Travel & Tourist Maps, Utilities and Curiosities from the World
The Waitomo Glowworm Caves, part of the Waitomo Caves system that includes the Ruakuri Cave and the Aranui Cave, are located in the southern Waikato region of the North Island of New Zealand, about ten km northwest of Te Kuiti.
They are known for its population of thousands Arachnocampa luminosa, a species of glowworms that radiate the ceiling with their blue luminescent, creating a unique atmosphere.
As written by the historian Herodotus (450 b.C.), the ancient list of the Seven Wonders of the World was formed by:
Colossus of Rhodes
Great Pyramid of Giza
Hanging Gardens of Babylon
Lighthouse of Alexandria
Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
Statue of Zeus at Olympia
Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
In 2007, the New Seven Wonders of the World list was declared after an initiative by the Swiss corporation New7Wonders Foundation:
Mount Elbrus
Volcano located in the western area of Russia, it’s the tenth most prominent mountain in the world and the highest Caucasian (5.643 m) mountain.
Mount Elbrus has two twin summits, whose ascent is accessible to all climbers, though, according to many experts, it is considered dangerous because of its potential volcanic activity.
The Cathedral of Vasily the Blessed
Church located in the Red Square, Moscow, it’s now a museum, built from 1555 on orders from Ivan IV Vasilyevich “the Terrible” in commemoration of the capture of Astrakhan and Kazan.
The cathedral, since 1990 in the UNESCO World Heritage Site’s list, is one of the most famous Russians symbols.
The Peterhof Palace
Recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and referred as the “Russian Versailles”, it is a series of outstanding palaces and gardens located in Saint Petersburg, built in 1714 on the orders of Peter the Great.
Mamayev Kurgan
A memorial complex in the city of Volgograd commemorating the Battle of Stalingrad (World War II, 1942- 1943), built between 1959 and 1967.
The complex is dominated by the Mother Russia statue (85 m high).
The Valley of Geysers
Located in the Kronotskij Natural Reserve, Kamchatka Peninsula, this spectacular valley has one of the largest concentration of geysers in the world with hundreds of living geysers and hot springs.
Discovered in the 1950’s it is now a UNESCO World Heritage site; the valley, due to its instability, is often subject to geological disasters like the events in 2007 and 2014 that had hardly damaged the landscape.
Lake Baikal
Formed more than 20 million years ago and located in the southern area of Siberia, it is the largest by freshwater, the deepest (1.642 m depth) and maybe the oldest an clearest lake in the world.
The salt pan area is 20 km long and 5 km wide, with a total surface of about 45 square km; each year 30 million cubic meters of marine water is used for the production of about six million quintals of salt.
With 16 km of diameter and 265 square km area, the Ngorongoro Crater is the world’s largest unbroken volcanic caldera. Formed three million years ago by a massive volcano, it is located in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area (Tanzania). Due to its climatic conditions, the crater area has its own, unique, ecosystem.
The Ngorongoro Conservation Area is the only one Tanzania’s Park in which the Masai population can live and move freely.
As well as the most famous Camino de Santiago, the via Francigena was, in the Middle Ages, one of the major Christian pilgrimage routes; it connected Canterbury to Rome crossing the Alps through the Gran San Bernardo pass and it was considered an essential way on the road to the Holy Land.
Today the via Francigena crosses beautiful landscapes through the Somme battlefields, the Champagne region, the Alps and the Tuscany hills leading to the beautiful Rome.
Part of the original path has deviated from the historical route in favor of less busy roads and tourist facilities along the route are now increasing.
Located outside Erfoud, Morocco, along the N12 road connecting Merzouga to Alnif, the Gara Medouar is a sedimentary rock formation which by the erosion processes had taken on the appearance of a crater.
Nicknamed the Portuguese Prison due to his use as a sheltered area for the slave trade from Africa to Portugal, the rock formation was also used as a Moroccan military base.
Fascinating movie landscape, Gara Medouar has appeared in many films: Spectre (2015), Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010), The Mummy (1999), The Mummy Returns (2000) and the TV series The Secret of the Sahara (1998).
The Pitcairn Islands archipelago is formed by four volcanic islands: Pitcairn, Henderson (which is included in the UNESCO world heritage list), Ducie and Oeno. It is located in the Southern Pacific Ocean and it is the least populous national jurisdiction in the world (about 50 inhabitants).
Its history is famous because of the Bounty mutineers, who settled the islands in 1789 after taking control of the ship and abandoning its commander William Bligh and 18 crewmembers.
The wreck of the Bounty is now still visible underwater in Bounty Bay, Pitcairn Island.
But the beauty of the beaches and the atolls must not deceive: in this heavenly place life is not the best: the inhabitants (descendants of the famous mutineers and Tahitian women) have lived various vicissitudes for two centuries: from clashes with the local population in the first period (which led to the killing of some of the mutineers) to the latest pornographic pedophile scandals that involved the inhabitants themselves.