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Tunnel of Love in Kleven, UkraineThis beautiful train tunnel of trees called the Tunnel of Love is located in Kleven, Ukraine. Nothing else is known about this place. Can anybody throw some light here.More pics here.
Le Palais Idéal Ferdinand Cheval aka Facteur Cheval (1836-1924) was a postman who built his dream: Le Palais Idéal. An amazing and imaginary castle.Stone by stone, he imposed this harsh discipline on himself to show that willpower could triumph over all manner of physical and mental difficulties, and also achieve a more perfect understanding of the nature of things and the nature itself.
Fingal’s Cave Fingal’s Cave is a sea cave on the uninhabited island of Staffa, in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland, part of a National Nature Reserve owned by the National Trust for Scotland. It is formed entirely from hexagonally jointed basalt columns, similar in structure to (and part of the same ancient lava flow as) the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland and those of nearby Ulva. In both cases, the cooling surface of the mass of hot lava cracked in a hexagonal pattern in a similar way to drying mud cracking as it shrinks, and these cracks gradually extended down into the mass of lava as it cooled and shrank to form the columns, which were subsequently exposed by erosion.
Monsanto Monsanto is a Portuguese freguesia in Idanha-a-Nova, with 131.76 km² and 1,160 inhabitants (2001). It was the principal town of the concelho between 1174 and the beginning of the 19th century. More pics here.
Uros Floating Islands The Uros are a pre-Incan people who live on forty-two self-fashioned floating islands in Lake Titicaca Puno, Peru and Bolivia. They form three main groups: Uru-Chipayas, Uru-Muratos and the Uru-Iruitos. The latter are still located on the Bolivian side of Lake Titicaca and Desaguadero River.The Uros use bundles of dried totora reeds to make reed boats (balsas mats), and to make the islands themselves.The Uros islands at 3810 meters above sea level are just five kilometers west from Puno port. Around 2,000 descendants of the Uros were counted in the 1997 census, although only a few hundred still live on and maintain the islands; most have moved to the mainland. The Uros also bury their dead on the mainland in special cemeteries.The Uros do not reject modern technology: some boats have motors, some houses have solar panels to run appliances such as televisions, and the main island is home to an Uros-run FM radio station, which plays music for several hours a day.Early schooling is done on several islands, including a traditional school and a school run by a Christian church. Older children and university students attend school on the mainland, often in nearby Puno. Read more.
living bridges of CherrapunjiThe living bridges of Cherrapunji, India are part of a pedestrian network that criss-crosses the fast flowing mountain streams and rivers of the Khasi and Jaintia Hills.  The bridges are made from the roots of the Ficus elastica tree, a species of rubber tree that thrives in the region.  This tree produces a series of strong secondary roots that allow it to comfortably perch atop boulders along riverbanks or even in the middle of rivers themselves.  In order to make the tree’s roots grow in the right direction the local people form a basic bridge frame and use betel nut trunks, sliced down the middle and hollowed out, to create a root-guidance systems.  The roots of the rubber tree, prevented from fanning out by the betel nut trunks, grow straight out and once they reach the other side of the river are allowed to take root in the soil. Given enough time,  approximately 10-15 years before the bridge is fully functional, a living bridge is produced.  The number of bridges is ever-growing and within the network some are over a hundred feet long and 500 years old.  Some footage of the bridges can be found here.
Sigiriya Sigiriya (Lion’s rock, Sinhalese - සීගිරිය) is a large stone and ancient rock fortress and palace ruin in the central Matale District of Sri Lanka, surrounded by the remains of an extensive network of gardens, reservoirs, and other structures. A popular tourist destination, Sigiriya is also renowned for its ancient paintings (frescos),which are reminiscent of the Ajanta Caves of India. It is one of the eight World Heritage Sites of Sri Lanka. It is also declared by UNESCO as the 8th Wonder of the World.Sigiriya may have been inhabited through prehistoric times. It was used as a rock-shelter mountain monastery from about the 5th century BC, with caves prepared and donated by devotees of the Buddhist Sangha. According to the chronicles as Mahavamsa the entire complex was built by King Kashyapa (AD 477 – 495), and after the king’s death, it was used as a Buddhist monastery until 14th century.The Sigiri inscriptions were deciphered by the archaeologist Senarath Paranavithana in his renowned two-volume work, published by Cambridge, Sigiri Graffiti and also Story of Sigiriya.
