Surprises come in many forms and here are three of mine.

1.  I was totally bowled over by the tame wild-life (well, rabbits, squirrels, peacocks and other birds) which allowed me to get up close and personal on one of Croatia’s islands.  This was helped no doubt, by the fact that it was traffic-free.  I fear however, that the hundreds of Game of Thrones fans who are invading the islands at the moment, may soon render this a thing of the past.

In Cyprus recently, I was surprised, and pleased, that the island wasn’t trying to hide its revolutionary past.  This bronze grouping was perfectly placed to remind people of what the island had gone through to achieve it’s current tentative peace.

The beauty of the Arashiyama Bamboo Grove in Kyoto, Japan, should not have surprised me but it did.  A cool, calm, oasis of tranquillity in the midst of a busy city it had a calming effect on everyone.  I noticed that even mobile phones were less in use here than elsewhere – how’s that for peace!