Insta Travel

Deep underneath the valley of Valchiusella, 30 miles from the ancient city of Turin in northern Italy lies the region’s greatest wonder, dubbed by the Italian government as the Eighth wonder of the world.

This is not part of an ancient civilization excavated by archaeologists but a more recent work of art created by a 57-year old former insurance broker from northern Italy, Oberto Airaudi.

Few are granted permission to see these marvels, called the ‘Temples of Damanhur’ - named after the ancient Egyptian subterranean temple meaning the City of Light. Hundred feet down the earth and weaving their way underneath the hillside are nine ornate temples. Constructed like a three-dimensional book narrating the story of humanity, the temples are linked with hundreds of meters of richly decorated tunnels occupying 300,000 cubic feet. The scale and opulence of the temples are breath taking.

Oberto who claims to be gifted with the power of ‘remote vision’ began the task of digging the ground and constructing the temples of Damanhur, with the help of like-minded friends from August 1978. By 1991 the nine chambers of the temple was almost complete with stunning murals, statues, secret doors and stained glass windows.

The temple would have remained concealed from public view and knowledge if it had not been for three police officers and a public prosecutor who forcibly entered the temple.

Source & image:Daily Mail

You don’t have to wait till you depart the earth in search of a paradise, you just have to look around for stunning pieces of art that nature has created in its laps and you realize that paradise is down here, on earth and is accessible to one and all to savor its beauty and bliss. One such place is Nikko, a mountain retreat located about 140 km north of Tokyo.

Central Nikko is the hub of famous shrines like Toshogu Shrine, Rinnoji Temple, Futarasan Shrine and Taiyuin Mausoleum. The Shinkyo sacred bridge that is over the Daiya river is a visual treat to watch when it covered with snow.

The inner Nikko is the area surrounding the central Nikko and this is the place that would make you believe that there is a paradise on earth. Lakes, waterfalls, grassy plain and marshland, hot water springs are formed in such a way, it will leave you in trance for hours even as you marvel at the spectacular nature engineered landscape designed to perfection. The whole area is designated as the National Park.

The trees range from Japanese oak, beech, maple and cherry and each change in season brings out the best of the seasonal landscape. All round the year, the place has something to offer and the best way to appreciate nature in its true form is of course by walk.

Go, explore the paradise on earth, who knows if there is really one beyond it!

Image

Source

MV Doulos, meaning slave in greek, currently holding the biggest floating library in the world, is now getting ready to conduct a get together between the Filipino youth and some other volunteers from all over the world. This event is going to happen on December 28 in Subic Bay Freeport zone, where Mv Doulos is going to arrive after six long years. The Filipino youth community consists of people from different backgrounds, who are united by their longing for peace, justice and morality.

The volunteers from all over the world are going to interact with these people through cultural activities, music and art. The ship, considered to be one of the oldest passenger ship in the world, is going to act as a medium through which these people are going to communicate.

So are you ready to get in a hotel and have some eatables over there which gives you a feeling of death and if you have not seen such hotel in your life, now here is one such hotel for you guys in China. You can experience a completely different world by coming in this particular hotel.

A Chinese lady has started a hotel which have gives you a feeling of graveyard as a result visitors of that hotel likely to have a thought of death.

Fancy a meal with the dead? If yes, then don’t forget to pay a visit to the New Lucky Restaurant in Ahmadabad, India. Apart from its eclectic menu which includes milky tea and buttery rolls, its claim to fame is the presence of the graves between the tables!

The restaurant dates to the 1950s, where initially K.H. Mohammed opened a tea stall outside the cemetery. Krishan Kutti Nair was his partner and he helped to operate the outlet. Nair says the business gradually grew and the stall kept expanding until its tin walls encircled the graves. I guess the success of this restaurant proves that people find the idea of dining among the dead very appealing.

The shin high graves are painted green and every day the manager decorates each of them with a single dried flower. They’re scattered randomly across the restaurant - one up front next to the cash register, three in the middle next to a table for two, four along the wall near the kitchen. The waiters know the floor plan and have mastered the delicate dance of shimmying between graves with a tray of hot tea in each hand - a truly innovative restaurant!

