Posts filed under ‘Locuri’
7 locuri fermecate din lume si povestile lor magnifice
In lume exista unele locuri despre care se poate spune ca sunt… ciudate. Doar ca unii oameni, in special localnicii, prefera sa le numeasca fermecate. Savureaza povestile ce urmeaza si daca, poate, in calatoriile tale, vei trece pe langa unul dintre aceste locuri, aminteste-ti de povestea lui.
7. Dealurile ciocolatei, Bohol, Filipine.
Bohol si dealurile de ciocolata
Realitate: Intinzandu-se pe o suprafata de 50 de kilometri patrati, aici exista peste 1200 de coline cu forme similare, acoperite de iarba verde. In sezonul neploios, dealurile capata o culoare maronie.
Mit: Aici exista candva un bivol urias, inalt cat un munte. Acesta obisnuia sa manance recoltele de pe campurile aflate in satele invecinate. Asa ca satenii au decis sa-l pacaleasca, oferindu-i drept hrana cantitati mari de alimente alterate. Bivolul a infulecat tot, dar in curand a inceput sa se simta rau. A alergat peste tot, lasand in urma sa cantitati enorme de balegar. Excrementele s-au uscat si locul a ramas cunoscut sub denumirea de “dealurile de ciocolata”!
Morala: Ai grija atunci cand accepti un dar sau o favoare din partea unui dusman.
6. Tsingy, Madagascar
Padurea de stanci din Madagascar
Realitate: In apropierea coastei de vest a Madagascarului, exista o padure ciudata de stanci, avand forma unor ace gigantice. Aici traiesc creaturi nemaitalnite in alte parti ale lumii.
Mit: Silky Sifaka este o specie de lemur, cu blana de culoare alba, reprezentand un dar special din partea zeitatii lunii. Aceste animale erau foarte mandre de felul in care aratau, dar in curand si-au dat seama ca blana lor alba ii facea mult mai vizibili pentru specia de pisici salbatice Fossa. Nu dupa mult timp, numarul lor a inceput sa se reduca in mod alarmant. Animalele supravietuitoare si-au gasit adapost intr-o padure stancoasa si au cerut ajutor zeitatii lunii. Pentru a-si proteja lemurii, aceasta a transformat stancile intr-o padure de ace gigantice. Rocile crestate erau atat de ascutite incat puteau taia pe oricine in doua. Locul era unul in care cu greu se putea supravietui, dar in acelasi timp era foarte dificil pentru urmaritori sa-i prinda pe lemuri si astfel, aceste animale erau in siguranta.
Morala: Orice lucru pozitiv are si o latura negativa si invers.
5. Stanca ursului (Devils Tower Monument), SUA
Stanca Ursului, protejata de Marele Spirit
Realitate: Aici se afla un turn imens din stanca care pare ca tasneste din pamant, pe ale carui laturi exista niste semne ciudate.
Mit: Cu mult timp in urma, un grup de sapte fete se juca in padure. Ele au fost vazute de cativa ursi uriasi, care au inceput sa le urmareasca. Fetele abia au reusit sa scape, urcandu-se pe o mica stanca. Dar ursii si-au infipt ghearele in ea si au inceput s-o escaladeze. Fetele au implorat Marele Spirit sa le salveze. Auzindu-le rugile, Marele Spirit a facut ca stanca sa se inalte de la pamant catre cer. Ursii au inceput sa alunece la vale, lasandu-si urmele ghearelor in stanca. Atunci cand fetele au ajuns la cer, ele au fost transformate intr-o constelatie numita Pleiadele (sapte surori).
Morala: Daca ai de gand sa intri in conflict cu ursii salbatici, ar fi bine sa ai pe cineva care sa iti asculte rugile.
4. Insula Socotra, Yemen
Insula Socotra si fascinantele ei forme de viata
Realitate: Pe aceasta insula traiesc peste 700 de specii rare de plante si animale, dintre care o treime nu se intalnesc nicaieri in alta parte in lume.
