This is so cool. I went for a long walk today, and not too far from where I live, there’s a prehistoric site with remnants of a settlement dating back to 300-500 a.d. I had never actually been to that particular spot before, even though I’d walked past it a lot of times, but today I finally got up there.

The site is located just beneath a mountain on a hillside. They used to have defensive structures (stone walls, palisades) built around the mountain - it’s believed that there was much turbulence and warfare at that time. Parts of these structures can still be seen today. There used to be at least five houses there, and the people lived off farming and livestock.

There’s a spectacular view from the top of the mountain. If you look towards the ocean, to the west, you spot a modern landscape, with towns, suburbs and some industry (I live in a place with about 200,000 inhabitants).

But if you turn around 180 degrees, there’s nothing but nature as far as the eye can see: forest, mountains and hills, and a couple of farms. The view is pretty much like the one the guys who lived here over 1,500 years ago had, I imagine. Very serene. And it’s so quiet, all you can hear are the wind and the birds.

It’s such a great place to sit back and think. I was there for about an hour - at first imagining what it must have been like living there 1,500 years ago - and then just loosely organizing my schedule for the next couple of days, planning a few activities with my wife and kids and reflecting upon some issues at work.

A man should allow himself to spend a little time on his own like this every once in a while. It’s so refreshing, so worthwhile - so good for moral. I haven’t really done stuff like this for years: hiking, just spending some time in nature, reflecting. I’ve rediscovered these joys recently, though. It’s highly recommended.

The sad thing about it is that they’re planning a rather huge expansion of the town towards the east. And although parts of this landscape will be saved, the illusion of history, the solitude and serenity of the place will forever be lost when they start building houses. It’s tragic, really.

And there seems to be such little concern for nature and the landscape surrounding the buildings in modern architecture today. They’re more concerned with maximizing the profits, and so houses are built practically on top of each other and almost invariably one or two floors too high - almost as if the architects and builders are trying to defy nature (which is kind of what they are doing, I guess.)

Oh well, what can you do? All the more reason to enjoy it while it’s still there. And then one day I’ll take my grandchildren up there and tell them all about how beautiful the place used to be.

Fortunately, this country has laws that protect the actual site of the prehistoric buildings. But the landscape and the wonderful view will be gone in a few years.

I will probably snap some photos the next time I go up there. I’ll share some of them with you then.