Travel blog
Welcome to Maui Maui, also known as Valley Island, is the second largest in Hawaii. The island is loved for its world famous beaches, the sacred Iao Valley, sightings of humpback whales in migration (during the winter months), organic cuisine and magnificent sunrises and sunsets …
In the Jigokudani valley, about 850 meters above sea level, we find one of the best-known groups of macaques worldwide: Jigokudani macaques, also known as Yokoyu river macaques or snow monkey. If we are in Nagano, in addition to visiting the city and especially the …
Thousands of multicolored and original-looking rock formations have turned Zhangye Danxia Park, a remote corner of northern China, an authentic canvas whose beauty surprises. Ocher, blue, reddish, green, violated .
The endless color gamut of this landscape offers an almost unreal image of nature made art.
The show lasts over 300 square kilometers, in the province of Gansu, an area of low rainfall, which has seen how erosion has carved sandstone forms for 24 million years.
The natural pigments on the rock strata that the tectonic movements brought to the surface have colored them in a surreal spectacle.
One of the main attractions is to contemplate the ways that the mountains make, finding valleys, cliffs and different geological formations, very interesting to observe and photograph.
In addition you can always talk to people who will give you knowledge and with whom you can learn many facts about the formation of the land.
There are many geologists who come there to be able to analyze how rocks have evolved since the earliest times.
Sign up for the bus routes, which will bring you closer to the viewpoints and points of interest, where the guides will recommend you stop.
Normally guided tours usually last 2 hours. If you go through Gansu, you will also have the opportunity to contemplate the yaks, as well as approaching the Gobi desert, to hire some camel routes.
You will also have to tour the Mogao caves of Dunhuang, as they are part of the protected heritage within the most wonderful places in the world.
You can visit this area and enjoy the best weather, if you go between May and October. Anyway, it is recommended that you wear a thin piece of rain and another for the cold (in the morning and at night usually cool).
The mountainous mountains of the Zhangye Danxia National Geological Park are a place of passage of the Silk Road, the historic commercial route that has united the Asian and European continents for centuries, crossing countries such as China, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Turkey, Iran and Iraq.
Today, visiting them has become an adventure and a must for those traveling to the area.
The Danxia mountains (means pink clouds in the local language)
They attract people from all over the world to Zhangye, a city that by itself is not a particularly popular destination.
Located fifty kilometers away, it has enough hotel infrastructure to accommodate tourists visiting the site.
“The most spectacular multicolored orography images are obtained at sunrise and sunset”
From Zhangye, there are three ways to get to the park. The cheapest way is to do it by free, by bus, from the west station of the town, while for those who do not like to leave anything to chance and want to avoid any unforeseen events, the ideal is to opt for an organized tour.
However, the most comfortable formula is to hire a taxi for the whole day. This option is not expensive and allows you to make the visit with much more tranquility, hurrying the times.
And the most spectacular multicolored orography images are obtained at sunrise and sunset, especially from the four viewpoints located in strategic places, which guarantee infarction views.
Those who are not satisfied with walking along the paths marked between colored hills, can decide on other activities such as paragliding, a different way to enjoy a wonder declared World Heritage.
One of the accommodation options you will have will be «7days premium Zhangye Passengers Station», it is one of the best rated hotels, with different offers.
You will have common rest areas, it is centrally located and you will also have television with international channels in each room.
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The most beautiful natural landscape in the interior of Croatia, the Plitvice Lakes National Park (in Croatian: Nacionalni Park Plitvička jezera), is well worth a visit during our stay in Dubrovnik.
It is not a nearby excursion, since it is more than 400 kilometers away, but the wonder that awaits us there will compensate for the effort of the trip. As it is, as it happens in the Blue Lake in Iceland, a fascinating place due to its spa of thermal waters that without a doubt you cannot miss when traveling to Iceland.
Plitvice, which has been part of the UNESCO World Heritage since 1979, has an area of 30,000 hectares of forests, mainly leafy beech forests, although there are also fir trees and pine trees.
This forest mass is home to numerous animal species, including lynx, deer and various amphibian species that inhabit Plitvice lakes and streams.
A paradise of lakes and waterfalls.
The absolute protagonist of Plitvice Park is, however, water, which has modeled the landscape of these lands over millennia.
Hidden in the thicket are hidden 16 lakes of different sizes fed by the Korana River and communicated with each other by a dense network of waterfalls, canals, and waterfalls.
Plitvice lakes line up forming a long succession of just over five and a half kilometers.
Prošćansko: The second largest Plitvice lake.
Ciginovac
Okrugljak
Batinovac
Veliko
Bad
Vir
Galovac
Milino
Gradinsko
Veliki Burget
Kozjak: The largest and deepest, with 47 meters.
Milanovac
Gavanovac: Where the spectacular Milka Ternina waterfall is located, with 47 meters of fall.
Kaluđerovac: Where are the caves of Golubnjača and Šupljara.
Novakovića Brod.
The entire area of the park is encompassed within the karst area of southeastern Europe, whose main feature is the abundance of fragile and porous rocks, especially limestones, which gives rise to all kinds of caves, chasms, cracks and underground cavities.
