The Svanetian Towers of Georgia

Encircled by peaks of up to 5,000 meters, Svaneti is the highest area in the Caucasus mountain system which people have settled.  In a land dominated by mountains divided by deep gorges, the Svan people settled this historic Georgian province almost two millennia ago and here they flourished.

Yet towards the end of the European Dark Ages, at around the end of the ninth century, the Svan found themselves in conflict with the northern Caucasian tribes on the other side of the mountains and with the Ossetians to the east.  Their solution to tribal raids has endured the centuries.

Image Credit Richard

Cerro de los Siete Colores - The Hill of Seven Colors

The colors could have come from the palette of a painter. Yet the Cerro de los Siete Colores (The Hill of Seven Colors) is quite real.

Millions of years of geological activity followed by erosion have created something magnificent on this Argentinian hillside.

Marine sediments combined with lake and river flows, elevated with the movement of the tectonic plates, combine to produce a dazzling array of color for the eyes to take in.

Lake Kaindy – Kazakhstan’s Sunken Forrest

Lake Kaindy is situated near the village of Saty in the Kungey Alatau Mountains (a range in the North Tien-Shan) in the central Asian country of Kazakhstan.

There wasn’t always a lake there: the trunks of pine trees jutting out of the water provide testimony to that.

So what happened here?

Image Credit Flickr User Nuggems

The lake is only 400 meters length but in some places it is over thirty meters deep.  It was formed as a result of the massive 1911 Kebin earthquake.  There was a huge landslide which blocked the gorge and a natural dam was formed – and endured.  As the waters rose and it submerged the Schrenk's Spruce (the place means lots of spruce) growing in the area.

The Kennecott Mines: Abandoned Alaskan Boomtown

In 1900 two prospectors were traveling through Alaska. Their horses were hungry and so when they spied a distant green hillside they thought their luck was in.

They were not wrong. They had stumbled upon a massive deposit of copper ore, exposed at the surface. Industry on a massive scale quickly followed. Yet by 1939 the copper was exhausted, the place abandoned. This is what remains of the Kennecott Mine Camp.

The Kalash – The White Tribe of Pakistan

In the mountains of the Hindu Kush in Pakistan, six thousand or so people live who look and sound very different from their neighbors.  They claim to have lived in the area for thousands of years and they look to all intents and purposes, European. 

Image Credit Saad Sarfraz

Image Credit Flickr User Manalahmadkhan

Lofoten – Arctic Circle Anomaly

The archipelago of Lofoten in Norway is north of the Arctic Circle.  Yet throughout the year it has temperatures which belie its position.  

This is because of the largest positive temperature anomaly in the world relative to latitude.  

It makes Lofoten an unexpected delight – its early settlers must have thought they had stumbled across an arctic paradise.

Prepare to have your breath taken away.

Image Credit Flickr User Melenama

What they found there was a sea teeming with life and the largest deep water coral reef in the word.  There are literally millions of sea birds with many species represented, such as the sea eagle, the cormorant and the puffin.  Otter are common in the area and on the larger islands of the archipelago there are moose.

Shatili – Medieval Fortress Village in Georgia

The village of Shatili squats on the northern slope of the Greater Caucasus mountains in Georgia. Even today the area is considered isolated and remote but in centuries past the villagers could not rely on distant authorities to afford them protection. In early medieval times the villagers hit on a solution which was to shield them from their enemies for hundreds of years. They made their village in to a fortress.

Image Credit Flickr User Tventano

The village is very near the border with Chechnya and its inhabitants were constantly at risk from incursions in to their territory from their neighbors. In the twenty first century the village is usually only accessible between the months of June and the end of September so in more feudal times something had to be done to avert death and disaster. As the village persevered, the architecture evolved. What would normally be small stone dwellings grew taller and developed in to watchtowers.

Spain on the Edge

For many, Spain is and forever will be associated with its beautiful coastline and beaches and that is certainly where most tourists head.  However, there is an altogether steeper side to this larger than you might have thought country on the Iberian Peninsula.  This is Spain on the edge.

Image Credit Flickr User Maldarama

Our first stop is Malaga to the town of Ronda which dates back to Neolithic times.  The town of over thirty thousand people is built either side of a dizzying ravine.  There are three bridges which span the gap between the sides.  First there is the Puente Romano or Roman Bridge. There is the Puente Viejo or Old Bridge, and then comes the Puente Nuevo (New Bridge – which is the name it was given when it was completed in 1793).

La Geria: Lanzarote’s Volcanic Vineyards

When volcanic activity caused the emergence of the Spanish island of Lanzarote 15 million years ago it was a desolate, lifeless place.

Settled only three thousand years ago, the island's volcano could still erupt again.

Although the last major eruptions started in 1730 over a period of six whole years and the volcano has been dormant since 1824, even today agricultural exploitation of the island is a difficult process.

Yet in the La Geria region of the island, farmers have come up with an ingenious way to grow their grapes.

Image Credit Flickr User Lobo Estepario

Helvetia’s Dream

If you enjoy being an e-tourist as much as I do then you will adore this video created by Alessandro Della Bella. From the comfort of your own device, take a trip to some of the most beautiful spots in the Swiss Alps – from Arosa to Zermatt, including the world famous mountains Matterhorn and Eiger – all presented as a fantastic time-lapse.

If you think, as I do, that this was created with a particular love and care, then it will be no surprise to learn that Della Bella (isn’t that a great name!?) grew up in arguably one of the most beautiful places in Switzerland – the town of Arosa (which you can see in the video).

Snow Leopards Discovered Flourishing in Afghanistan

Image Credit Flickr User Land Rover Our Planet

The Snow Leopard is known for its elusive nature and wildlife groups have been concerned for decades about their dwindling numbers.  Yet there is some good news – the species is, it seems, flourishing in one remote part of Afghanistan. The Ark in Space has the story and some amazing pictures too.

El Caminito del Rey - Spain's Highest Man Made Pathway

Image Credit Flickr User Rover0

The Spanish have a head for heights.  Yet even they must shiver a little at the sight of El Caminito del Rey (or The King’s Little Pathway in English and it is located, like Ronda in Málaga. Hydroelectric power plants were built at the nearby falls at the beginning of the twentieth century and getting building materials to them became an issue.  The result was the pathway which also doubled up as an inspection platform for the channel below.  Taking four years to build it was opened to much pomp and ceremony in 1905 and now wonder.  It is quite a feat of engineering.

Image Credit Flickr User Rover0

Image Credit Flickr User Rover0

Image Credit Flickr User Rover0

Image Credit Flickr User Rover0

Image Credit Flickr User Rover0

Image Credit Flickr User Gabirulo

Image Credit Flickr User Fran Villena

Image Credit Flickr User Gabirulo