The most unusual places on earth. The most unusual places on earth 100 of the most beautiful places on the planet liveinternet comments
“Three things make a person happy: love, an interesting job and the opportunity to travel ...” - said Ivan Bunin. We hope you are all right with love and interesting work. But with travel we will help you! After all, it’s spring already in the yard, and you can feel it most clearly on the road. PEOPLETALK offers you a small guide to the most beautiful corners of our planet that you might want to go to.
Colored Rocks Zhangye Dankxia, China
These mountains seem to be the work of the artist, who generously painted the canvas with bright colors. According to many researchers, the rocks acquired this color due to the fact that for about 100 million years this area was under water. After the drought, the water evaporated, and the remaining silt gave the rocks a riot of colors. In 2010, the rocks of Zhangye were included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Sea of \u200b\u200bStars on Vaadhu Island, Maldives
This place is the dream of all romantics. The coast is strewn with thousands of luminous lights, as if reflecting the night starry sky. This phenomenon is easily explained: flicker is created by unicellular organisms - phytoplankton. This sight is worth a sleepless night!
Great Wall of China
One of the largest architectural monuments in the world, whose length is 21 196 km, undoubtedly deserves attention. About 40 million tourists visit this place annually. And this incredible building also includes a list of seven wonders of the world.
Northern Lights, Iceland
Everyone should see this magical phenomenon at least once in a lifetime! Radiance can be observed from many parts of our vast northern country, for example in Murmansk. But in Iceland you can kill two birds with one stone: you will see the northern lights on clear nights from October to April, and from February to March from the shores you can see the largest mammals in the world - whales and killer whales. Agree, the trip is worth it.
Taj Mahal, India
People from different countries come to see one of the most famous sights in the world. In just one year, the Taj Mahal is visited by 3 to 6 million people. The building of incredible beauty was built by the emperor Shah-Jahan after the death of his third wife Mumtaz-Mahal. Over the creation of this architectural masterpiece, more than 22 thousand masters worked. The Indian Pearl is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Pakr Shinjuku-goen, Japan
The place where beautiful sakura blossoms every spring! Incredible beauty, the natural flowering of wild cherries in the gardens of Japan is called the Hanami. This holiday is a national tradition, admiring the flowers lasts from 7 to 10 days. Shinjuku Gyoen Park, due to its beauty, has become one of the most visited places in Japan. So, going to the Land of the Rising Sun, choose the end of March and the beginning of April.
Venice, Italy
Venice is one of the most beautiful cities not only in Italy, but also in the whole world! The city literally stands on the water: it was built on 122 islands and connected by 400 bridges. Venice has its own amazing atmosphere, which attracts tourists and forever sinks in the heart of everyone who has been there.
Hang Son Dung Mountain River Cave, Vietnam
This cave, by the way the largest in the world, was discovered in 2009. At the moment, it has been explored only 2.5 km inland. The width of the giant cave reaches 100 m, and the height is 250. This underground kingdom is filled with incredible beauty. Inside is a river, the depth of which reaches 200 meters! Such a place is a real find for tourists, photographers and lovers of an unforgettable experience. Hang Song Dung is unlikely to leave anyone indifferent!
Angel Falls, Venezuela
One of the most beautiful and highest waterfalls in the world is located in Venezuela. The scale of this creation of nature is hard to imagine! The total height of the waterfall reaches 1054 m and a height of 807 m. Angel is located in the Canaima National Park, and in 1994 UNESCO entered it on the World Heritage List.
Antelope Canyon, USA
Surely you have often come across the amazing beauty of the canyon in photographs, film frames and music videos. The canyon is located in the southwestern United States. The reddish walls are naturally occurring giant gaps in the sandy rocks. Its length is a little more than 100 m. If you decide to visit this magical place, know that it is best to observe the beauty of the canyon when the sun is at its zenith.
Lake Ritsa, Abkhazia
Another magical place that is not so far away, but certainly will delight you with its beauty, is the alpine lake Ritsa, surrounded by majestic mountains. This is one of the main attractions of Abkhazia. Its length reaches almost 2 km, its depth is about 150 m, and the height of the surrounding mountains is 3200 m. The spectacle is so beautiful that it is hard to believe in its reality! Recommended!
Uyuni salt flats, Bolivia
Walking through the sky is quite realistic if you visit a dried-up salt lake in the south of the desert plain Altiplano, in the departments of Oruro and Potosi. This is the most unusual lake in the world with an area of \u200b\u200b10,582 km 2 and is one of the largest solanchaks in the world. But thousands of people come here not for salt, but for incredible beauty!
Mount Ararat, Turkey
Despite the fact that the mountain itself is located on the territory of Turkey, an unusual view of it opens from the side of Armenia. For the Armenian people, the mountain is a symbol of the state, and, according to biblical tradition, Noah's ark landed here. The famous mountain consists of two peaks - Big Ararat (5165 m) and Small (3925 m). Ararat is striking in its beauty and grandeur and is definitely worth it to see it with your own eyes!
Tianmen (Sky Gate), China
China is a country with a rich culture and incredibly beautiful nature, and one of its most popular attractions, of course, is Mount Tianmen. Its height is 1518.6 m. To get to the top, you need to overcome an exciting path along the longest cable car in the world, the length of which is 7455 m. This route is called the “heavenly highway”. So if you want to touch the sky, then you are here!
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Antarctic ice sheet
Antarctica
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Antarctica (translated from Greek as “the opposite of the Arctic”) is a continent located in the very south of the Earth, the center of Antarctica roughly coincides with the southern geographic pole. The area of \u200b\u200bthe continent is about 15 million km? (of which 1.6 million km? are ice shelves).
Antarctica was discovered in 1820 by a Russian expedition led by Thaddeus Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev. The first to enter the continental part in 1895 was the captain of the Norwegian vessel Antarctic Christensen and the professor of natural sciences Karlsten Borchgröwink.
Antarctica is the highest continent of the Earth, the average height of the continent's surface above sea level is more than 2000 m, and in the center of the continent reaches 4000 meters. Most of this height is the continent’s permanent ice sheet, under which the continental relief is hidden, and only ~ 5% of its area is ice-free - mainly in West Antarctica and the Transantarctic mountains: islands, coastal areas, so-called. "Dry valleys" and individual ridges and mountain peaks (nunataki), towering above the ice surface.
The Antarctic ice sheet is the largest on our planet and exceeds the closest Greenland ice sheet by the size of about 10 times. Is it concentrated ~ 30 million km? ice, i.e. 90% of all land ice. The average thickness of the ice layer is 2500–2800 m, reaching a maximum value in some areas of East Antarctica - up to 5 kilometers. A feature of Antarctica is a large area of \u200b\u200bice shelves (low (blue) areas of West Antarctica), accounting for ~ 10% of the area that rises above sea level; these glaciers are record iceberg sources. In winter (summer in the northern hemisphere), the area of \u200b\u200bsea ice around Antarctica increases to 18 million km?, And in the summer decreases to 3-4 million km ?.