Mit: Pe o mica insula din Marea Arabiei, Dumnezeu a creat o lume noua, in care traiau forme fascinante de viata. Dintre toate creatiile sale, cea mai remarcabila era dragonul. O bestie ciudata dar cu puteri supranaturale care era regele tuturor animalelor. Dupa multi ani, atunci cand Creatorul a venit sa viziteze insula, el nu a gasit aici niciun alt mamifer. Asta pentru ca dragonul le mancase pe toate. Creatorul s-a infuriat si l-a transformat pe dragon intr-un copac. Ciudatul arbore este cunoscut sub numele de “copacul dragonului”. Daca ii crestezi scoarta, vei vedea curgand sangele acestei creaturi fantastice.
Morala: Nu lasa o pisica sa-ti pazeasca laptele.
3. Uluru (Muntele Ayer), Australia
Uluru, stanca rosie
Realitate: Uluru este o stanca de granit rosu, mai mare decat o insula, aflata in inima continentului australian.
Mit: Triburile dispareau unul cate unul. Desertul era un loc in care era greu sa traiesti. Soarele isi facea aparitia de dupa nori si usca totul in calea lui. Populatia din zona aducea neincetat ofrande Zeitei Ploii, pana cand aceasta s-a induplecat. Ea le-a spus oamenilor ca va crea un lac imens pe care soarele nu il va putea vedea. Dupa toate acestea, in mijlocul desertului a aparut o stanca uriasa. Triburile nu stiau ce sa creada. In curand si-au dat insa seama ca Uluru n-a mai suferit din cauza secetei, apa fiind pastrata in adancurile nisipurilor sau la radacinile tufisurilor ce cresteau in zona. Intr-un fel, Uluru era un lac intors pe dos.
Morala: Natura are multe secrete de impartasit, dar numai cativa oameni sunt dornici sa le asculte.
2. Pestera Cristalelor, Naica, Mexic
Cristalele naturale din aceasta pestera mexicana ating pana la 11 m
Realitate: In Pestera Cristalelor din Mexic se afla unele dintre cele mai mari cristale naturale din lume – unele atingand dimensiuni de 11 metri.
Mit: Un fermier sarac a salvat candva o fata de la inec. Tanara nu era insa o fata oarecare, ci era fiica unei stele. Incantata de gestul fermierului, steaua i-a daruit acestuia un tezaur imens de cristale pretioase. Fermierul a fost coplesit de norocul ce a dat peste el. Dar curand bucuria sa s-a transformat in teama. Nu mai vazuse in viata lui atata bogatie. Ii era frica sa nu-i fie furata comoara. Asa ca a rugat steaua sa-i ascunda cristalele intr-o pestera, departe de privirile oricui. Anii au trecut, fermierul a imbatranit, iar memoria a inceput sa-i slabeasca. In ziua mortii, el si-a chemat familia pentru a la trasmite ceva important, dar a murit neaducandu-si aminte ce vroia sa le spuna.
Morala: Averea nefolosita nu are valoare.
1. Groapa albastra, Belize
Amatorii de scuba diving vin adesea in Blue Hole pentru experiente unice
Realitate: Cea mai mare groapa albastra din lume este o pestera verticala aflata in largul marii si una dintre cele mai incantatoare locatii pentru scufundari, la nivel mondial.
Mit: Cu mult timp in urma, pe vremea cand Pamantul era acoperit de gheata, exista un grup de tigri preistorici care traiau intr-o pestera verticala imensa. Aici ei erau protejati de inamici si aceasta a fost casa lor timp de generatii intregi. Intr-un an, un grup de animale a trecut pe langa pestera lor, avertizandu-i ca se apropie apele. Dar familia de tigri nu a luat in seama zvonurile. Erau increzatori in forta lor si in siguranta pesterii. Temperatura era in crestere si tot mai multe animale erau vazute trecand in goana prin fata pesterii. Tigrii le radeau in nas si le ignorau. Pana intr-o zi, cand un val urias a venit si a acoperit pestera cu apa in numai cateva secunde, nedandu-le tigrilor nicio posibilitate de scapare.
