Travel with Rick Steves · Saturday, September 5, 2026
Nikos Hadjicostas describes the concept of an 'infinite microcosm' through his experience in Indonesia, where the sheer number of islands (18,000) made him realize the impossibility of fully exploring any single place. He likens this to a microscope that reveals new worlds with each increase in magnification.
“I realized I could never truly explore the world because the Indonesian islands are an infinite microcosm.”
“It's a microcosm because it's all these little islands that are very small, but they are infinite because...”
“Exactly. And I use, I use the microscope analogy to introduce the concept. I say that there is another infinity, the infinity of the small.”