According to the Antarctic Convention, Antarctica does not belong to any state. Only scientific activity is permitted. The deployment of military facilities, as well as the entry of warships and armed vessels south of the 60th degree of latitude, are prohibited. Due to the severity of the climate, there is no permanent population in Antarctica. The temporary population of Antarctica ranges from 4,000 people in the summer to 1,000 people in the winter.
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Salt marsh Uyuni (Salar De Uyuni)
Bolivia
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Uyuni Solonchak is a dried-up salt lake in the south of the desert plain Altiplano in Bolivia at an altitude of about 3650 m above sea level. Has an area of \u200b\u200bmore than 10.5 thousand km? and is the largest salt marsh in the world. Located in the vicinity of the city of Uyuni in the departments of Oruro and Potosi in the south-west of the country. The inner part of the lake is covered with a layer of salt 2-8 m thick. During the rainy season, the solonchak is covered with a thin layer of water and turns into the largest mirror in the world.
About 40 thousand years ago, this region was part of Lake Minchin. After its drying, two currently existing lakes remained: Poopo and Uru-Uru, as well as two large salt marshes: Salar de Coypas and Uyuni. According to experts, the Uyuni salt marsh contains a reserve of 10 billion tons of salt, of which less than 25 thousand tons are produced annually. Thanks to the development of tourism, local residents began to build hotels from the salt blocks in Uyuni, where you can stay overnight. In addition, the Uyuni solonchak is an ideal tool for testing and calibrating remote sensing instruments on orbiting satellites. Uyuni's clear skies and dry air make it possible to calibrate satellites five times better than if you were using the surface of the ocean.
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Sands of the Sahara (Sand dunes of the Sahara)
North Africa
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Is the Sahara the largest desert on Earth with an area of \u200b\u200babout 9 million km ?, which is slightly less than the area of \u200b\u200bthe United States of America. Sahara is located in North Africa, in more than ten states (Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Chad, Sudan). Sugar cannot be categorized within a single desert type, although the sandy-rocky type is predominant. In the desert, there are many regions: Tenere, Greater East Erg, Greater West Erg, Tanesruft, Hamada al-Hamra, Erg-Igidi, Erg Shesh, Arabian, Libyan, Nubian deserts. The name “Sahara” is an Arabic translation of the Tuareg word “tener” meaning desert.
In 2008, an international group of scientists from Germany, Canada and the United States, as a result of research, found that the Sahara turned into a desert about 2,700 years ago as a result of a very slow evolution of climate. Such conclusions were made by scientists on the basis of studying geological deposits raised from the depths of Lake Yoa, located in northern Chad. According to research, 6 thousand years ago, trees grew in the Sahara and there were many lakes. Thus, this work of scientists refutes the existing theory about the transformation of this part of Africa into the desert 5500 years ago and the fact that the desertification process took only several centuries.
In the Sahara, about 160 thousand mirages are observed annually. They are stable and wandering, vertical and horizontal. Even special maps of caravan routes were compiled with an assessment of the places where mirages are usually observed. On these maps it is noted where wells, oases, palm groves, mountain ranges appear.
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Angkor
Cambodia
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Angkor is the metropolitan area of \u200b\u200bthe Khmer Empire of the 9th-15th centuries, which dominated throughout Southeast Asia, where Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom are preserved - outstanding monuments of Khmer medieval art. Angkor stretched for 24 km from west to east and 8 km from north to south. It is located on the shores of Lake Tonle Sap, about 240 km northwest of Cambodia's capital Phnom Penh.
The construction of this grand temple complex continued for four centuries. It was started by the founder of the Angkor dynasty, Prince Jayyavarman II in 802, and the last temple complexes were built by King Jayyavarman VII in the XII century. After his death in 1218, construction stopped. The builders of Angkor have completed their centuries-old project. According to another version, the Khmer Empire simply ran out of sandstone. Interestingly, all the successors of Jayavarman II followed his principles of construction. Each new ruler completed the city in such a way that its core was constantly moving: the center of the old city was on the outskirts of the new one. So gradually this giant city grew. Each time a five-tower temple was erected in the center, symbolizing Mount Meru, the center of the world. As a result, Angkor Wat turned into a whole complex of temples.
To our time, Angkor did not come quite like a city, but rather a temple city. During the Khmer Empire, residential and public buildings were built of wood, which quickly collapses under the influence of a hot and humid tropical climate. When building temples, sandstone was most often used. The walls were made of tuff. This explains the relatively good preservation of religious and fortifications in the complete absence of residential buildings. However, during the heyday of the empire, more than a million people lived in Angkor Thom alone, which is more than any European city of that time.
Ta Prom Temple was built by Jayavarman VII in memory of his mother. Now it is interesting in that they did not begin to clear it of the jungle. The temple appears bearing the stamp of extraordinary beauty, here the entire surface is covered with a cloak of wood roots and lush greenery. Since the end of the civil war in Cambodia and the inclusion of the Angkor complex in the UNESCO World Heritage in other temples, active restoration work has been ongoing.
Preah Khan (in Khmer “sacred sword”) is a huge temple built in honor of the victory over the Tymami King Jayavarman VII at the end of the XII century. According to another version, the temple was dedicated to the memory of the king's father. Back in the late nineties of the XX century, like Ta Promh, it was a jungle-covered ruin, with gigantic trees growing on them. Now there are restorers from the United States. The vegetation is almost completely removed.
The finest monument of the entire Angkor complex is the most famous and well-preserved Angkor Wat temple, built over thirty years during the reign of Suryavarman II. After the death of the king, the temple took him into its walls and became the tomb-mausoleum.
In the fortress of Angkor Thom, located at a distance of two kilometers, the central Bayon temple and its fifty-four huge towers deserve special attention, each of which is decorated with four forms of Buddha. According to one version, a portrait of the king himself was presented in the image of Buddha. This temple was the last major religious building built in Angkor.
This booming tourist center has an international airport and many modern hotels. The distance from the center of Siam Riap to the main temple of the complex - Angkor Vata is about 5 km.
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Amazon Rainforest (The Amazon Rainforest)
South America
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Great Barrier Reef
Coral Sea, Australia
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The Great Barrier Reef is a ridge of coral reefs and islands in the Coral Sea, stretching along the northeast coast of Australia for 2,300 km. In the northern part, its width reaches 2 km, in the southern - 150 km. Most of the reefs are under water (which are exposed during low tides). In 1979, the Marine National Park was established here with an area of \u200b\u200bover 5 million hectares.
