Interesting Tourist places and things

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The Royal Residence - England


Leeds Castle a former royal palace begun in the 12th century, Leeds Castle has to be one of the most beautifully situated medieval castles in England, projecting into its natural lake, and surrounded by 500 acres of beautiful parkland and gardens.



About six miles southeast of Maidstone, on the A20, stands Leeds Castle, situated on two islands in a lake, formed by the River Len. It has been described as the loveliest castle in the world.

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The Incredible Monastery of Taung Kalat.



Built atop an extinct volcano plug, the Buddhist monastery of Taung Kalat is one of the most breathtaking sites in Burma and the world.



Many people call the hill on which the monastery was built, Mount Popa, but they’re mistaking it with the much higher volcano, close by. The hill is called Taung Kalat and though it looks like a mere bump when compared to Mount Popa, climbing it is quite a task. There are seven hundred seventy seven steps to from the bottom, all the way to the Buddhistmonastery.



The locals believe Nats (37 demigod-like beings) live inside Taung Kalat hill and judging by the heavenly views from up there, they just might be right.



Climbing up Taung Kalat, you’re bound to run into some adorable Macaques, but be careful, they’re wild creatures and are likely to snatch anything you lay on the ground, before you even have the chance to blink. Taung KalatMonastery and its surroundings are truly unique, but unless the Burmese government intervenes soon, they will degrade beyond recovery.

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Star fort Bourtange -Netherlands


Bourtange


Approximately 25 km away from my hometown you find the star fort of Bourtange. The fort was built in 1568 by William I of Orange because he wants to control the only road between Germany and the city of Groningen. Later in 1594 the fort became part of the fortifications on the border between the northern provinces of the Netherlands and Germany. It was never captured by enemies.


Bourtange fortification


Between the years 1593 and 1851 the star fort was a very important one before it was given up in 1851 and Bourtange became a normal village. In the 1960s the municipal of Vlagtwedde decided to renovate the fort which took place between 1967 and 1992. Today it's a lovely open-air museum and visitors feel like going back in old times.


Church at Bourtange

Many activities take place there during the year like presentations of canon shootings; guided tours across the fort, a middle age festival and a nice and cosy christmas market at 2 weekends in december.


Centre of the village

It's a great place to stroll around the whole year.

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Palmanova Italy - The Star Fort



PALMANOVA (Italy), a fortified town shaped like a nine-point star, was founded by the Venetian Republic at the end of the 16th century, in order to defend its eastern borders both from the Hasburg Empire and from the Turks, who, formerly, had ruinously invaded Friuli and nearly reached Treviso. It was built according to Giulio Savorgnan's designs.



In Francesco Di Giorgio Martini's treatise on 16th century architecture a great deal of apparently immaginary and ideal town-plans are extensively shown; nevertheless, these plans and sketches then turned out to be someting real, in that they were later developed and realized not only in Italy but also all over Europe through the exploitation and working-out of the Reneissance main ideas expressed by architects, philosopher and treatise-writers.



Palmanova is today one of the very few integral specimens not only of fortified town but also of urbanistically ideal town .
Many importants dates have marked its history. It was founded in October 1593: the new fortress, erected in the Friulan plains, was christened Palma on the 22th anniversary of Lepanto naval victory over the Turks, in which the Venetian Republic had taken part with a big fleet.



Palma remained a Venetian dominion until 1797; with the decline and fall of the Serenissima, first Austria occupied the fortress (1797-1805) and then France (1805 - 1814). Its fortifications were enlarged under the napoleonic rule. From 1866 it was under the rule of Italy.

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Tiger Temple -Thailand



Tiger Temple, or Wat Pha Luang Ta Bua, is a Buddhist temple in Western Thailand which keeps numerous animals, among them several tigers that walk around freely once a day and can be petted by visitors.



According to the abbot and others associated with the temple, in 1999 the temple received the first tiger cub, it had been found by villagers and died soon after. The story goes that several tiger cubs were later given to the temple over time, typically when the mothers had been killed by poachers, others who wanted to get rid of their tiger "pets" or those were under pressure to do so as laws and policies surrounding the keeping of cites protected species became more strict. As of 2007, over 21 cubs have been born at thetemple and the total number of tigers is about 12 adult tigers and 4 cubs.



The subspecies of these tigers is unknown as none of them have been DNA tested, but it is thought that they are Indochinese Tigers, except Mek (a BengalTiger ). There is also a possibility that there may be some of the newly discovered Malayan Tigers and it is likely that many are cross breeds or hybrids.

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Ksar Ouled Soltane




The Ksar Ouled Soltane is a popular tourist attraction in Tunisia's southern province of Tataouine. The Ksar Ouled Soltane is a particularly attractive and well-preserved fortified granary built by the Berbers in the 15th Century. The multi-level granaries are called ghorfas and the fortified village is the Ksar. Granaries were fortified to stop raids on a village's food supply. The Ksar is an adobe structure which blends in beautifully with the hillside.