Karnak The Karnak Temple Complex—usually called Karnak—comprises a vast mix of decayed temples, chapels, pylons, and other buildings, notably the Great Temple of Amun and a massive structure begun by Pharaoh Ramses II (ca. 1391–1351 BC). Sacred Lake is part of the site as well. It is located near Luxor, some 500 km south of Cairo, in Egypt. The area around Karnak was the ancient Egyptian Ipet-isut (“The Most Selected of Places”) and the main place of worship of the eighteenth dynasty Theban Triad with the god Amun as its head. It is part of the monumental city of Thebes. The Karnak complex takes its name from the nearby, and partly surrounded, modern village of el-Karnak, some 2.5 km north of Luxor. Read here and more about Karnak at wiki. Cheers
Mount Emei Mount Emei (Chinese: 峨嵋山; pinyin: Éméi Shān; Wade–Giles: O2-mei2 Shan1, pronounced [ɤ̌měɪ̯ ʂán]) is a mountain in Sichuan province, China. Mount Emei is often written as 峨眉山 and occasionally 峩嵋山 or 峩眉山 but all three are translated as Mount Emei or Mount Emeishan: 峨嵋 means “lofty brow”, but the mountain’s name is merely a toponym that carries no additional meaning. Orographically, Mt. Emei sits at the western rim of the Sichuan Basin. The mountains west of it are known as Daxiangling.A large surrounding area of countryside is geologically known as the Permian Emeishan Large Igneous Province, a large igneous province generated by the Emeishan Traps volcanic eruptions during the Permian Period. At 3,099 metres (10,167 ft), Mt. Emei is the highest of the Four Sacred Buddhist Mountains of China. This is the location of the first Buddhist temple built in China in the 1st century CE. The site has seventy-six Buddhist monasteries of the Ming and Qing period, most of them located near the mountain top. The monasteries demonstrate a flexible architectural style that adapts to the landscape. Some, such as the halls of Baoguosi, are built on terraces of varying levels, while others, including the structures of Leiyinsi, are on raised stilts. Here the fixed plans of Buddhist monasteries of earlier periods were modified or ignored in order to make full use of the natural scenery. The buildings of Qingyinge are laid out in an irregular plot on the narrow piece of land between the Black Dragon River and the White Dragon River. The site is large and the winding foot path is 50 km, taking several days to walk. Cable cars ease the ascent to the two temples at Jinding (3,077 m), an hour’s hike from the mountain’s peak. Read more.
The Wulingyuan rocky peaks A spectacular area stretching over more than 26,000 ha in China’s Hunan Province, the site is dominated by more than 3,000 narrow sandstone pillars and peaks, many over 200 m high. Between the peaks lie ravines and gorges with streams, pools and waterfalls, some 40 caves, and two large natural bridges. In addition to the striking beauty of the landscape, the region is also noted for the fact that it is home to a number of endangered plant and animal species. Read more.
Meteora The Metéora (Greek: Μετέωρα, “suspended rocks”, “suspended in the air” or “in the heavens above” - etymologically similar to “Meteorite”) is one of the largest and most important complexes of Eastern Orthodox monasteries in Greece, second only to Mount Athos. The six monasteries are built on natural sandstone rock pillars, at the northwestern edge of the Plain of Thessaly near the Pineios river and Pindus Mountains, in central Greece. The nearest town is Kalambaka. The Metéora is included on the UNESCO World Heritage List under criteria I, II, IV, V and VII. Read more.
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