The history of the Great Barrier Reef has been around for 18 million years. The modern history of its development lasts about 8000 years. On the old foundation, new layers are still appearing. The bulk of the reef spans over 2,100 individual reefs, which are surrounded by nearly 540 barriers that form coastal islands. Between the Reef and the coast lies a lagoon. This area of \u200b\u200bthe shallows rarely exceeds a depth of 100 m. From the side of the sea, the slopes of the reef abruptly flow thousands of meters deep into the sea. The barrier at this location is influenced by waves and winds. Coral growth is the fastest here, while in places where waves and temperatures reach extreme heights, reefs lose the most building material. Most of the free material is woven into the reefs and forms new rocks, so on the reef there are constant, successive processes of destruction and subsequent restoration.
Due to the diversity and colorfulness of the underwater world in the Reef, as well as almost always warm clear sea water, this place is incredibly popular among tourists, especially fond of diving. For this reason, the large islands located next to the Great Barrier Reef have turned into luxury tourist resorts.
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Victoria Falls
Zambia, Zimbabwe
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Victoria is a waterfall on the Zambezi River in South Africa. Located on the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe. The waterfall is about 1800 meters wide and 128 meters high. Scottish explorer David Livingston visited the waterfall in 1855 and named it after Queen Victoria. Previously, the waterfall was known among the local population as “Thundering Smoke” (“Mosi-oa-Tunya”).
The waterfall is located approximately in the middle of the Zambezi River. Above the Zambezi waterfall, it flows along a flat basalt slab in a valley bounded by low and rare sandstone hills. There are islands located throughout the river, the number of which increases as one approaches the waterfall. The waterfall itself was formed in the place where Zambezi sharply falls into a narrow crevice. Numerous islets divide the waterfall on the ridge, forming ducts. Over time, the waterfall receded upstream, gnawing itself more and more crevices. These crevices now form a zigzag-shaped riverbed with sheer walls. Victoria Falls is about two times higher than Niagara Falls, and more than two wider than its main part (“Horseshoes”). Falling water forms splashes and fog, which can rise to a height of 400 meters and above, and are visible at a distance of up to 50 kilometers.
The waterfall was hardly visited by people until, in 1905, a railway was built here. After the commissioning of the railway, they quickly gained popularity and retained it until the end of British colonial rule. On the side of Zimbabwe, a tourist city has grown. At the end of the 1960s, the number of tourists decreased due to the partisan struggle in Zimbabwe (Rhodesia) and the detention of foreign tourists during the reign of Vennet Konda in independent Zambia. The independence of Zimbabwe in 1980 brought relative peace; in the 1980s, a new wave of tourism began in the region. By the late 1990s, nearly 300 thousand people visited waterfalls annually. In the 2000s, the number of tourists visiting Zimbabwe began to decline due to unrest over the rule of Robert Mugabe.
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Serengeti National Park
Tanzania, Kenya
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Serengeti National Park is a national park in the Serengeti savannah located in Tanzania and Kenya. Savannah extends from the north of Tanzania, east of Lake Victoria, to the south of Kenya and covers an area of \u200b\u200babout 30 thousand km ?. The name comes from the Masai word "siringet", meaning "elongated platform." Serengeti is located at an altitude of 920 to 1850 m above sea level and its landscape changes from long or short grass in the south to hills covered with forests in the north. The Serengeti is characterized by accumulations (St. 1.5 million heads) of wild ungulates (antelopes, zebras, buffalos, rhinos, giraffes, hippos), an elephant, a lion, a cheetah, a leopard, hyenas, etc. are common. Year-round uninterrupted migration of large herds of ungulates looking for a watering hole, is considered one of the most striking seasonal phenomena in the wild.
The largest flock of lions in the world, or, as zoologists call it - the lion pride, was discovered in the Serengeti park in 2005. Pride consists of 41 lions. Three adult males rule them, each of which is 10 years old. The flock also includes eight 4-year-old lionesses and 9 young "princesses" who are two years old. Still in the pride, 13 lion cubs live from 4 months to a year old. Nowhere in Africa has there been such a large flock.
For the first time Europeans learned about these places only in 1913. Unfortunately, like all the territories of the British colonies in East Africa, the Serengeti plains quickly became a place of mass pilgrimage for hunters from Europe. The national park was founded in 1940 due to the danger of the extermination of large animals by numerous hunters, both local and those who came from other countries.
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Petra
Jordan
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Petra is the capital of Edom, or the Edomites, later the capital of the Nabatean kingdom, the main city of the sons of Esau. The city is located on the territory of modern Jordan, at an altitude of more than 900 meters above sea level and 660 meters above the surrounding area, the Arava Valley, in the narrow Sik Canyon. The passage to the valley is through gorges located in the north and in the south, while from the east and west the cliffs precipitously break off, forming natural walls up to 60 meters in height. Petra was located at the crossroads of two major trade routes: one connecting the Red Sea with Damascus, the other - the Persian Gulf with Gaza off the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Caravans of spices traveling from the Persian Gulf for weeks had to bravely endure the harsh conditions of the Arabian desert until they reached the coolness of the narrow canyon Sik leading to the long-awaited Petra. There, travelers found food, shelter and cool life-giving water.
The annual rainfall in Petra is only about 15 centimeters. To get water, locals cut down canals and ponds right in the rocks. Over time, almost every drop of rain in Petra and its environs was collected and preserved. Thanks to the water that the inhabitants of Petra skillfully kept, they could grow crops and plant camels. In addition, they were able to build a city - a center of trade. Until now, water flows through the winding stone channels along the entire length of Sik Canyon.
For hundreds of years, trade brought Petra great wealth. But when the Romans opened the sea routes to the East, the land spice trade came to naught and Petra gradually emptied, lost in the sand. Many of Petra's buildings were erected in different eras and under different masters of the city, including the Idomeans (18-2 centuries BC), Nabataeans (2 in BC - 106 BC) , Romans (106–395 BC), Byzantines and Arabs. In the 12th century AD e. they were owned by the crusaders. The first of the Europeans of the new time, Peter was seen and described by an incognito Swiss, Johann Ludwig Burkhardt. Near the ancient theater, you can see the building of the Edomites or Nabataeans. Monuments built after the 6th century BC. e. almost none, because in that era the city had already lost its significance.
The inhabitants of Petra masterfully mastered the art of working with stone. The very name "Peter", which means "rock", is associated with a stone. The Nabataeans who built the city carved houses, crypts, and temples from boulders. The famous rock temple-mausoleum of Al-Khazneh, “Treasury of the Pharaoh,” as the Arabs call it, was created in the 2nd century. - possibly in connection with a visit to Syria by Emperor Hadrian. The exact purpose of the structure is not fully understood.
