Nakhal Castle, Oman. If you want to see an ultra-rich Arab sheikdom with exotically designed skyscrapers, you go to Qatar or Dubai. But if you want a more genuine Arabia of Sultan’s palaces, of forts and castles perched on rocky crags, of traditional villages tucked away in mountain fastnesses, of rock pools and grottoes gushing with spring water hidden in secret valleys, a place out of Arabian Nights rather than one of garish ostentatiousness – then you come here to the Sultanate of Oman.

Omanis are a polyglot people from all over Arabia, Persia, and India who’ve lived here for millennia, creating a cosmopolitan trading society that adheres to its traditional culture. There are fabulous hotels with great bars, concerts by the Omani Philharmonic Orchestra, and once outside the capital of Muscat, an Arabian wonderland so exotic it seems out of a movie. We'll be here again. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #119 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)

Now on display in National Museum of Egypt in Cairo, the 3,340 year-old artistic masterpiece of Pharoah Tutankhamun and his wife Ankhesenamun portrayed on facing back of the king’s throne chair was discovered by archaeologist Howard Carter in 1922.

I was stunned beyond words when I first saw it in 1971, and every time I’ve seen it since, I’m shocked into the same state of awe. It’s not simply the sheer beauty of the blue lapis lazuli, the red carnelian, the silver and the solid gold plate, nor the breathtaking skill of artistry. It’s that the scene is so profoundly, so touchingly human. As she gently rubs oil on to his arms, they are looking into each other’s eyes with the tenderness of love.

This is not some God-King high and mighty ruler and haughty Queen far above their lowly subjects, but a very human man and wife in love. This golden throne speaks to us from 33 centuries ago that back then people were people like us. Our connection to history is our common humanity. I hope someday you will be able to see the Golden Throne of King Tut in Cairo, and be in awe of it for yourself. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #168 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 Mysore Palace, home of the Wadiyar Rajas who ruled Mysore from 1399 to 1950.  It is one of the many wonders of Southern India that’s far less known than traveler’s meccas up north like Agra and Rajasthan.

There’s the Nagarhole Tiger Sanctuary, more Asian elephants than anywhere else in the world, over 100 tigers, scores of leopards, their prey in profusion. Christian churches founded by Christ’s disciple St. Thomas in the 1st century AD.  Towering Hindu temples covered with tens of thousands of eye-popping multi-colored sculptures.  The gorgeous beaches of Goa, the serene peace of the Kerala Backwaters – “one of the most beautiful locations on earth” according to National Geographic, that you explore by luxury houseboat. It goes on and on.

And here also you find the business metropolis of Bangalore, the Silicon Valley of India. We did all of this and more a few years ago, and may yet again before very long. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #81 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)

All right, I confess.  I am a nesophile.  I’m addicted to nesophilia.  It’s not on any list of psychiatric disorders, however.  The term was invented – a “neologism” – by one of the 20^th century’s most eminent philosophers, Sir Isaiah Berlin (1909-1997) in 1938 while in Ireland.

When there, he combined the Greek word nesos – island, with philia – love, and declared he was a nesophile – a lover of islands.  That’s me.

I suppose that’s obvious by now – for I’ve lost count of the number of islands I’ve written about on TTP.

And there are so many more to go!  Yet I’ll be writing only about ones that are interesting, not even if they’re famous.  I just got back from Majorca and Ibiza, for example.  Nice enough, pretty enough – but, frankly, boring.  There’s no real there there, as Gertrude Stein said about Oakland, California.

So let’s take a quick look at some islands that would blow Gertrude Stein away – such as the one that has the bed Napoleon died in.

Saranda, Albania. Standing on a hilltop here overlooking the Adriatic arm of the Mediterranean, you can’t help but be mesmerized by the beauty of the scene, the Adriatic coastline, “the wine-dark sea” as Homer so often described it, and off the coast the Greek island of Corfu. Yet you can’t help being puzzled by the small mound of concrete in the foreground. What is that, you ask?

It’s a one-man pillbox bunker with a slit in front for the soldier to fire at Albania’s enemies about to invade during the Cold War. Stalinist madman Enver Hoxha ruled Albania for forty years, from the end of WWII to his death in 1985. During which he built 750,000 of these bunkers in a country barely bigger than Massachusetts (11,000 square miles). He maintained his Fascist-Communist rule of total control by constantly claiming that Albania was surrounded by neighbor enemies – Yugoslavia, Greece, and Italy – all of whom were preparing to militarily invade, seize, and destroy Albania at any moment. For forty years.

With the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, Albania quickly liberated itself from its Communist past. Today it is stunningly gorgeous, a delight to travel through. The mushroom bunkers still litter the countryside, kept as a reminder of how history can go lunatic, and for Albanians to make sure such madness never happens to them ever again. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #296, photo ©Jack Wheeler)