This is the fortress town of Shatili in an extremely remote Caucasus region in Georgia called Khevsureti. It was built by the Crusaders 1,000 years ago. The Khevsur people who live here trace their ancestry back to these Crusaders and until the 1930s still wore chain mail in feud-battles with other towns. I took this picture in 1991.

American traveler Richard Halliburton (1900–1939) saw and recorded the customs of the Khevsurs in 1935. The Khevsur men, dressed in chain mail and armed with broadswords, wore garments full of decoration made up of crosses and icons. They don’t do that anymore, but they proudly retain their Crusader Christian heritage – for Georgia adopted Christianity in the 4^th century AD. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #85 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

On September 12, 1683, Ottoman Sultan Mehmet IV as the Caliph of all Islam was on the verge of realizing the great Moslem dream of conquering all of Christian Europe for the glory of Allah.  The great obstacle in his way – the city of Vienna – was about to be overwhelmed by the Sultan’s gigantic army of 140,000 Islamic Taliban of their day.

On the Kahlenberg hilltop above Vienna, the commander of the Christian forces, King Jan III Sobieski of Poland, gave the order to attack. Twenty thousand armed horsemen galloped down the slopes of Kahlenberg, the largest cavalry charge in history, with the Polish King and his Winged Hussars in the lead.  The cavalry trampled the Ottomans and made straight for their camps.

Ottoman commander Kara Mustafa fled out of his tent and barely escaped with his life (it didn’t last long – the Sultan ordered him strangled).  With the Christian victory at The Battle of Vienna, the Moslem threat to Europe was over.  Sobieski wrote a letter to Pope Innocent XI, paraphrasing Julius Caesar:

“Venimus, Vidimus, Deus vincit” –  “We came, We saw, God conquered.”

In turn, the Pope hailed Sobieski as “The Savior of Western Christendom.”  Indeed he was, and still is so revered by the Polish people to this day – with no apology.

For the people of Poland stand out among those of all Europe for their pride in being part of Western Civilization – symbolized for them by this statue of their Hero King trampling the Ottomans in the beautiful Royal Baths Park in Warsaw.  They will make sure visitors to the statue note that underneath the right forearm of the fallen Turkish soldier is a book – the Koran.

You owe it to yourself to visit Poland and meet the Polish champions of Christian liberty, having freed themselves from the Ottomans, the Russians, and the Soviets.  We need more like them today.  (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #159 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)

Rising 600 feet above the jungles of central Ceylon (Sri Lanka) is a gigantic rock column revered for millennia as Sigiriya – Lion Rock from Sanskrit.  It’s flat on top, used over centuries as a Buddhist monastery and a fortress by kings. In 480, King Kashyapa had the image of a lion carved into the rock as the entrance gate to his fortress-palace on top.  All that’s left are the lion’s paws that you see.

It was a risky climb via stone stairs carved into the rock getting to the top.  Today there’s a much safer wooden staircase.  It’s a pilgrimage site for Sri Lankans where they get to celebrate their history and enjoy the gorgeous view on top.  It’s a marvelous experience for you to participate in.  (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #158 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

This is Caño Cristales, a river flowing through an ancient tableland in a remote roadless region deep in the forests of Colombia. Known as The Liquid Rainbow, geologists consider it the world’s most beautiful river.

The colors are due to endemic riverweeds that grow only here, clinging to the rocks of the riverbed, and the crystal clarity of the water. It is not easy to get to – fly a light plane to an airstrip, take a boat upriver for miles, then walk a few miles more. But then you get to explore one of the most beautiful sights nature has to offer – replete with dozens of small fun waterfalls, surrounded by an uninhabited forest teeming with tropical birds.

No wonder National Geographic calls Caño Cristales “the River of the Garden of Eden.” Yet it is only one of the many extraordinary experiences in this huge country – for Colombia is larger than Texas and California combined. Wheeler Expeditions will be conducting an exploration of Hidden Colombia in 2022. Hope you can be with us. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #22 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

This is the most anti-Marxist picture I have ever taken.  I am a White American.  He is a Black African in N’Djamena, Chad.  And those differences mean nothing compared to our both being fathers.

Look into his soul through his eyes.  Look at the tranquility and peaceful joy his soul feels in being the father of his two beautiful children. It is the same with me.

The Left’s purpose is to divide us into tribal differences of hate – white vs. “people of color,” rich vs. poor, employers vs. workers, exploiters vs. exploited, victimizers vs. victims, the anti-white racist hate of Critical Race Theory.  Always, always, they focus exclusively on differences, to separate people apart, to hate other different than them.  All in the ancient “divide and conquer” scheme to control people’s lives.

Yet the differences between us are so unimportant compared to what we all have in common, our basic humanity.    The bond that I have with this man from Chad is so much greater than anything that separates us.  Focusing on what we all have in common with our fellow human beings is the way to rid the world of the anti-human hate of the Marxist Left. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #157, photo ©Jack Wheeler)

What would be an ideal place to escape from all the lunacy washing over our country – for a few days to a second home?

Let’s see… it would have to be a First World country with all the civilized amenities of modern life, and a cultured, educated, and welcoming people many, many of whom speak English.

A First World country that brushes aside all Woke nuttiness engulfing the US as silly rubbish to be ignored, and traditional Christian family values revered instead.  That is not much farther away than a US cross-country flight.  That has Goldilocks weather, not too hot, not too cold.  That has sunsets in the ocean, fabulous food and wine, incredible castles in the sky, history that’s thousands of years old yet so hip and current it’s the cultural capital of its continent.

We’ve had Glimpses of this place before:  The Europe That’s Still There, and The Portuguese Riviera.  Yes, the Ideal Escape Hatch for us is Portugal – a quick overnight flight getting there, a morning flight return.

At the end of October, Rebel and I are conducting a Portugal Exploration for TTPers.  We have room for only one more couple and one solo. Please consider joining us – Rebel and I and your fellow TTPers will love to have you.  Just click on Portugal Exploration -- you owe it to yourself to be entranced by the photos, for a glimpse of this ideal place.  (Glimpses of our Breathtaking World #157 ©photo Jack Wheeler)