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The Island of Zitny Ostrov - Slovakia

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Ranging from Bratislava to Korman in southwestern Slovakia, Zitny Ostrov (Rye Island) is Europe’s biggest river island. It is so large that most tourists are not aware of being on an island. It lies between the Danube, and its slower running off-shoot the Little Danube, in the Danubian Plain.

Several rivers flow across it and the dark alluvial deposits make it the most fertile land in Slovakia. The island also contains central Europe’s largest storage of high quality potable water and it has the warmest and driest climate in Slovakia.

A beautiful area of marshes, natural and man-made lakes and rich agricultural land, the south has been designated a Protected Landscape. The calm waters of the Little Danube provide excellent boating through the alluvial forests. While on the water, the controversial hydroelectric dam at Gabcikovo may also be visited.

Zitny Ostrov has two main towns, both of which have deep Hungarian cultural influences. DunajskA Streda has a majority Hungarian population, though the only reminder of a significant Jewish minority is a memorial erected in 1991. There is also evidence of Bronze Age settlement here.

In the late 1990s the town centre was rebuilt with distinctive white buildings topped by towers and elaborate tiled roofs. A large thermal park offers year-round swimming in geothermal heated water.

Komarno, Slovakia’s main port, is located on the Hungarian border — a bridge leads into Hungarian Komarom, which used to be part of Komarno. Here 66% of the population speak Hungarian and the street signs are in two languages.

Europe Place is a large shopping and tourist centre built in a variety of European architectural forms. A native son of Komamo, Franz Lehar, is honoured with a biennial music festival, whilst the annual Komarno Days Festival celebrates Slovak and Hungarian culture.

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Cozumel Island - Mexico

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One of Mexico’s biggest islands, Cozumel, lies 20 km (12 miles) from the mainland, and 60 km (36 mi) south of Cancun. It’s a flat, limestone island in the shape of a handgun, and sprinkled by dozens of cenotes (water-filled sinkholes), many with their own marine life, which are an extra attraction for swimmers and marine biologists who come to experience the island’s life-filled offshore reefs.

Jacques Cousteau first promoted Cozumel in 1960, when he fingered Palancar at the island’s southern tip as one of the world’s best diving sites. He triggered an explosion of tourist development, only curtailed in with the establishment of the National Marine Park in 1996: but the reefs were badly damaged by the deepwater piers built for cruise ships to bring new clientele.

Attitudes changed quickly. Cozumel’s new islanders (the 40,000 Maya who welcomed Herman (’Stout’) Cortes in 1519 were reduced to 30 by 1510, and Cozumel became uninhabited) realised the value, not just of their spectacular marine wealth, but also of the island’s undeveloped centre.

You’ll never get a better chance to appreciate Mayan culture so close to good beaches. The biggest Mayan site, San Gervasio (named much later), was for centuries sacred to lx Chel, the goddess of fertility, and one of the Yucatan’s most important sanctuaries. There are several others, recovered from jungle and swampy mangrove lagoons now teeming with cormorants, pelicans, primary-coloured tree frogs, iguanas and crocodiles.

These days, the duty of collective care is replacing the insensitive mistakes of the 1970s. You can see 250 species in its clear waters, including the bright blue-and-yellow queen angelfish, the toad fish (unique to Cozumel), and enormous sponges like the barrel and elephant ear, which grows to 3.6 m (12 ft) across. Cozumel is fabulously pretty and exotic, and you should go there with someone you love and watch the sunsets.

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