through the features of civilization.
Everything there is simpler and more artless than on the mainland - both food and mores. Fishermen go out to sea in small boats every evening, and in the morning their wives sell the catch right at the pier; on Sundays the men gather at the same pier to have a drink in a bar with rickety chairs, discuss yesterday's football and today's wind, and next to them sit their dogs - shaggy blue-eyed huskies - looking at the sea with faded eyes. For some reason, fishermen on Mediterranean islands love them very much.
Secondly, the islands are distinguished by a special eclecticism. They were conquered often and with taste, and each conqueror left his traces there. Now on Spanish Menorca there are Tudor-style mansions - the legacy of British residents, and on Italian Sardinia there is the Spanish city of Cagliari, whose residents speak Catalan. Not to mention ancient Roman columns and antique mosaics, Genoese windows and Moorish watchtowers.
Archipelago of the Conquest
Spain made an incredibly large contribution to the arrangement of various islands. That is, during the Age of Great Geographical Discoveries, everyone tried their best - both Britain, Portugal, and the Netherlands. But Spain succeeded most of all: it took care of islands in the Mediterranean Sea, the Atlantic, the Caribbean, and even the Pacific Ocean, where it planted the Spanish spirit in the hearts of ordinary Filipinos.
The closest Spanish islands are the Balearics in the Mediterranean Sea. Historically they became part of Catalonia, so on each of the islands they speak their own dialect of the Catalan language. There are four large islands in the archipelago, and they are all different. Ibiza is the most party-oriented island in the world. At night people have fun at discos, and during the day they catch up on sleep on the beach.
Menorca is a pampered and refined lady. It belonged to Britain for a hundred years, and the local Catalan language is heavily mixed with English. To this day it is an English reserve, a summer cottage in an eclectic style. Formentera is a tiny patriarchal island, clean and quiet.
Mallorca is the quintessence of the Balearics. There are places for partying like Ibiza, refined like Menorca, and quiet like Formentera. There are cliffs dropping vertically into the water, and a plain dotted with windmills, protected forests and ancient monasteries, fortresses and castles. It is equally good for a quiet beach holiday, an active sightseeing holiday, and a party holiday. A romantic trip, a vacation with children, or a noisy company of friends works wonderfully there.
The Canary Islands are lost in the Atlantic. This is Europe without Madrid, Spain without bullfighting, tropical islands without Papuans. Or vice versa - it is Spain in a tropical paradise, Europe in a wild ocean, cozy comfort in the midst of the sixth day of creation. Or even more vice versa - 'an oasis in the desert of civilization,' as one exiled Spanish philosopher noted.
The archipelago has thirteen islands: seven main ones, four medium-sized, and two tiny ones. They differ from each other like the right hand of a Moorish prince differs from the left foot of a Turkish pasha. In the middle lies a 'mainland in miniature' - the tourist-developed island of Gran Canaria. It is third in size, and is called Gran because tall aborigines lived there. That is, 'island of the big Canarians.' Next to it are the lush-park, high-mountain, hotel-and-entertainment Tenerife with the Teide volcano, the quiet La Gomera, Hierro and La Palma with their provincial towns, laurel groves, small rocky coves, and colorful little volcanoes. For surfers, Fuerteventura is offered with its flowing dunes and endless deserted beaches. The height of exoticism is the purple lava fields and Martian landscapes of Lanzarote.
Of the small islands, only two are inhabited: La Graciosa near Lanzarote and Lobos near Fuerteventura. Six hundred fishermen live on the first, and on the second there is just a single inhabitant - the lighthouse keeper, who also looks after a colony of fur seals.
The most visited island by domestic tourists is Tenerife. The southern coast is a string of huge hotels, long beaches, casinos, signs in Russian, discos, and bars.
Need to go to the Anaga mountains to breathe in the laurel-scented air of the Mercedes forest, and then descend to the ocean among the bizarre rocks near the village of Taganana. You should visit old Teide and drive through the pine kingdom of the Esperanza Forest, survive the serpentine road leading to the Masca Gorge, and in the village of Masca have a coffee while sitting above a precipice conventionally fenced with a rope. Get to know the cloud that lives in the middle of the street in Santiago del Teide, look at the black lava flows frozen behind the brave town of Garachico, almost destroyed by the Pico Viejo volcano. And, of course, eat vieja fish, fried whole, with all its spines and prickles.
In the Footsteps of Columbus
The Spanish Empire also extends to the Caribbean - unofficially, of course. However, the spirit of the Conquest and piracy, of that cheerful Spanishness, is still alive here - in Caribbean Spanish, in the fiery Creole dances that inevitably recall flamenco, and in architecture that is southern in its motley brightness, yet subtly Spanish.
The first island Columbus discovered in these blessed lands was Haiti. And when he discovered it, he wrote to the Spanish queen: "I assure you that these lands are so vast, beautiful and rich that it is impossible to imagine such delightful places without seeing them with your own eyes." And he was absolutely right. Since Columbus's time, the islands have become even more beautiful: they have grown elegant fortress towers, colorful colonial-style houses, and luxurious hotels.
The island of Haiti is shared by two countries: Haiti itself and the Dominican Republic. Tourists mostly go to the Dominican Republic. Almost the entire coast of the republic is one continuous beach. Playa Bavaro gently flows into Playa Dorada, Puerto Plata is in no way inferior to Punta Cana. You can choose any one - it will be soft white sand by clear azure water and excellent service. Almost all hotels in the Dominican Republic operate on an all-inclusive basis.