So if you want some out-of-this-world dining experience do pay a visit to the New Lucky Restaurant in Ahmadabad.

Image

Via: cbc

Some people would do anything to get a drink and that I mean in a very positive way. They can travel long and hard and find the most unusual location to make sure that their days do not end up dry. In fact there is nothing like the will of a man in love and a man looking for a drink. Well, that may not be the best comparison to make but it’s true. So the people of South Africa have found a unique and very special destination to quench their thirst with a mug of beer. They have found it in a tree trunk!

It is not surprising at all that a nation as blessed in natural resources like South Africa has found a way to open up a bar inside a tree trunk. The only pub in the world that is located inside a tree trunk can be found in Limpopo, South Africa. The pub has been created inside a 72ft high majestic Baobab tree and has a circumference of 155ft. The Baobab tree is said to go hollow in its trunk after a lifetime of 1000 years. Hence the hollow interior of this tree was made by a very natural process.

Indonesia is a Muslim dominated country but that didn’t stop the country from having one of the tallest statues of Jesus. The 32-meter-high statue was built by Ciputra, a real estate developer in one of its residential estate in the North Sulawesi Province of Indonesia. The statue was built over three years with 25 tonnes of metal fibre and 35 tonnes of steel and cost five billion rupiah($540,000).

The statue of white-robed Jesus stands tall with his upraised hands beckoning people to take his blessings. Ciputra hopes that the ‘Jesus Blessing Monument’ would become a religious icon and attract tourists all over the world.

The Indonesian Museum of Records had certified the statue as Asia’s tallest Jesus, while the world’s tallest statue of Jesus, Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro stands tall at 39.6 meters.

It is said that faith knows no boundaries.Could there be a better example of this?

Via: Dailymail

When we speak of Mexico the picture of bullfights, remnants of the Mayan and Aztec civilization and the Spanish culture comes to our mind. Now Mexico has a new addition to its series of attractions quite alien to the Mexican peppery culture - an ice skating rink and that to the largest in the world.

With much trepidation, the Mexicans used to the warm climes are flocking to the new holiday destination in Mexico City. The rink measures 40 meters by 77 meters with 74 kilometers of tubes feeding 10 chilling machines under the huge ice sheet. The project is the brainchild of the Mexican mayor. It was constructed by Key Entertainment, an American company at a cost of about $1.5 million.

The new Mexican sport has caught the fancy of the citizens of the country as a welcome break from the usual bullfights. People are queing to buy a ticket for a 45-minute spin on the ice. It is however not easy for the common people of the country to pick up skating on the ice. Dozens of monitors are keeping vigil over the new sportsmen and women and yelling instructions at them.

After the initial teetering, Ice-skating is set to become the most sought after sporting activity for the Mexicans. Tourists and citizens alike now have a new travel destination to get the experience of skating on the snows at a cheaper indoor locale, much like experiencing snow skating in the middle of the desert in Dubai and an ice skating rink in a shopping mall.

Source:infected tube
Image:iht

GreatEscape2008, the around-the-world travel competition is looking for fifty globetrotting adventurers to take A Blind Date With The World™ and compete for the annual title of The World’s Greatest Travelers™.

The Global Scavenger Hunt™, scheduled for next spring can be your ticket to fulfilling a dream adventure by offering the most intrepid of global travelers a three-week around-the-world travel adventure. Travelers will race from Los Angeles to New York-the long way!

High peaks that are clad in pristine white & seemingly reaching out to kiss the sky above; like a bride ready to walk down the altar, the Alps form a stunningly wonderful visual picture. While words often describe a lot, they fall short when they need to sufficiently sketch the picture of nature at its glorious best. While one can paint a picture with words; it pales in comparison to the magic of those snowy peaks, the brilliance of that gentle river whose surface glitters at the touch of early morning sun light like millions of stars that twinkle in the sky, the romance of the droplet of dew that shines like a diamond as it hangs onto the edge of a scarlet rose that pouts getting ready to blossom & the visual splendor of the valleys that that tell the mystic tales of times of immemorial with a carpet of green spread across them. That & more are the Alps.