Morala: Nu trai intr-o gaura. Fii la curent cu ceea ce se intampla in lume.
Via TukTuk
Tourist photos by Corinne Vionnet
Tourist photos provide haunting composite views of global destinations
Odds are you’ve seen a photo of the Taj Mahal. And yet, if you were lucky enough to go there in person, the odds are even greater that you’d take a photo of your own–a photo just like all the others.
Artist Corinne Vionnet wanted to do something unique with all those near-identical snapshots, so she weaved them together. The effects, which you can look at below, are both beautiful and haunting.
According to My Modern Metropolis, Vionnet “carefully layers 200-300 photos on top of one another until she gets her desired result.” The landmarks, which include the Eiffel Tower in Paris, Statue of Liberty in New York, and Tiananmen Square in China, are easy to make out (despite some unavoidable blurs). But if you examine the photos closely you’ll also see faded silhouettes of people who happened to be there at that one moment. Well, 1/300th of them, anyway.
(Via Yahoo News)
Cities That Have Vanished
The story of the ruined city of Pompeii is one of the best-known examples of a city that suddenly ceased to exist. One moment it was a thriving metropolis, then an eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79 buried the city in volcanic ash. It was accidentally rediscovered in 1749 and excavated, revealing a time capsule of city life during the era of the Roman Empire.
It’s not just ancient cities that vanish, however. The following collection includes a city that disappeared just this past August. Even as the seven billion residents of Earth begin to run out of physical space to populate, there are virtual places to be abandoned – former online frontiers such as Geocities: The Deleted City.
There are many different ways a city can disappear: It can fall victim to catastrophe, become submerged by rising water or simply be zoned out of existence. In some cases, no one knows why a once-thriving city was wiped off the map.
Here are five of the most fascinating vanished cities, located across the globe:
Centralia, Pennsylvania
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| Centralia, Penn., a former coal-mining town, became a victim of toxic conditions – it’s nearly empty. Photo: Derik Moore |
In 1962, a fire ignited underneath the anthracite coal-mining town of Centralia, Pa., which still burns to this day across 400 subterranean acres. This became problematic for the residents of Centralia, particularly in 1979 when the mayor/local gas station owner noticed the temperature of the gas in his underground tank had reached 172 degrees Fahrenheit. If that wasn’t enough impetus to leave town, in 1982 a 12-year-old boy fell into a 150-foot deep sinkhole that opened beneath him in his backyard. He was rescued and survived, but the steam billowing from the hole contained a lethal amount of carbon monoxide.
Congress voted to issue funds to residents for relocation, but today a few stubborn holdouts still live in Centralia. All that remains of the town are a few houses, structures and trailers, graveyards, some benches for a bus that never comes and great mounds of bulldozed buildings. State Route 61 has been rerouted because the old section, pictured here, is split and emitting smoke. Author Bill Bryson visited Centralia in the book “A Walk in the Woods,” and the abandoned town inspired the setting for the videogame and movie “Silent Hill.”
Reschensee, Italy
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| The advent of a lake in 1950 put Reschensee, Italy, with its 14th century church, underwater. Photo: Adrian Michael | Creative Commons |
Many lakes and reservoirs hide the remains of forgotten settlements underwater, but rarely is there as obvious a reminder as the bell tower of the 14th century church at Reschensee, or Lake Reschen, in South Tyrol, Italy. A total of 1,290 acres of land was submerged to form the lake in 1950, obliterating the villages of Graun, part of Reschen, and others.
If the example of Lake Reschen dredges up memories of other submerged settlements, it’s to be expected. Underwater towns are so common, they even have their own sub-genre in crime novels: Reservoir Noir.