The territory of Petra occupies a large area. From the center, where the ruins of numerous buildings, no longer rocky, but built in the traditional way, made of stone, are well preserved, it extends for several kilometers. The main street, stretching from east to west through the city, was laid during Roman rule. On both sides of it stretches a majestic colonnade. The western end of the street rested in a large temple, and the eastern end ended with a three-span triumphal arch. Ed Deir, a monastery carved into a rock on a cliff top, is a huge building about 50 m wide and more than 45 m high. Judging by the crosses carved on the walls, the temple served as a Christian church for some time. Today, about half a million tourists come to Jordan every year to look at Petra, whose buildings testify to its glorious past. When tourists pass along the cool kilometer-long Sik Canyon, around the bend they will see the Treasury - a magnificent building with a facade carved from a huge rock. This is one of the best preserved structures of the first century. The building is crowned with a huge urn of stone, in which gold and precious stones were allegedly stored. The canyon is gradually expanding, and tourists fall into a natural amphitheater, in the sandstone walls of which there are many caves. But the main thing that catches your eye is the crypts hollowed out in the rocks. The colonnade and amphitheater testify to the presence of the Romans in the city in the first and second centuries.
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Great Wall of China
China
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The Great Wall of China (translated from Pinyin - “Long Wall of 10,000 Li”) is the largest architectural monument. Passes through northern China for 6350 km. The construction of the first wall began in the III century BC. e. during the reign of Emperor Qin Shi-huangdi (Qin dynasty), during the “Warring States” (V - III centuries BC) to protect the state from the raids of the nomadic people of the Huns. A fifth of the country's population, i.e. about a million people. The wall was supposed to be the extreme northern line of the possible expansion of the Chinese themselves, it was also supposed to protect the subjects of the "Middle Empire" from the transition to a semi-nomadic way of life, from merging with the barbarians. The wall clearly fixed the borders of Chinese civilization, contributed to the consolidation of a single empire, just made up of a number of conquered kingdoms.
During the reign of the Han Dynasty (3rd century A.D.), the wall was expanded west to Dunhuang. A line of watch towers was also built, going deep into the desert, to protect trade caravans from raids by nomads. Those sections of the Great Wall that have survived to our time were built mainly during the Ming Dynasty (14th - 17th centuries). In this era, the main building materials were brick and stone blocks, which made the structure more reliable. During the reign of Ming, the Wall stretched from east to west from the Shanhaiguan outpost on the shore of the Bohai Bay of the Yellow Sea to the Yuimenguan outpost at the junction of the modern provinces of Gansu and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
The Manchu Qing Dynasty (mid-17th century - early 20th century), having overcome the Wall with the help of the betrayal of U Sanggui, reacted to the Wall with disdain. Over the three centuries of her reign, the Great Wall almost collapsed under the influence of time. Only a small part of it near Beijing - Badaling - was maintained in order - it served as a kind of "gateway to the capital."
In 1984, on the initiative of Deng Xiaoping, a program for the restoration of the Great Wall of China was launched, financed from the funds of Chinese and foreign companies, as well as private individuals. It is reported that a 60-kilometer stretch of wall in the Minging region of Shanxi province in the north-west of the country is undergoing active erosion. The reason is the intensive agricultural practices in China, starting in the 1950s, which led to the drainage of groundwater, and as a result, this region has become the main source and center of origin of powerful sandstorms. More than 40 km of the wall has already disappeared, and only 10 km are still in place, but the height of the wall in some places has decreased from five to two meters.
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Grand Canyon
Arizona, USA
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Grand Canyon, or Grand Canyon, Grand Canyon - one of the deepest canyons in the world. Located on the plateau of Colorado, Arizona, USA, in the territory of the Grand Canyon National Park. It is cut by the Colorado River in the thickness of limestones, shales and sandstones. The canyon is 446 kilometers long. Width (at the plateau level) ranges from 6 to 29 kilometers, at the bottom - less than a kilometer. Depth - up to 1600 meters.
Initially, the Colorado River flowed across the plain, but as a result of the movement of the earth's crust about 65 million years ago, the Colorado Plateau rose. As a result of raising the plateau, the angle of inclination of the Colorado River has changed, as a result of which its speed and ability to destroy the rock lying in its path has increased. First of all, the river eroded the upper limestones, and then set to deeper and more ancient sandstones and shales. So about 5-6 million years ago the Grand Canyon was formed. The canyon is still growing due to ongoing erosion.
Native Americans (Indians) knew about the Grand Canyon thousands of years ago. The first signs of the life of people in the canyon include cave paintings that were created by the Indians about 3 thousand years ago. In 1540, the Grand Canyon was discovered by a group of Spanish soldiers, under the command of Garcia Lopez de Cardenas, traveling in search of gold. Several Spanish soldiers escorted by Hopi Indians tried to descend to the bottom of the canyon, but were forced to return due to lack of drinking water. Since then, the canyon has not been visited by Europeans for more than 2 centuries. The first scientific expedition to the Grand Canyon, led by John Weasley Powell, was carried out in 1869. Powell explored and described the canyon. In 1903, the canyon was visited by US President Theodore Roosevelt, who also declared it a national monument in 1909.
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Taj Mahal
Agra, India
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Taj Mahal is a mosque mausoleum located in Agra, India, on the banks of the Yamuna River. Construction time refers to approximately 1630-1652. It was built by order of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his wife Mumtaz-Mahal, who died in childbirth (later Shah Jahan himself was buried here). Inside the mausoleum are two tombs - the shah and his wife. The place of their burial is located in the same place as the tombs, but underground. The Taj Mahal is a five-domed structure with a height of 74 m on the platform, with 4 minarets in the corners (they are slightly inclined to the side of the tomb so that in case of destruction it does not damage it), which adjoins a garden with fountains and a pool. The walls are made of polished translucent marble with inlaid gems. Turquoise, agate, malachite, carnelian, etc. were used. Marble has such a feature that in bright daylight it looks white, at dawn it looks pink, and silver on a moonlit night.
Over 20,000 masters from all over the empire, as well as masters of Central Asia, Persia and the Middle East, were invited to the construction of the complex. On the other side of the river was supposed to be a twin building of black marble, but it was not completed. A bridge of gray marble was supposed to connect these two buildings.
The mausoleum has numerous symbols hidden in its architecture and layout. For example, at the gate through which visitors of the Taj Mahal enter the park complex surrounding the mausoleum, a quote from the Koran is carved out addressed to the righteous and ending with the words “enter my paradise”. Considering that in the Mughal language of that time the words "paradise" and "garden" are written in the same way, we can understand the plan of Shah-Jahan - the construction of paradise and the placement of his beloved within it. On the left side of the tomb is a mosque of red sandstone. On the right is an exact copy of the mosque. The whole complex has axial symmetry. The tomb has central symmetry with respect to the tomb of Mumtaz Mahal. The only violation of this symmetry is the tomb of Shah Jahan, which was built there after his death.