In the Caribbean, Spain shares influence with Portugal, France and the Netherlands. There are enough islands for everyone. There are two whole archipelagos: the Greater Antilles and the Lesser Antilles. The Greater are Cuba, Jamaica, Puerto Rico and Haiti, and the Lesser are the Dutch Aruba and Curaçao, Venezuelan Margarita and the small islands around it, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Saint Lucia, the French Martinique, Saint Martin and Guadeloupe, Dominica, Saint Kitts and Nevis. One can only wonder how it all fits in one sea!
People go to the Caribbean with one goal - to enjoy life. Everything here is specially designed for this: beautiful calm nature, lagoons with turquoise water and white sand, the cheerful character of the locals who constantly smile, dance and sing, carefree life in hotels or guesthouses, the hot embraces of the sun and the cool Atlantic breeze.
Asian Exoticism
The Asian islands occupy some uncertain position: as if one side floats in the Indian Ocean, while the other still reaches the Pacific. An unimaginable number of different peoples and ethnic groups, gods and goddesses, unseen animals and birds live there. Crossing the distance between the island of Singapore and the island of New Guinea is like moving backward in time, not by centuries but by millennia! On Penang, every village has an internet cafe; on Borneo, cannibals still remain. Everything there is strange, incomprehensible, unlike anything else. In a word - exotics.
Island of Eternal Summer
One of the most exotic islands with hotels and tourist services is Sri Lanka. This is real exoticism - with elephants and temples, with lush jungles and deserted beaches, with poor villages and a destitute but cheerful population.
In Thailand, two islands attract attention - Phuket and Samui. The first is the best resort in the Andaman Sea. Its gentleman's set is passive: eternal summer, eternal smiles of the Thais, good hotels, golf courses, nightlife, all the way to the most risqué. Samui is an island of untouched nature, and nature that is amazing, unpredictable, and disheveled. It is located in the Gulf of Thailand, 30 km from the mainland. There you can ignore a real hotel and rent a hut on stilts at the water's edge. This hut will never make it into hotel ratings, but you will hardly find a hotel where the sea smells so sharply, the stars shine so close, and the hostess makes such a tasty omelet for breakfast. You just have to be careful leaving the hut: during high tide, the bottom step of the ladder is covered with water.
Malaysia is no slouch either. The most touristy islands in this country are Penang and Langkawi. People come to the first to get acquainted with amazing Asian culture, but you can't swim in the sea there anyway, because the water is murky and dirty. But Langkawi is quite capable of satisfying the need for swimming, diving, and riding various watercraft. This is an archipelago consisting of a hundred lovely islands, the main one being called Langkawi. And the most interesting island in Malaysia is the huge wild Borneo. There, in the remote jungles, headhunters still live - the fierce Dayaks; there are orangutans, the funniest monkeys in the world, proboscis monkeys, and hornbills. People come to Borneo for the jungle. And for diving on the small island of Sipadan, one of the most fashionable diving resorts.
Island of Love
Indonesia is also an island state. It occupies 13,700 islands of the Malay Archipelago. Around and between them splash two oceans - the Pacific and the Indian - and many seas: the South China, Timor, Arafura, Java, Sulawesi and Banda seas. There is everything here: the wild exoticism of Kalimantan and New Guinea, the quiet paradise of Bali, the ancient temples of Java, Komodo dragons, flying foxes, man-eating tigers and man-eating people.
The islands of Indonesia cater to different tourist needs. Java is for the most curious. There is the world's greatest Buddhist temple, Borobudur, the Hindu temple Prambanan, and mysterious ancient stone sculptures on the mountain plateau.
Sumatra and Sulawesi are for ethnography enthusiasts who want to see the life of the most distinctive tribes. Hotels and transport are a big problem on these islands, but something can be found.
Kalimantan is vast untouched jungle, one of the oldest on Earth. But it is better to explore it from the Malay side, where it is called Borneo.
New Guinea is for the most desperate adventure lovers. There you can still fall into the hands of cannibals and headhunters. True, on the coast everything is calm, there are both hotels and restaurants.
Lombok is becoming an increasingly fashionable place - an island of contrasts. In the north, high mountains covered with jungles rise, and in the south there is a scorched plain with gray buffalo grazing. Luxurious hotels with diving centers, chili pepper and palm plantations, ponies instead of taxis, quaint Sasak villages - all this fits on one island.
And between Lombok and Java lies the best island - Bali. If there are special places for lovers in the world, then Bali takes first place among them, and second place goes to all the rest. It looks like a big fish asleep in the middle of the ocean. On its hot side, peaked mountains crowd, palms bristle, and bougainvilleas maddened by the sun bloom. There live magical animals, barongs, and lithe, dark-skinned girls with orchids in their hair take them for walks in the morning. There, funny little gods guard bridges and crossroads, and ancient pagodas grow right out of the foamy waves. There time has stopped. It moves slowly, confusing days, hours and centuries, confusing maps and plans, making your head spin and turning your soul upside down.
It is completely incomprehensible why a holiday on Bali has such a narcotic effect on the body, or a magical effect, or whatever you call it. Maybe the special smell of tropical flowers floating over the island is to blame? Maybe the soothing beauty of landscapes and villages, planted with delicate azaleas and jasmine, built with neat houses and many whimsical temples? But the fact remains: having come to Bali, people are imbued with this slow, languid love and begin to love life, the world and those around them again.