The Atlantic archipelago is a part of Spain, and its seven major islands are La Gomera, El Hierro, La Palma,Tenerife, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria and Lanzarote. Its major industry, once winemaking, is now tourism, and it is especially popular with holiday makers from the U.K. who enjoy its sunshine as well as activities such as fishing, hiking, surfing and partying.

Lanzarote, the most easterly, is particularly well known for water sports, including swimming, scuba diving, snorkelling, jet-skiing, windsurfing, parasailing and yachting. Getting to Lanzarote by ferry often requires patience, as the sailing times tend to be a bit flexible. The island also has an airport, located near to Arrecife, and there are dependably scheduled flights to it from London Gatwick, Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow, Birmingham and several other U.K. cities. Once arrived, visitors to Lanzarote are usually impressed by its natural beauty. Much of its charm can be attributed to its government’s efforts to strike a balance between commercial development and ecology.

A must-visit attraction on the island is Timanfaya National Park, which is located among the Montanas del Fuego, mountains that were created only a few hundred years ago during a six-year period of dramatic volcanic activity. Several very rare variety of plants can now be found there. Other popular places are the spectacular Cueva de los Verdes and Los Hervideros caves, the latter of which has numerous water-spouting blow holes. Famara Beach is noted for its wrecked ship.

Taking into account its dramatic volcanic scenery, white sand beaches, reliably pleasant weather and friendly locals, it is no wonder tiny Lanzarote island is such a popular holiday destination.

Taking into account its intense Mediterranean climate, with long, hot, dry summers, mild winters and abundant sunshine, it is not surprising that nearly 50% of its visitors come from the UK, where warm and dry weather is frequently in short supply.

Cyprus is rich in historical attractions, It is one of the first places where Christianity first took hold, as the Apostle Barnabas was a Cypriot. For someone who is interested in religious history and early architecture, the island is renowned for its many buildings that are on UNESCO’s list of world heritage monuments including 10 Byzantine churches.

Obviously, the sea and sand offer numerous opportunities for aquatic recreation and relaxation, including yachting and cruising. When one is ready for inland activity, there are jeep tours that bring visitors to out of the way wineries and fairy tale villages. Getting back to Aphrodite and her pursuit of pleasure, Cyprus features numerous luxurious resorts and spas that pamper the body as well as help melt away the stresses and strains of golf, tennis and snorkeling.

For those planning Cyprus holidays in the spring and early summer, it would be advisable to pack a light jacket and tops with long sleeves in ones suitcase, as evening temperatures are apt to become chilly. There is a winter, and visitors may even experience the odd drop of rain. But very light clothing is essential for those making the journey between June and August.

Dr. Semir "Sam" Osmanagic is credited with discovering Bosnian pyramids

Pyramids have been discovered in Europe, a find that will require history to be re-written. So says Dr. Semir “Sam” Osmanagich, credited with the discovery of nine Bosnian pyramids, two of which are older and larger than the Great Pyramid of Khufu in Egypt. Dr. Osmanagich’s announcements, first ridiculed as “wacky,” have now been verified by such reputable institutions as the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences and Egypt’s Archaeological Society of Alexandria.

An International Conference will be held in Visoko, Bosnia-Herzegovina in early September, 2011, during which an esteemed panel of speakers will reveal new details about recent findings in the Bosnian Valley of the Pyramids.

Body Mind Spirit Journeys has announced a tour of Bosnia and Herzegovina that includes visits to the pyramids as well as admission to the conference. Prior to the Conference, the tour will visit the village of Medjugorje, site of a 1981 appearance of the Virgin Mary and the “weeping Madona,” and Mostar, famous for its Ottoman Old Town Bazaar.

In addition, Dr. Osmanagich will lead the tour group to the Bosnian Pyramid of the Sun, the elaborate network of tunnels beneath the pyramids and other nearby archaeological sites. Tour dates are September 1 through 11, 2011. There also is an optional post-conference tour extension through September 13^th that features an excursion to the Visoko underground labyrinth and a visit to the top of the Bosnian Pyramid of the Sun, both of which will be led by Dr. Osmanagich.

Now a resident of Houston, Texas, Dr. Osmanagich is the author of Pyramids Around the World, Civilizations Before the Official History and The World of the Maya.

The complete Bosnian Pyramid tour itinerary and pricing details are available at http://bodymindspiritjourneys.com/bosnia-sept-1-11-2011.html.

Body Mind Spirit Journeys is a division of RMC Travel. RMC has been a travel industry leader since 1948.

A Vancouver travel company, Sacred Earth Journeys, has been offering pilgrimage travel experiences since 2003. Its president, Helen Tomei says “people want more from a holiday than simply lying on a beach. They want to change their lives for the better.”

“The purpose of the pilgrimage is to make life more meaningful,” wrote Phil Cousineau in The Art of Pilgrimage: The Seeker’s Guide to Making Travel Sacred (Conari Press, 1998). “A journey without challenge has no meaning; one without purpose has no soul.”

Phil Cousineau will be leading a group tour of Ireland in September, 2010. Dubbed “Land of Myth and Mystery – A Pilgrimage Into the Heart of Sacred Ireland,” the 12-day tour will include a walk on Croagh Patrick, the mountain where Saint Patrick is said to have fasted and prayed for 40-days. There will also be visits to Irish pubs, concerts of traditional Celtic music, a trip to the monastery of Clomacnoise, founded in 545 by Saint Ciaran, and the most famous prehistoric site in Ireland, the UNESCO World Heritage site of Newgrange.