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Iguazu Falls
Brazil, Argentina
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Iguazu Falls is a complex of waterfalls on the Iguazu River, located on the border of Brazil (Parana state) and Argentina (Misiones area). Waterfalls are located on the border of the Argentinean and Brazilian national parks "Iguazu". The name Iguazu comes from the words in the Guarani language: both (water) and guasu (large). Legend has it that God wanted to marry a beautiful Aboriginal woman named Naipu, but she escaped with her lover in a canoe. In anger, God cut the river, creating waterfalls, condemning lovers to eternal fall. Waterfalls were discovered in 1541 by the Spanish conquistador don Альlvaro Nunez Caseso de Vaca, who went to the South American jungle in search of gold and adventure.
The complex is 2.7 km wide and includes approximately 270 individual waterfalls. The height of the water fall reaches 82 meters, but on most waterfalls - a little more than 60 meters. The largest waterfall - Garganta del Diablo ("Devil's Throat") - U-shaped cliff 150 meters wide and 700 meters long. This waterfall marks the border between Brazil and Argentina. During the dry season, visitors can see two separate crescent-shaped waterfalls. During the dry season, less rainfall occurs and the water level in the Iguazu River decreases. As a result, less water flows into the Iguazu Falls, so it splits into two separate waterfalls. During the wet season, these two crescents merge together to form one large waterfall, approximately 4 kilometers wide.
Many islands (including quite large ones) separate waterfalls from each other. Most of the waterfalls are located within the territory of Argentina, but Brazil has a good view of the Devil's Throat. In the vicinity of Iguazu, there is a national park where visitors can explore wildlife and vegetation. Boat trips are provided on the Parana and Iguazu rivers. You can also visit Itaipu Dam, one of the largest hydropower plants in the world.
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Giza pyramids
Egypt
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The Giza Pyramid Complex is located on the Giza Plateau in the suburbs of Cairo, in Egypt. This complex of ancient monuments is located about eight kilometers away towards the center of the desert from the old city of Giza on the Nile. This ancient Egyptian necropolis consists of the Khufu Pyramid (known as the Great Pyramid and the Cheops Pyramid), the Hafra Pyramid and the Menkaur Pyramid, as well as a number of smaller accompanying buildings, known as the “queens” pyramids, sidewalks and valley pyramids. The Great Sphinx is located on the east side of the complex facing east.
The Cheops Pyramid (or Khufu) is the largest of the Egyptian pyramids, the only one of the "Seven Wonders of the World" that has survived to this day. Initially, the height of the pyramid was 146.6 meters, (about a fifty-story skyscraper), but due to the loss of a crowning granite block - the pyramidion as a result of the earthquake - its height has now decreased by 9.4 meters and is 137.2 meters. The length of the side of the pyramid is 230 meters. It is composed of approximately 2.3 million stone cubes stacked in 203 tiers (originally 210). The average weight of the stone is 2.5 tons, but there are also larger ones whose weight reached 15 tons. Build time unknown. According to one legend, the pyramid was built in the XXVI century BC. e. by pharaoh Khufu (2590–2568 BC), in Greek his name sounded like “Cheops”. The architect of the pyramid is Hemiun, the vizier and relative of Cheops. According to Herodotus, the 100,000 workers who replaced each other every three months built a pyramid for about 20-25 years. But this figure causes doubt among modern scientists. According to their estimates, only 8,000 people could calmly build a pyramid without interfering with each other.
Since antiquity no one has entered the pyramid of Cheops, although a descending tunnel was visited in Roman times, as evidenced by the inscriptions in the underground chamber; The description of this camera was made by Strabo. The first one to enter the pyramid after the Romans was caliph Abu Jafar al-Ma’mun in 832, having cut a passage longer than 17 m (it is through it that in our time, tourists get inside the pyramid). He hoped to find the countless treasures of the pharaoh there, but found only a layer of dust there. Inside the pyramid of Cheops are two burial chambers located one above the other.
Chefren's Pyramid (or Hafra) - the second largest ancient Egyptian pyramid. Built in the middle of the XXVI century. BC. the 136.5 m high building (originally 143.5 m high) was called Urt-Khafra (“Khafra the Great” or “Revered Khafra”). Although the Khafra pyramid is inferior in size to the pyramid of his father Khufu, its position on a higher hill and its steeper slope make it a worthy rival to the Great Pyramid. Two rather large chambers and two crossing passages that lead into a horizontal corridor represent a rather modest space in relation to the Khufu pyramid. The Hafra Pyramid was just an element of the memorial complex.
The Pyramid of Mikerin (or Menkaur) is the southernmost, late and lowest of the three Egyptian pyramids in Giza. Contrary to the nickname "Heru" (high), it barely reaches 66 m in height, and the length of the side of its base is 108.4 m. The inside of the pyramid reveals a lack of unity of plan: it is likely that the initial modest dimensions, designed not for the heir to the throne, were increased from his accession. The pyramid of Menkaur is somewhat knocked out of the general picture of buildings in Giza.
Despite its small size, considered a sign of decline, the Menkaur pyramid was the most beautiful of all the pyramids. The potential of the builders of the pyramid of Menkaur was huge, as one of the monoliths used in the memorial temple of Menkaur testifies to this. Its weight is estimated at more than 200 tons. Putting into place a block of this size, the heaviest on the Giza plateau, was a genuine technical feat. The colossal statue of the seated king from the central chapel of the temple - one of the largest in the era of the Old Kingdom - an excellent proof of the skill of the sculptors of the pharaoh.
The Great Sphinx is the oldest monumental sculpture on Earth. It is carved from a monolithic limestone rock in the form of a colossal sphinx - a lion lying on the sand, whose face - as has long been commonly believed - is given a portrait resemblance to the pharaoh Chefren (c. 2575-2465 BC). The statue is 73 meters long and 20 meters high; between the front legs was once a small sanctuary.
The statue of the Sphinx is turned to face the Nile and the rising sun. Almost all ancient Eastern civilizations saw in the lion a symbol of the solar deity. Since ancient times, it was customary to depict the pharaoh in the form of a lion, exterminating his enemies. The ancient Egyptian name of the Great Sphinx remains unknown. The word "sphinx" is Greek and literally means "strangler." The opinion that this word came to Greece from ancient Egyptian is unfounded. Medieval Arabs called the Great Sphinx the "father of horror."
The circumstances and the exact time of the construction of the Sphinx are still mysterious. The opinion of ancient authors, accepted in modern literature, that Hefren (Hafru) was its builder, is confirmed only by the fact that during the construction of the temple, the statue used stone blocks of the same size as when erecting the neighboring pyramid.