The cave system is so complex that it has not yet been fully explored by speleologists. Even so, visitors to the park can go into some of them such as Golubnjača and Šupljara, on the banks of Lake Kaluđerovac, as well as those of Čudinka and Rodic, where remains of the gigantic Cave Bear have been found, an extinct species about 10,000 years
To get to Plitvice from Dubrovnik it is essential to have a vehicle, so the best option is to rent a car. A trip of four and a half hours awaits us, so it is advisable to make several stops along the way.
It is advisable to get up early and go first thing in the morning, as it is a very visited place, and the parking lot fills up quickly, when you arrive later, you park further. The entrance time in the Park from April is from 07.00 to 20.00, extending the closing time of the parking one more hour.
If you have not decided to rent a car but want to see the Plitvice Lakes, you can also arrive by bus, which depart from the main cities of the country: Zagreb, Split, Zadar.
The price of the entrance to the Plitivice Lakes National Park depends on what time of the year you go. In low season (from November to March, both inclusive) the price is 55 Kunas, in exchange they are just over 7 euros per person.
In mid season (April, May, June and September) the price is 150 Kunas per person, € 20.30, and high season (July and August) 250 Kunas, € 33.85 if you enter before 4 in the afternoon, after 4 in the afternoon the entrance fee is 150 Kunas, € 20.30.
The price includes the boat ride on the largest lake, and the journey in a kind of tourist train that brings you closer, both to go and to return, from the car parks to the park entrance.
The frequency of these two internal means of transport is approximately every half hour, and they only work in summer, from April to September.
Due to its popularity, on weekends and during the summer months many people go to the Plitvice Lakes, to enjoy a unique landscape in the world and to bathe in its blue waters.
However, visiting the park in winter is not a bad idea, especially if you are lucky enough to find the indescribable spectacle of frozen falls.
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Hagia Sophia was an old Orthodox basilica that was later converted into a mosque, although today, since 1935, it is a museum in the city of Istanbul. Its history also tells us the history of the city, and its architecture borders on the impossible.
Hagia Sophia (meaning ‘Holy Wisdom’), was initially a mosque of the ottoman empire. Later, with Emperor Constantine the Great, the first christian emperor.
It became a Byzantine church, and was one of the largest buildings in the world in its time. But, unfortunately, nothing of this original church of the fourth century has been preserved.
Constantius, son of Constantine, and Emperor Theodosius the Great, built a second church, which was burned in 532.
The current Hagia Sophia was erected between 532 and 537 by Emperor Justinian I and is a perfect example of Byzantine architecture.
The dome of this church collapsed during an earthquake, in 558, and was rebuilt in 563, although it was damaged again in the following centuries.
For 900 years, Hagia Sophia was the seat of the Orthodox Church of Constantinople. In 1204 the Crusaders expelled the patriarch of Constantinople, replacing him with a Roman apostolic bishop, and sacked the church.
Many of the stolen treasures are displayed today in San Marcos, Venice.
In 1453 Sultan Mehmet conquered the city and turned Hagia Sophia into the main mosque in Istanbul, a site he kept for 500 years.
In 1934 President Kemal Atatürk secularized Hagia Sophia and turned it into the Ayasofya Museum (Ayasofya Müzesi)
The Hagia Sophia plant is that of a classical basilica, a rectangle with a central dome, with four scallops that make the transition to the square floor. On the sides of the central dome there are two semi-domes. The gallery under the dome has 40 lighting windows.
In the Byzantine era, Hagia Sophia was decorated with mosaics representing the Virgin Mary, Jesus, the saints and the emperors. Upon becoming a mosque, the mosaics were covered.
It was with the restoration of 1847 that they were discovered under the plaster, but they could not be completely restored until 1931. The most famous are in the upper floor galleries, including the Deësis with the Christ Pantocrator.
Wooden medallions with Islamic calligraphy are preserved, suspended from the central dome, with the names of Allah and Muhammad, and the first four Caliphs.
For almost a thousand years it was the largest church in the world, until the Seville Cathedral was built.
Its amazing dome is 33 meters in diameter and 56 meters high.
All mosques in Istanbul follow the architectural schemes of Hagia Sophia, that’s why they look so alike.
In the southern gallery there is a rectangular column with the imprint of a hand whose author is unknown. There are those who believe it was from the Virgin Mary.
It would be the largest mosque in Istanbul if it were not a museum today, Atatürk turned it into a didactic institution to support its maintenance with the price of admission.
It would also be the fourth largest church in the world if it were not a museum, behind Saint Paul of London, Saint Peter of Rome and the Cathedral of Milan.
Get to know all the details of the old basilica of Hagia Sophia and marvel at its architecture and the beauty of the complex with its four minarets.
An expert guide will explain all the important details, and you will not queue, and you will have the opportunity to see some incredible panoramic views of the Blue Mosque, a place that you will also visit on this guided route.
Schedule:
Winter: Tuesday to Sunday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Summer: Tuesday to Sunday from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Location: St. Sophia Square (Istanbul)
Tram: Sultanahmet
Free the first Monday of each month.
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