Ruddock, Wagram and Frenier, Louisiana
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| Ruddock, Wagram and Frenier, LA were destroyed by a hurricane in 1915. Photo: frenierla.com |
Three small towns in Louisiana comprised mostly of German immigrant cabbage farmers used to exist by the southwest edge of Lake Pontchartrain. The train delivered their groceries and the towns were so sleepy that the name of Wagram was renamed Napton. As is often the case on the Gulf Coast, however, all that changed with a hurricane. The towns’ legacy takes on a voodoo twist with the legend that their destruction was foretold. A resident named Julia Brown used to sit on her porch and sing about how when she died, she’d take everyone with her. Brown died just before the town was hit by a category 4 hurricane on Sept. 29, 1915. The townspeople were holding her funeral when the hurricane hit. The story goes that Brown’s coffin floated out into the swamp, and the three towns were destroyed in the storm.
Very little is left today, and most of it is underwater. Frenier, pictured here, is a slight blip on the map at the edge of the lake, and an old graveyard remains above water at the site of a Native American burial mound. Local Sheriff Wayne Norwood established a private museum of artifacts from the towns, which he finds when diving.
Famagusta, Cyprus
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| Famagusta, Cyprus never was allowed to recover once Greek Cypriot residents were evacuated following a 1975 Turkish invasion. Photo: Julienbzh35 | Creative Commons |
In the late 1960s, Famagusta, Cyprus, was a booming island tourist destination and a port city with an estimated population of 60,000 that rose to as much as 100,000 in the high season. The 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus caused a citywide evacuation, and the Greek Cypriot residents were never allowed to return. Ever since, the city of Famagusta has stood abandoned and fenced off from the rest of the island.
Famagusta is now a post-apocalyptic time capsule: Everything was left in the shops, department stores and hotels. It’s a rare example of undisturbed decay, which made it a useful model to discuss in the book “The World Without Us.” Because of development pressures, it’s unclear how long Famagusta will remain as is. The city was named on the World Monuments Fund’s “Watch List of 100 Most Endangered Sites in the World” in 2008 and is one of the Global Heritage Fund’s 2010 list of a dozen sites “on the verge of vanishing.”
Chaohu and other Chinese Cities
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| Without notice, Chaohu, China was “cancelled” by China and divided into 3 parcels. Photo: ChinaFotoPress | Getty Images |
On Aug. 22, China’s Anhui province announced the city of Chaohu was “cancelled.” That is, the buildings, infrastructure and inhabitants remained where they were on Aug. 21, but the city formerly known as Chaohu had been divided into three parts and parceled off into the nearby cities of Hefei, Wuhu and Ma’anshan. This came as rather a surprise to the residents because, as NPR noted , there had been no consultation with Chaohu’s residents and no official notice of the change. This redistribution has made the city of Hefei, now including Chao Lake, the largest by area in China.
Other cities that vanished in China include the stunning submerged ruins of the ancient Lion City, which was flooded in the 1950s. It still contains intact relics that would have been destroyed in the Cultural Revolution of 1966-1976, when Chairman Mao Zedong sought to eradicate capitalist, traditional and cultural elements, had the town remained above water.
Also in China, the controversial Three Gorges Dam Project created a 370 mile-long lake that submerged more than 1,000 villages, towns, and cities, forcing more than one million people to relocate. Experts estimated that 1,300 sites of cultural and archeological importance were submerged.
Via Yahoo Realestate
World’s Most Beautiful Places to Soak
Nothing says “R&R” like a long, hot bath: That ahh feeling is the best cure for stress. Sure, you can find hot water and a tub just about anywhere (including your own home), but you can only extract so much ambience from bathroom tiles. To really kick back, leave your well-treaded bathmat behind and head to a soak-spot that both calms the nerves and soothes the senses. We’ve uncovered some spectacular bathing locales that drip with history, luxury and natural beauty.
Thermae Bath Spa,Bath, England
This beautiful town in southwest England has always been a heavyweight in the R&R sector. The city’s original name, Aquae Sulis, honors the Celtic goddess of Sulis. Said to be a nurturing giver of life, Sulis presided over Bath’s ancient hot springs and was worshipped by the pool’s previous patrons, the Romans.