Even more confusing is the question of the customer of the statue, the fact that the face of the statue has Negroid features that diverges from other surviving images of Hafr and his relatives. Scientists who compared using the computer the face of the Sphinx with the signed statues of Hafr, came to the conclusion that they can not portray the same person. Since the 1950s in popular literature, the dating of the Sphinx by the period of the Old Kingdom began to be called into question. It has been argued that the lower part of the sphinx is a classic example of erosion caused by prolonged exposure to stone in water. The last time a corresponding precipitation level was observed in Egypt at the turn of the 4th and 3rd millennia BC, which, according to supporters of this theory, indicates the creation of a statue in the Pre-Dynastic period or even earlier. The relatively small size of the head prompted the Boston historian Robert Shoch to assume that the statue originally had a lion's face, from which one of the pharaohs ordered a mysteriously smiling human face to be carved in its own image and likeness. This hypothesis has not found recognition in the scientific community.
The statue has no nose one meter wide. Most often you can hear that this detail of the statue was knocked back by a cannonball during the Napoleonic battle with the Turks at the Pyramids (1798); in other versions of the legend, the place of Napoleon is occupied by the British or the Mamelukes. The falsity of this opinion is indicated by the drawings of the Danish traveler Norden, who had already seen the bearless sphinx in 1737
Although the absence of a nose can be explained by the “natural wear and tear” of the sculpture (the centuries-old effect of wind and moisture), it seems more plausible that in 1378 a Sufi fanatic, catching the fellahs to bring gifts to the Sphinx in the hope of replenishing his crop, was filled with anger and recaptured the “idol "Nose, for which he was torn to pieces by the crowd. Indeed, then for the locals the Sphinx was a kind of talisman, ruler of the Nile, on which, they believed, the level of the spill of the great river and, accordingly, the fertility of their fields depended.
Over the years of its existence, the Sphinx was buried to the very shoulders in the sand. Attempts to unearth it were undertaken already in antiquity by Thutmose IV and Ramses II. In 1817, Italians managed to clear the entire chest of the Sphinx from sand, and he was completely freed from millennial sand deposits in 1925.
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Machu Picchu
Peru
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Machu Picchu (Quechua: Machu Picchu, "Old Mountain"), a city and locality located 2,400 meters (7,875 feet) above sea level, is an important place in the history of the Incas in the pre-Columbian era. The city is located on a ridge above the Urubamba Valley in Peru, 80 km (50 mi) northwest of Cuzco (the ancient capital of the Inca empire). Often referred to as the “Lost City of the Incas," Machu Picchu is probably the most recognizable symbol of the Inca Empire. The city was built around 1450, but was abandoned by the population a hundred years later, during the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire. Forgotten for centuries, the city was rediscovered in 1911 by Hiram Bingham, an American historian. Since then, Machu Picchu has become an important attraction not only in Peru, but throughout Latin America. The city was declared a Peruvian Historical Estate in 1981 and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983. Machu Picchu is also one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.
Machu Picchu was built in the classical Inca style, with polished dry-stone walls. Its primary and most important buildings are Intihuatana, the Temple of the Sun, and the Three Window Room. They are located in what is known to archaeologists as the Machu Picchu Sacred Area. In September 2007, Peru and Yale reached an agreement on the return of the Inca civilization artifacts that Hiram Bingham had removed from Machu Picchu in the early 20th century. Currently, there are problems with the tourist flow to the city, since 400,000 tourists visited Machu Picchu in 2003 - this is a fairly large number of sites and the infrastructure is not adapted for such a tourist flow.
Machu Picchu was built around 1450, when the Inca Empire was at the peak of its development and economic power. The city was abandoned less than 100 years later. It is likely that most of its inhabitants were exterminated by smallpox before the Spanish conquistadors arrived in the area. Giram Bingham, a field researcher, along with several other scholars, initially hypothesized that the citadel was the traditional birthplace of the Inca aristocracy or the spiritual center of the "Virgin of the Sun."
Another theory claims that Machu Picchu was the Inca "Yakta (llacta)": a settlement built to control the economy of the conquered regions. The city may also have been built as a prison for elected representatives of the Inca society, for those few who have committed heinous crimes against the Inca society. A study by scholars such as John Rove and Richard Burger convinced most archaeologists that the city had a protective function, rather than belonging to the Inca emperor, Pachacuti. In addition, Johan Reinhard provided evidence that the site was selected to establish the holy city because of the exceptional landscape surrounding the city. One such example is that the city is located on natural mountains, from which the starry sky was clearly visible, and therefore the mountains have become key astronomical landmarks.
Although the citadel is located approximately 80 kilometers (50 miles) from Cuzco, the capital of the Inca empire, the city was never found and therefore was not looted and destroyed by the Spanish conquistadors, which happened to the vast majority of the Incas cities and settlements. Over the centuries, the surrounding jungle has grown throughout the site, and few people knew about the existence of this ancient city. On July 24, 1911, Machu Picchu appeared before the eyes of Hiram Bingham, an American historian who at that time was a lecturer at Yale University. He was brought to the area of \u200b\u200bruins by local residents who often visited the site. Bingham undertook archaeological research and completed a survey of the area in its entirety. Bingham coined the name for the city, calling it the "Lost City of the Incas," which became the name of his first book. He never thanked or mentioned the people who helped him find Machu Picchu, mentioning only the “local rumor”.
Bingham sought the city of Vitcos, the last refuge of the Supreme Inca and the last stronghold of resistance during the Spanish conquest of Peru. In 1911, after several years of previous trips and explorations of this zone, he was brought to the citadel of the Quechua people. These people lived in Machu Picchu, in the "original" original Inca infrastructure. Even though most of the inhabitants (Incas) died within a century after the construction of the city, a small number of families that survived that period remained by the time the site was "discovered" in 1911; many mummies were discovered in the city (mainly women) and several families who still lived in the ancient city. Bingham made several trips and excavated the site until 1915. He wrote a large number of books and articles about the discovery of Machu Picchu in his entire life.
Simone Waisbard, a well-known researcher in Cuzco, claims that Enrique Palma, Gabino Sanchez, and Augustine Lizarraga left their names “engraved” on one of the rocks in Machu Picchu July 14, 1901. This means that they “discovered” Machu Picchu before Bingham “discovered” the city in 1911. Similarly, in 1904, an engineer named Franklin might have identified the ruins in the area and clearly separated them from a distant mountain. He told Thomas Payne, an English Christian missionary living in the area, about the site on which the ruins are located. In 1906, Pine and another missionary supporting him, named Stuart E. McNairn (1867-1956), may have climbed up to the ruins.