People with a passion for yoga can visit its birth place. Sacred Earth Journeys is offering a “Yoga & Spirituality Tour of South India” February 13 through 28, 2010. One of the tour leaders, Michele Labelle, is a Certified Hatha Yoga Teacher based in Vancouver. She will be joined by Tour Guide Aman Singh, a follower of India’s ancient spiritual practices with a deep interest in philosophy and culture. In addition to yoga and meditation sessions, the group will explore ancient Hindu temples, witness herds of wild elephants, take a boat ride in a tiger reserve, shop in a 600-year-old marketplace, attend a colorful, traditional dance show, travel by train to a fishing village and possibly meet with Mother Amma “the Hugging Saint” in her ashram.

Information about other pilgrimage travel opportunities is available online at http://SacredEarthJourneys.ca

In Brittany, in the northwest of France, are more than 30 prehistoric sites and over 3,000 ancient standing stones. They are located near the city of Carnac and are believed to be sacred places devoted to the Great Goddess.

Many scholars agree that our ancestors worshipped the Great Goddess during the Neolithic Age, when grand temples such as Avebury and Stonehenge were built. The shift toward a male deity didn’t begin to take hold in Europe until around 4500 bce. In the tumulus of Gavrinis in Morbihan, France it is very likely that Goddess worship continued through at least 2500 bce. Although most guidebooks refer to Gavrinis as a tomb, barrow or passage-grave, experts including Marija Gimbutas and Dr. Terence Meaden say Gavrinis was designed not as a burial chamber but a site for sacred rituals.

Gavrinis is situated on an island in the Gulf of Morbihan in South Brittany, near Carnac. Once a peninsula, the island is now accessible by a 15-minute boat ride from Larmor-Baden. The massive Gavrinis tumulus is 20-feet high and 165-feet in circumference, with 29 upright stones lining an underground passageway that ends at a large chamber capped with a huge slab measuring 13-feet square. Gavrinis is one of the richest megalithic monuments in Europe because of its excellent stone murals. Carved into the black rocks is a lavish array of engraved patterns: waves, suns, chevrons, trees, lozenges, coils and concentric arcs. In The Civilization of the Goddess, UCLA archaeology professor Marija Gimbutas describes the concentric arc as the “vulva sign”, emblematic of the powers of the Goddess. The engravings of multiple wavy lines “seem to say that the generative force of the Goddess is inexhaustible, rising and flowing like waves,” Gimbutas said.

The eminent scholar Dr. Walter Y. Evans-Wentz noticed that there are two very prominent stone sills on the floor of the narrow passage leading toward the inner chamber. He identified the sills as – literally – stumbling blocks, used in initiation ceremonies in which neophytes must travel a symbolic journey across obstacles before reaching the inner chamber. Cut into the rock in one of the chambers are three strange holes that almost look like a prehistoric wine rack. Dr. Evans-Wentz observed that the outside edges of these holes have been worn smooth, as if they were used for on-going ceremonial purposes for hundreds of years – the chamber was not simply sealed up as a tomb. There are remarkable similarities between Gavrinis and the Neolithic Irish passage-tomb of Newgrange in the Boyne valley, County Meath. They both feature ornate geometric stone carvings and are aligned to face southeast, so the rays of the rising sun only enter the chamber during the Winter Solstice – the time when the sun dies and is born again.

Gavrinis is open from 10 am to Noon and 2 to 6 pm June through September, but only 2 to 6 pm in the spring and autumn. Adult admission is 56 Francs (about US$8.50 or CDN$12.40.) Reservations are strongly recommended in the summer. Phone: 02.97.54.62.97.

It is said that, if you can only visit one prehistoric site in Brittany, Gavrinis is the one to choose, but there are several other “must-see” sacred places close by. A staggering number of ancient stones can be found scattered across the moors and fields in a 15-mile stretch along the south coast of Brittany, with the resort city of Carnac in the center. A short distance north of Carnac are three sets of rows of standing stones, known as alignments. Two of these groupings, Ménec and Kermario have been fenced off, but you can still wander among the 579 menhirs (vertical standing stones) in the Kerlescan alignment. Ménec has 1,099 menhirs arranged in 12 rows, each over a quarter of a mile long, and with a cromlech (a circle or semicircle of menhirs) at each end. At Kermario, with 999 stones, there is a viewing platform at the west end.

When the Romans invaded Gaul they carved images of their deities on some of the stones. Centuries later, Christian crosses were added to the ancient site. Today, visitors to Carnac can still feel magical power in the mysterious stones. Although the original purpose of these megaliths has been lost in time, local traditions associate them with the moon and the seasons. Bonfires were lit nearby on Midsummer Eve, and sheep and cattle were herded among the stones for protection and to ensure fertility. Even today it is said that couples who are cannot have children are advised to dance among the stones.

If you should be fortunate enough to find yourself in South Brittany, wandering through lines of menhirs or marveling at the beautiful carved stones of Gavrinis, I hope you will take a moment to honor the Goddess. She remains alive today, identified as Mother Nature and Mother Earth. Her spirit is the endless cycle of birth, death and renewal, and she is a force as eternal as the changing seasons.

This article about goddess sites in Brittany is one I wrote about eight years ago, in 2000. Although I doubt whether the places mentioned in it have changed, but access and contact details such as hours of operation, entrance fees and phone numbers may no longer be current.

Robert Scheer is a travel writer who appreciates pilgrimage sites, sacred places and areas associated with Earth mysteries.