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Nek Chand Rock Garden of Chandigarh




Back in the 1960s, when Le Corbusier, the famous French architect had designed and built his bold architectural master pieces for Chandigarh, another man of humble origin was creating his dream world secretly.
A road inspector in the Chandigarh administration, Nek Chand would work on his project after office hours well into the night from a tiny hut hidden in a thicket. For years he painstakingly collecting discarded building waste and curious shaped rocks from the distant Shiwalik hills and created the famous rock garden. Officially opened in 1972, the rock garden has expanded and grown over the years. Today it is visited by thousands of people every day and is described as the greatest artistic
achievement seen in India since the Taj Mahal.



Enclosed by a high wall made from discarded coal-tar drums, the rock garden is a fortress, which showcases Nek Chands dream world. The theme revolves around the simple elegance of village life in India and Nek Chand has depicted this by using thousands of sculptures made from waste material transformed into bizarre shapes. Broken tiles, discarded crockery, broken coloured bangles, bottle caps, pot shreds and waste building material, have been used with great ingenuity to depict people, animals, birds and mythological figures. The cobblestone paths and deep gorges with cascading streams and waterfalls lead the visitor from one scene to another which are full of metaphors and one can spend hours interpreting the scenes.




Nek Chand’s Rock Garden is a befitting monument for a modern planned city for it is not only a creative masterpiece but also has a world wide appeal. One only has to visit it to truly appreciate its beauty.

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Ajanta Caves-India-Tourists Delight



Ajanta Caves are one of the most magnificent Buddhist caves in the whole of India. They are situated at a distance of approximately 100 km from Aurangabad and 40 km from Jalgaon. Counted amongst the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Maharashtra, these caves have been found to date back to the 2nd century BC. There are approximately 30 caves at the site of Ajanta, of which cave number are 9, 10, 19, 26 and 29 are chaitya-grihas. The rest of the caves have been found to comprise of monasteries.



Ajanta Caves were discovered in 1819 AD and some of the paintings discovered inside them were made between 5th and 7th century AD. Almost each and every painting found inside the premises of these caves centers around Buddhist religion. Some of them portray Lord Buddha, some Bodhisattvas, while some other are based on the Jatakas tales and incidents from the life of Lord Buddha. Mud-plaster ground, built as per the tempera technique, forms the base for the paintings seen at Ajanta.



Situated far away from inhabitation, amidst isolated surroundings, these caves were built in the middle of a huge rock. The main aim behind the construction of the Ajanta Caves was to provide a dwelling and praying place for the Buddhist monks, who were dedicated towards the mission of spreading the principles of Buddhism throughout the world. All of them have been carved with precision and adorned with exquisite architectural details. The sculptures seen here seem to be the result of superb craftsmanship.



These caves have also been found to be ornamented with scenes that depict the semi-mythological history. One can find a few paintings based on Greek and Roman compositions and proportions. Then, there are some others that can be said to resemble Chinese style. However, the majority of them continue to be based on an Indian style, seen nowhere else in the country. One can easily divide the Ajanta Caves into two parts, on the basis of the time period when they were constructed.

The older caves situated at Ajanta were constructed centuries before the birth of Christ and belong to the time when the Hinayana sect of Buddhism was flourishing in India. The second group caves date to somewhere around the later part of 2nd century AD, by which time Buddhism had been divided into two different sects. This time period can be said to be the one, after the fourth General Council was held under the rule of the great king, Kanishka.

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Ajanta Caves

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Daulatabad Fort



Daulatabad Fort is a magnificent fort situated in Maharashtra, at a distance of around 13 km from the Aurangabad city. It forms a part of the Daulatabad city, which was earlier known as 'Devigiri'. The fort, perched at a height of approximately 60 ft, dates back to the 12th century. It has been constructed on the top of a hill and is amongst the best preserved forts in the world that date back to the medieval times. Daulatabad Fort is also one of the forts in Maharashtra that can be called as impregnable.



The excellent architecture of the fort, combined with its massive size, is what attracts visitors. Some information can be found on the history of the Daulatabad Fort. Devigiri city, now Daulatabad, was founded in 1187 AD, by Bhillamraja of the Yadava dynasty. In the years that ensued, the city passed into the hands of several dynasties of the Deccan. It also became the capital of India, under the rule of Sultan Muhammad-bin-Tughlaq. Infact, he was the one who gave Devigiri, the name of 'Daulatabad', meaning 'City of
Fortune'.



Even till 800 years ago, the city was one of the flourishing destinations of the country. Daulatabad Fort stands bounded within thick walls, which are almost 5 km long, and is entered through spiked gates. Its slide ways are quite steep and trench very deep, making it almost unassailable. To facilitate escape in extreme crisis, the architects of the fort developed a maze of secret, subsurface passages inside its premises. Infact, Daulatabad Fort was made so sound and secure that it never fell to marching forces. It was conquered by its enemies only by the means of treachery.