Along with beautiful scenery and good food, we enjoy learning a bit of history when we travel. The Big Island has several beautiful National Historic Sites on the Kona side. The first one we saw is Pu'uhonua o Honaunau (also called The City of Refuge). Ages ago if you broke a law (say your shadow crossed over the land of the chiefs), you were sentenced to death. You had an out, though. If you could swim or somehow get to one of these places of refuge and become cleansed, your trespass was forgiven and you could return home a free person.
The other Historic Site we visited bordered the campground at Spencer Beach, so we could just walk over to visit it. Pu'ukhola Heiau is the temple of the great King Kamehameha who united all Hawai'ian islands under one rule in 1810.
In contrast with the City of Refuge, this temple (heiau) sits in a starker landscape overlooking a small bay that is often filled with sharks (which we did not see). However, we did see the spout of a humpback whale just off the shore while visiting this site.
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