Isle of Pines: the closest island to Paradise

By René Moutouh – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

The Isle of Pines is an island in the Pacific Ocean, in the archipelago of New Caledonia. The Isle is nicknamed l’île la plus proche du paradis (“the closest island to Paradise”).
Melanesian people lived on the island for over 2000 years before the island was first visited by Europeans. Captain James Cook in 1774 saw the island and renamed it on his second voyage to New Zealand. Cook gave the island its name after seeing the tall native pines. He never disembarked onto the island, but as he saw signs of inhabitance (smoke) assumed it was inhabited. In the 1840s Protestant and Catholic missionaries arrived, along with merchants seeking sandalwood.
info source: wikipedia

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Heaven’s Gate – a natural arch in Tianmen mountain

By Kuruman from Tokyo, Japan – IMG_2874.jpg, CC BY 2.0, Link

Tianmen Mountain National Forest Park lies 8 kilometers south of the city of Zhangjiajie in China. The mountain is best reached by cable car. Tourists can walk on kilometers of paths built onto the cliff face at the top of the mountain, including sections with glass floors. The path leading to Heaven’s Gate is 1.600 meters (5,250ft) long . An 11 km road with 99 bends also reaches the top of the mountain and takes visitors to Tianmen cave, a natural hole in the mountain of a height of 131.5 m

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Urban Geometry

In this series of photos  Andres Gallardo Albajar explores modern architecture on what the artist calls a “journey of personal development”.
The project started in the fall of 2013 in the Estonian capital of Tallinn, but Albajar traveled to other major cities in Europe and Asia to take all the photos in the series. Photographer  has focused on space, shapes and symmetry.

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Photography – The Untouched Beauty of Kyrgyzstan

In this series photographer Albert Dros captures the beautiful unspoiled landscape of Kyrgyzstan. Kyrgyzstan is (still) untouched. It has a wide variety of different landscapes from 7000m+ mountains, beautiful valleys, crystal clear lakes and impressive canyons.

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The Fairy Tale Clay Castle in the mountains of Transylvania

The hotel’s Romanian name is Castelul de Lut Valea Zanelor, which translates to “Clay Castle of the Valley of the Fairies” in English. An eco-friendly “fairytale castle” in the mountains of Transylvania, made of “100% organic” clay, straw and sand, with all wooden pillars. The exterior plastering is of lime and sand and the towers are of river stone. Located near Porumbacu de Sus, Romania, the hotel has ten rooms with unique design and shapes, each with its own entrance.

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The Impressive Victoria Falls

Victoria Falls  is a waterfall in southern Africa on the Zambezi River at the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. David Livingstone, the Scottish missionary and explorer, is believed to have been the first European to view Victoria Falls in 1855. Livingstone named his sighting in honour of Queen Victoria of Britain, but the indigenous Lozi language name, Mosi-oa-Tunya—”The Smoke That Thunders” continues in common usage as well. While it is neither the highest nor the widest waterfall in the world, Victoria Falls is classified as the largest, based on its combined width of 1,708 meters  and height of 108 meters  resulting in the world’s largest sheet of falling water. Victoria Falls is roughly twice the height of North America’s Niagara Falls and well over twice the width of its Horseshoe Falls.  There are two islands on the crest of the falls that are large enough to divide the curtain of water even at full flood: Boaruka Island (or Cataract Island) near the western bank, and Livingstone Island near the middle—the point from which Livingstone first viewed the falls.
imfo: wikipedia

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Gaztelugatxe – The “castle rock” famous for its stone bridge

Gaztelugatxe is an islet on the coast of Biscay belonging to the municipality of Bermeo, Basque Country (Spain). It is connected to the mainland by a man-made stone bridge.  The bridge transitions into a narrow path that contains 241 steps and zigzags its way back and forth to the top. The  coast is rough in this area. The sea ceaselessly erodes the rocky coast creating tunnels, arches and caves. The island of Gaztelugatxe is in the center of this section of coast next to the small Aketx island, a sanctuary for marine birds. HBO filmed scenes for season 7 of its fantasy series Game of Thrones at the islet. Gaztelugatxe stood in for Dragonstone, with a digitally created castle on top of the islet.

By multisanti (Santiago Díaz) from Santiago de Compostela, España – Gaztelugatxe, CC BY-SA 2.0, Link

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