Interesting Tourist places and things

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India is very hot right now casual wear is the best, buon voyage!

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Triora - The Town Of Witches



Triora, in Italy, is a sleepy little ancient hill towns in the valley of Argentine in the region of Liguria, close to the French border. Much of the architecture in Triora dates back to the 12th century, but its period of greatest fame was during the 16th century when a number of witch trials were conducted by the Inquisition. The town boasts an excellent museum of witchcraft, and to this day has a powerful association with witches. Some decedents of the original witches can still be seen in the town to this day.



Triora's beauty overshadows a gruesome Middle Ages renown. A year of bad weather and crop shortages in 1587 led to the accusation that witches were conspiring against Triora. A group of women from Triora and local villages were accused of sacrificing babies to The Devil. They were tried, tortured, and burned alive between 1587-89. "La Cabotina", the place of their blasphemous rites still exists.



The residents of Triora seems to take a rather morbid pride on the town’s dark history. Apart from a museum, there are witch shops, sign posts, sculptures, witch houses and various relics dotting the entire town. Triora also holds a series of folklore- and horror-themed events and festivals. It has three annual festivals: a summer witchcraft festival, in August; and two autumn celebrations: the mushroom festival in September; and Halloween, at the end of October.

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Luxurious Place for Cats, Florida


A resident of Florida, Craig Grant on ten acres of land with his own hands built this city for cats. There are small houses, town hall, and even a pond with a water mill but now Caboodle Ranch is home for over 500 happy cats.

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Colmar France - Most Beautiful City in Europe

Colmar is beautiful litlle town (population 65k) in north eastern France. It's the home town of the painter and engraver Martin Schongauer and the sculptor Frederic Bartholdi, who designed the Statue of Liberty. Some say Colmar is the most beautiful city in Europe, a point that's hard to argue.

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Colmar France - Most Beautiful City in Europe

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Wat Mahathat (Temple of the Great Relic)



The ancient temple of Wat Mahathat was founded in the 18th century, before even the founding of Bangkok (1782), but has been considerably altered over the years, most notably by the young Prince Mongkut who would later become King Rama IV of Thailand.



Today, the temple is the headquarters of the Mahanikai school of Buddhism, Thailand's largest monastic order, and is used as a center for monastic learning for members of the school that come from all across Southeast Asia. The temple is also home to the Center for Vipassana Meditation at Buddhist University, and is one of several in Bangkok that offers classes in meditations. Some programs are taught in English.



Originally built to house a relic of the Buddha, Wat Mahathat is one of the oldest shrines in Bangkok. The temple is tucked away on the grounds, surrounded by a confusing layout of schools, offices and other buildings. When you come to the entrance to the inner courtyard, push your way through the door. It tends to be closed to keep out the noise of the surrounding environs. The courtyard is packed with statues and relics, with an out-of-place garden of tall palm trees pushed to the back.



Next to the temple, vendors gather every Sunday for Bangkok's largest amulet market, where they peddle religious amulets, talismans, charms, and traditional medicine. All of the amulets have a different purpose: to restore health, to bring great wealth, to keep enemies away.

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Margate Shell Grotto



In 1835, James Newlove was digging a duck pond when his shovel broke through the ground into some kind of underground opening. Lowering his son into the cave, he quickly realized that this was more than just a natural underground cavern. (Reports on the discovery vary, and some suggest that Newlove and his children were aware of the grotto for some time before announcing its existence to the world.)



Decorated with thousands of local shells, the designs are reminiscent of Indian and Egyptian designs. The mosaic panels are quite abstract but some appear to represent animals such as a crocodile, owl, or turtle and another is said to look like a skeleton.



The grotto was opened to the public in 1837 and quickly became a local tourist attraction. Unfortunately the gas lamps used to light the cave in Victorian times have rendered radiocarbon dating almost entirely useless in dating the age of the cave. Other methods have been used in an attempt to date the cave but so far they have proved fruitless, and an investigation into the mortar used to affix the shells to the wall was only able to conclude that it was "fish based."



Because of this lack of a fixed date of creation and because the designs look vaguely Eastern, speculations over who made this cave have ranged wildly from Phoenicians over Romans, Templars to 18th and 19th century mystics and magicians. Most likely it was created in the 1700s by one of the many Eastern-influenced secret societies of English gentlemen.

The grotto is a small place, and easy to miss, in a neighbourhood that obviously has known better times. So, alas, has the grotto itself, and it is listed as an endangered structure. At the back of the small entrance building which there is a small souvenir shop and cafe, and a modest exhibition on the history of the grotto. From there one descends a narrow stairway, and finds oneself in a passage, with a few niches decorated in shells.

This particular entrance was not finished when the grotto was found in the 19th century, and it has been furnished for the comfort of the visitors. The original entrance has since been bricked up, as it is now on another property.

Once through the new entrance a narrow S-shaped passageway leads to a chamber with a central column, and this is where one can grasp the charm of this man-made cavern. The walls and ceiling have been covered in literally thousands of shells, in intricate patterns, which look like trees, flowers, men, and more.

At the end, there is a shaft upwards, letting in the sunlight, and said to function as a solar clock/calendar. A further S-shaped passageway leads to a rectangular room, which had its vaulted ceiling and part of its wall destroyed in the World Wars.