In 1913, the site gained significant fame after the National Geographic Society highlighted information about the "lost city of the Incas" in April of that year. In 1981, an area of \u200b\u200b325.92 square kilometers surrounding Machu Picchu was declared the “Historical Heritage” of Peru. In addition to the ruins, this area includes most of the regional landscape, rich in flora and fauna.
Machu Picchu was defined as a World Heritage Site in 1983, when the city was described as "an absolute masterpiece of architecture and unique evidence of the development of the Inca civilization." On July 7, 2007, Machu Picchu was approved as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World by the New Open World Corporation. As a result of environmental degradation resulting from the negative impact of tourism, which led to the active development of the neighboring city of Aguas Calientes (including poorly located tram lines designed to expedite the movement of tourists) and the construction of a bridge over the Vilcanota River ) contrary to a court order and government protests (which most likely attracted even more tourists to the site), the World Monument Fund placed Machu Picchu on its List of the 100 Most Endangered World Heritage Sites in the World in 2008.
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Our planet is beautiful. It contains millions of places to enjoy forever. And even a modern person who can afford to travel often, rarely manages to see most of the most beautiful places on our planet.
Let us mentally take you to different corners of the Earth to enjoy the beauties of these places. You will see amazing architectural sights, tropical landscapes, cold caves and even a small Chinese town that captivates everyone who comes here.
Of course, it is difficult to list all the most amazing places in the world in one article, so we selected only a small part of what we could offer. You can record the most interesting of these places on your own travel list. And you are very lucky in life if you can visit at least a quarter of the places we offer.
The most beautiful places on our planet:
Benagil Sea Cave
Location: near the town of Algarve (Portugal).
On the south coast of Portugal there is an amazing place, which is also full of caves, one of which is the famous Benagil Cave.
Wind and water here played the role of a skilled sculptor, making caves and grottoes of crazy beauty from the coastal cliffs. But this is not the only beautiful cave in the area - many caves and beautiful beaches dotted the coast with a length of 150 kilometers.
Arizona Waves
Location: Coyote Buttes slope on the Colorado Plateau, on the border of Utah and Arizona.
This amazing place is a true Paradise for every photographer. Bizarre lines, smooth volumes and the play of light makes these places surprisingly mesmerizing.
These waves consist of fragile sandstone Navajo, whose age is 190 million years. The sand dunes became denser over time, and the wind and rainwater over the millennia made these spectacular landscapes in sandstone.
Due to the fragility of the breed, access to these places is limited. Only 20 people can visit the canyon daily, as determined by the online lottery.
And those who are lucky to get here should adhere to strict rules for finding, so as not to damage unique attractions.
Sagano Bamboo Grove
Location: Kyoto (Japan).
In the west of Kyoto, near Tenryu-ji, the world-famous Zen Buddhist temple, thousands of bamboo stems rustle loudly, creating bizarre melodies.
The unusualness and beauty of these places forced the Japanese government to add a bamboo grove to the list of the most important attractions of the country.
Location: Northwest of Hunan Province (China).
The second name of these places is “Avtara mountains”. Because the director of the movie Avatar, James Cameron was inspired by these places before creating the film, in which he used the mountains hovering above the ground.
On an area of \u200b\u200bmore than 350 square kilometers as a result of wind erosion, unusual natural structures arose in the form of tall pillars of limestone and bizarre sandstone. In addition to the "pillars" there are more than 40 amazing caves, there are lakes, beautiful gorges through which rivers make their way. Some of the pillars expand to the top, which creates the illusion of soaring rocks above the surface.
For tourists there are 5 hiking trails using cable cars. These places are well guarded and authorities ensure that unique natural monuments are not destroyed. Even the paths here are sprinkled with a special compound that prevents damage and destruction.
Uyuni salt flats
Location: south of the Altiplano plain, not far from the city of Uyuni (Bolivia).
This dried lake in Bolivia is located at an altitude of 3650 meters above sea level and has an area of \u200b\u200babout 10.5 thousand square kilometers, being the largest salt marsh in the world. The bottom of the dried lake is covered with salt crust up to 8 meters thick, it contains salt reserves of 10.5 billion tons. But this is not what makes the lake famous.
In the rainy season, the perfectly flat surface of the salt marsh is covered with a layer of water, turning into the largest mirror on Earth. This attracts many tourists. Photos taken here may surprise anyone. It’s hard to believe that this is not a photo montage. Locals for tourists began to organize nearby hotels, built from the bricks of salt mined here.
In Russia there is also a lake, some parts of which resemble Uyuni, it is called Lake Baskunchak and is located on the territory of the Astrakhan region.
Location: Near Austin, Texas (USA).
Hamilton's pool is a unique natural creation, upon seeing which, a hand automatically reaches for the camera. An underground river flowed here thousands of years ago, but at some point the dome of the karst cave collapsed, forming a beautiful landscape. Beautiful azure water, an amazing grotto with hanging stalactites, in which swallows nest, as well as a 15-meter waterfall make this place very cozy and incredibly beautiful.
Location: island in the Aegean, Cyclades archipelago (Greece).
Location: Reykjanes Peninsula (Iceland).
In full of places for visiting tourists. But this place is distinguished by its beauty and unusualness. The Blue Lagoon is a geothermal mineral lake, which is also unusually beautiful. The water temperature here is usually from 38 to 40 degrees at any time of the day or year. The blue-green algae that grow here, as well as silicon molecules, the concentration of which in the water reaches 140 mg per kilogram of water, give a beautiful color to the water of the lake. The maximum depth of the lake is 3 meters, which makes it accessible and safe for tourists.
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With its turquoise lagoons, beautiful coral reefs, this small island in the South Pacific seems to be a true paradise on Earth.
Many vacationers say that this is the most beautiful place they have seen in life. Bora Bora is a typical atoll that has a central elevation surrounded by coral reefs.
Conclusion
These were the most beautiful places in the world. We hope that you enjoyed our article .. The site also has detailed descriptions of the most beautiful places in individual countries, cities and regions. Stay tuned for our updates.
In this video you can enjoy other beautiful places on Earth with relaxing music.
The most beautiful places in the world have always attracted millions of tourists. Be it high mountains or endless valleys, huge seas or historic buildings. The sights of planet Earth are an endless and exciting journey. We have prepared the Top 20 most beautiful places in the world. Watch, discuss and share your social media post with your friends!
20 place - Kungur ice cave, Russia
8th place - Faroe Islands, Iceland-Norway
Located between Iceland and Norway. More than 50 thousand people live on the archipelago. The total area of \u200b\u200bthe archipelago is 1400 sq. Km, and includes 18 small islands, 17 of which have life. Even in the coldest month, the temperature does not drop below 0 degrees. The attention of all tourists who come to this amazing place is offered: a unique landscape, green meadows, clouds, rocks and, of course, the Atlantic Ocean. You will not find such beauties anywhere else!