The Thermae Bath Spa’s pools are fed by the same steamy springs that have long beckoned to bathers. Although the city’s three springs — the Cross Spring, the Hetling Spring and the King’s Spring — are located more than a mile underground, the best place to enjoy them is Thermae’s rooftop pool. While you’re simmering away, you can look out over the beautiful, Gothic-style Bath Abbey.
Molori Safari Lodge, Madikwe Game Reserve, South Africa
Just because you’re in the wilderness doesn’t mean you have to rough it: The Molori Safari Lodge’s five bungalows bring chic to the Savanna. These unique accommodations seated within the Madikwe Game Reserve include floor-to-ceiling windows that allow visitors to wake up to stunning African vistas. But for the best views, grab your swimsuit and head to the main lodge’s hot tub. This in-ground soaking spot looks out over an ever-busy watering hole, frequented by elephants, lions and zebras.
Chena Hot Springs, Fairbanks, Alaska
Simply thinking of Alaska may send a shiver down your spine, but the northernmost state holds the key to a warm, relaxing getaway: the Chena Hot Springs. Located about 60 miles east of Fairbanks, these bubbling waters are at the heart of a 40-square-mile geothermal activity zone. The hot springs funnel mineral water at a whopping 165 degrees Fahrenheit into the massive pools at the Chena Hot Springs Resort. But don’t worry about the heat: The water is cooled well before it makes its way to the pool. When you do settle in for a soak, you’ll find that the region’s alpine peaks and verdant evergreen forests make for a splendid backdrop.
Rome Cavalieri, Rome, Italy
Guests at the Rome Cavalieri have a one-up in avoiding Rome’s massive crowds: This ornate Waldorf Astoria property in the heart of Rome boasts a bird’s-eye view of the city. The scenery is particularly sweet if you’re savoring it from the steamy waters of the Penthouse Suite’s private rooftop whirlpool. Watch the city unfold beneath you as you soak; consider a nighttime dip to glimpse St. Peter’s Basilica illuminating the skyline.
Hot Water Beach, Waikato, New Zealand
If you’re a more active traveler, you might prefer the DIY spa experience at Hot Water Beach, located on the northeast shore of New Zealand. The two underground fissures leak gallons of water at 147 degrees Fahrenheit every minute; the water then bubbles its way up through the beach’s golden sands to the surface. To make the most out of your visit, plan to arrive one to two hours before low tide (when more of the beach is exposed) with a bucket and shovel in hand — you’ll need them to dig your own hot tub.
Pamukkale,Denizli, Turkey
Located approximately 400 miles south of Istanbul in Denizli, Turkey, these hot springs are rumored to have both healing and beautifying powers. The site’s own beauty is worth beholding. Formed by mineral deposits left behind by 17 flowing hot springs, these crystalline-white terraces collect shallow pools of steamy water ideal for a soothing soak. While visiting Pamukkale, your view will extend far over the city of Denizli.
Conrad Maldives, Rangali Island,The Maldives
Spread out across two remote islands, the Conrad Maldives’ 150 villas offer spectacular panoramas of the Indian Ocean. And there is no better place to enjoy the landscape than from the soothing 104-degree waters of a private hot tub. Consider one of the villas on the Rangali Island section of the resort; the tubs in these Beach Villas are flanked by sugary-white sands and a vibrant coral reef. And if the scenery isn’t enough, hotel staff members provide a few extra luxuries like cool glasses of fresh papaya juice.
Jigokudani Monkey Park, Yamanouchi, Japan
We’re not the only ones who enjoy a hot bath from time to time — our primate brethren do too. And nowhere are the R&R needs of monkeys catered to better than in Japan’s Jigokudani Monkey Park. Sitting 158 miles northwest of Tokyo in Yamanouchi, this natural park sits atop bubbling hot springs that feed a man-made pool frequented by Japanese macaques (or snow monkeys). Although Homo sapiens are not welcome in these pools, followers of the old “monkey see, monkey do” adage can sample the springs for themselves at the park’s Korakukan Jigokudani guest house.
Via Yahoo Travel