7th place - Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve, Russia
It is located 12 kilometers from the city of Serpukhov on the left bank of the Oka River. The territory of the Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve with an area of \u200b\u200b4945 hectares is forest, it is located near the northern border of the subzone of mixed forests. Here visitors can see a unique phenomenon - broadleaf forests meet conifers. Vacationers who come to this place will be able to see more than 960 higher plant species. Visit the most beautiful places in Russia and this place must certainly be among them.
6th place - Yellowstone Volcano, USA
One of the most popular tourist attraction is the United States of America. Yellowstone National Park skillfully located on the territory of three states simultaneously: Idaho, Wyoming and Montana. The park is famous for its waterfalls, hot springs, rich flora and fauna. This reserve became a UNESCO World Heritage Site back in March 1872. Those who have seen the most unusual places on Earth always set Yellowstone in a special category.
5th place - Iguazu Falls, Brazil-Argentina
A real wonder of the world, which is located 20 km from the town of Puerto Iguazu. The legendary national park invites everyone to plunge into the wonderful world of the Amazonian forests with incredible beauty of landscapes. A classic tour of the park is a short walk to the waterfalls. A boat trip on a stormy river - and you are already at the foot of the world-famous waterfalls that you saw from above just half an hour ago.
4th place - Yosemite National Park, USA
The first natural American reserve, which is famous throughout the world for its unique virgin nature. The reserve with the highest waterfall is located in California. On the territory of Yosemite National Park, most of the films about Indians were shot.
3rd place - Neuschwanstein Castle, Germany
This is a magnificent building, which is located near the town of Füssen in Bavaria. The amazing beauty of the mysterious castle literally at first glance enchants tourists with its magnetism. The castle was built in 1869 by Ludwig II, who wanted to recreate the era of chivalry. A record sum of money was spent on the construction of this architectural masterpiece - more than 6 million gold marks. After the death of the monarch, the castle was opened for visits, this was done with the aim of recouping at least part of the money spent on construction.
2nd place - Niagara Falls, USA-Canada
The most famous waterfall in the USA and Canada. It has become one of North America's most visited attractions. It got its name from the Indians who lived here, and translates as "booming water." The width of the waterfall is 670 meters, the depth in its middle is about three meters, and the height is 51 meters. Each year, 20 million tourists from all over the world come to enjoy the beauty of the waterfall. To maximize the enjoyment of beauty, tourists are offered viewing platforms, cable cars, galleries and paths for pedestrians, and even an excursion in a balloon and helicopters.
1st place - Grand Canyon, USA
(Grand Canyon) is one of the oldest national parks in the United States of America. The picturesque corner is one of the most perfect creations of nature on Earth. It is located in Arizona. Until the mid-16th century, the Grand Canyon was inhabited by a tribe of Pueblo Indians, who lived in small dwellings in the form of caves. The Grand Canyon is a huge tourist complex with numerous parking lots, slopes and overnight places. Many believe that this is the most beautiful place on earth!
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July 2, 2016
We bring to your attention a dozen fantastic places on planet Earth that will amaze you with their unique, perhaps, you can even say unearthly beauty. Everyone must visit these mysterious and amazing corners of the planet at least once in their life.
The most unusual places on earth
1. Easter Island, Chile
Easter Island, Chile. Easter Island or Rapa Nui is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is famous mainly for its main attraction - stone statues of Moai. Perhaps there is no island of a more mysterious, mysterious, even mystical in the world. The impressive monuments of the Moai statues inspire incredible delight and unjustified fear, indescribable joy and an inexplicable sense of anxiety in the viewer. Everyone should visit Easter Island and enjoy the fascinating history of the Rapa Nui people.
2. Antelope Canyon, USA
Antelope Canyon, USA.Antelope Canyon - This is probably the most favorite and popular tourist attraction in the United States. The Antelope Canyon got its bizarre name due to the color of its cliffs: reddish-red hues resemble the color of an antelope skin. Over the centuries, water and wind have created that fantastic relief, which today is impossible to stop looking at. The game of intricate shapes and graceful lines of the walls of the canyon rocks is an unusual and unforgettable sight.
3. Zhangye Dankxia, China
Zhangye Dangxia, China. Zhangye Danxia is rocks, but the rocks are not simple, but colored! Motley mountain formations formed due to various natural anomalies. The result is truly stunning - bright rainbow colored stripes adorn the mountains. To believe in the existence of such fabulous landscapes you need to see them with your own eyes, the opening picture is really breathtaking.
4. Petra, Jordan
Petra, Jordan. The oldest city of Petra is considered one of the wonders of the world. The city is located in the narrow canyon of Sik. At one time, the city of Petra was the richest and most prosperous trading center. Now Petra is not only an architectural monument, but also a vast tourist area, attracting crowds of foreign guests. The main advantage of Petra is the facade of the building of the temple of Al Khazneh, carved from a solid rock. Petra makes a lasting impression, be sure to stay in this amazing city.
5. Phi Phi Islands, Thailand
Phi Phi Islands, Thailand. Phi Phi Islands are truly a paradise on Earth. More impressive landscape beauties can not be found all over the world. Beautiful beaches, clear turquoise waters and incredibly beautiful cliffs covered with dense tropical greenery make this place ideal for relaxation.
Caño Cristales in Spanish means a crystal river. Thanks to the various types of mosses and algae that grow on the bottom, it creates the illusion that the river’s waters are painted in different colors: red, blue, green, yellow and even black. Therefore, Canyo Cristalis is sometimes called the river of five colors. A real miracle is to see firsthand such indescribable beauty.
Socotra Islands are a World Heritage Site. They are quite inaccessible and adapted only for ecotourism. Restaurants, hotels and a high level of service? Forget about it, because here the first roads were laid just a couple of years ago. However, visiting Socotra will be the most unforgettable trip in your life if you decide to suffer discomfort. To be here is like getting to another planet. The plant world of this land is unique: a huge number of plants growing on the island, you will not see anywhere else. Such exceptional flora was born here due to the isolation of the island and the suitable climate.
8. Uyuni, Bolivia
Uyuni, Bolivia. Uyuni is the largest salt lake in the world. But an interesting feature of this lake is not only in its scale. Uyuni is a solid salt marsh with a smooth mirror surface, on which you can ride a car. In fact, Uyuni is a huge block of salt. The lake has high economic value for Bolivia, due to the extraction of its colossal reserves of salt. Here, salt is not only used for food; it is even used as a building material. Therefore, travelers have the opportunity to settle in a real salt hotel.
The wonderful Lake Kliluk is located in British Columbia. The waters of the lake are rich in various minerals and upon evaporation, many spots of minerals are formed on the surface, which, depending on the time of year, are painted in different colors - an incredibly amazing sight. In addition to its magical appearance, Kliluk is also famous for its healing properties.
