Skellig Michael: The monastery in the middle of the sea

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Skellig Michael or Great Skellig is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, 11.6 km west of the Iveragh Peninsula in County Kerry, Ireland. A Christian monastery was founded on the island at some point between the 6th and 8th century, and was continuously occupied until its abandonment in the late 12th century. The remains of this monastery, along with most of the island itself, were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1996.

Each year 13 boat licenses are granted to tour operators who each run a single trip to Skellig Michael each day during the summer season (April to October, inclusive), weather permitting. For safety reasons, because the steps up to the monastery are rock, steep, and old, climbs are not permitted during very wet or windy weather. There are also dive sites immediately around the rock

Hardy tourists visit the island of Skellig Michael, off the Ring of Kerry, where monks helped keep literacy alive in the Dark Ages.

The grave yards

 Source: Wikipedia

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30- STOREY BUILDING BUILT IN 15 DAYS IN CHINA

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The very thought that a 30-story building could be built in 15 days is truely beyond our imagination. But it happened in China, as a 30-storey hotel was built in just 15 days. 

This plan was undertaken by Broad Group and the building was built in the Hunan Province of China, near Dongting lake. This Chinese construction company specializes in sustainable architecture, and prefabricated modules placed on steel structures.

The Broad Sustainable Building’s foundation was laid ahead of time, while building itself was largely factory manufactured. Once the pieces were shipped to the site, all that was left was for construction workers to put it all together in record time.

According to the Broad Sustainable Building’s website, the building was 93 percent factory made, a process which they say eliminates risks associated with design and construction quality, budget and construction delays, ABC News reports.

Critics, however, questioned the safety the building, pointing to the lack of oversight and the pace at which it went up. The Broad Sustainable Building has attempted projects like this before, building a 15-story hotel in just a week as well as a six-story pavilion in less than a day.

Reports suggest the 30-story hotel built in 15 days is sturdy enough to stand up to a magnitude-9.0 earthquake. The hotel is also reportedly energy-efficient and more solid all the way around than one might surmise. But the most interesting fact of all remains: It is a 30-story building that was built in 15 days.

Check out the amazing time lapse video of the construction:

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The Springs Resort And Spa At Arenal Fortuna, Costa Rica

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The Springs Resort and Spa at Arenal is located in La Fortuna de San Carlos, Arenal Volcano National Park in the country of Costa Rica. This hotel is one of the most secluded, beautiful, exquisite boutique hotel properties. This is a great place to get away from any crowd. The pleasure of this adventure filled in The Springs Resort is an unique and special destination.

The Arenal Volcano resort is perched a thousand feet above the Arenal Valley on a mountain ridge just six kilometers north of the active volcano. The Springs’ higher altitude relative to other hotels in the area allows for incomparable views of the volcano, the lush valley and the surrounding towns. 

The Springs Resort & Spa features eighteen freeform, landscaped pools with temperatures ranging from 76°F to 103°F and great views of the Arenal Volcano. Las Lagunas (The Lagoons) consists of two acres of lush landscaping and an assortment of multi-level sun and shade terraces surrounding twelve pools. Four of the pools are fed directly by water pumped from the hot mineral springs. Perdido Springs (Lost Springs) is a connected system of trails and seven spring-fed pools located within a forest canyon just a short 100 meter walk from the lower level of Las Lagunas pools. Heliconia Walk, the trail to these hot and cold springs, is lined with 150 different species of flowering heliconias along with beautiful rainforest trees, plants and vines. In the center of these pools is a small jungle bar called Los Perdidos (The Lost Ones) along with a water flume called the Monkey Slide.

Credits: Honeymoonincostarica

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Rejuvenating Grotto Spa at Tigh-Na-Mara Seaside Spa Resort

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The Grotto Spa at Tigh-Na-Mara Seaside Spa Resort (Western Canada)

Take time to treat yourself at Tigh-Na-Mara Resort’s Grotto Spa, the largest resort spa in British Columbia. The spa offers signature treatments and services with a focus on West Coast natural ingredients.

Designed to emulate a natural stone grotto, this 2,500 square foot warm water pool is infused with natural minerals and trace elements which detoxify the body and rejuvenate the spirit. The Grotto Spa Mineral Pool includes a two story waterfall, an invigorating glacial plunge cascade and a non-mineralized whirlpool. After a treatment or dip in the Mineral Pool, guest make their way to the third floor Relaxation Lounge to relax by the fire in their robes and sandals as they enjoy complimentary teas and fresh fruit.

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Abandoned World War II Monuments and Memorials in Yugoslavia

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During the 1960s and 70s, the then Yugoslavian president Josip Broz Tito, commissioned several memorial sites and monuments called ‘Spomeniks’ dedicated to World War II battles, and concentration camp sites. Designed by different sculptors and architects, the strong and powerful blending of art and architecture come together in these monuments to  convey the sense of confidence and strength of the Socialist Republic. However, after the dissolution of the Republic in 1992, they lost their symbolism and importance and no longer attracted the millions of visitors a year it once did.

Today there are hundreds of them scattered throughout villages and rural landscapes in the former Yugoslavia. Once the site of pilgrimages by schoolchildren, military veterans, patriots, and mourners who had lost family in WWII, these monuments are today rarely visited.

These pictures are taken by Antwerp-based photographer Jan Kempenaers who travelled the Balkans photographing these eerie objects.

A bit mysterious, isn't it?

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Spine-chilling Glass sidewalk on Tianmen Mountains

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Visitors walk cautiously on this Hollywood style walkway on Tianmen Mountains in China, wedged perilously almost a kilometer and a half up a steep rock face on the Tianmen Mountain. 

This see-through 'sky walk' gives sightseers terrifying thrills as they tread nervously across the 200ft long bridge and is so high up that it allows visitors to looking down at the peaks of smaller mountains below.

The giddy 'sky walk' was built to let valiant visitors scale the dizzy heights on foot, looking down at the green carpet of the surrounding national park.

It offers day-trippers the sensation of walking on the air at the increasingly popular tourist attraction in the Hunan Province, China.

Sightseers are requested to wear overshoes when they cross the 2.5 metre thick skywalk, presumably to help cleaners, who would have to dangle dangerously underneath to wash the glass.

The skywalk is just one of the lures to the beauty spot. Tianmen Mountain takes its name from a huge natural cave half way up, which looks like a giant stone mouth gaping at the sky.

Literally translated, Tianmen means Heavenly Gate Mountain. There's one of the longest cable cars to help tourists to get around the national park.

Credits: The Huffington Post

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The Biggest Bather Of Them All, the Giant Woman Sculpture surprises all

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Hamburg’s Inner Alster Lake had a new inhabitant. For ten days, a giant woman sculpture called “Die Badende” (“The Bather”) graced the lake, making it the world's biggest bathtub.

She rises 13 feet out of the water, stretches 67 feet long and weighs more than 2 tons of styrofoam-and-steel sculpture.
Created by German sculptor Oliver Voss, “Die Badende” was in reality an advertisement for British beauty products company Soap & Glory to promote the “art” of bathing.

Check out more pics.. (c) Sean Gallup/Getty Images.

Many tourists were awestruck by the aquatic sculpture, that showed the woman's head and knees if she were soaking in a bathtub.

“The Bather” was lifted out of the water on August 12 by a crane. And the company had a giant towel at the ready to dry her off. Good thing, too: one can expect she’d be a bit pruny after her 10-day soak.

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The Marvelous Floating Stage of the Bregenz Festival In Austria

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The Seebühne, a massive floating stage on Lake Constance, is the centerpiece of the annual Bregenz Festival in Austria. The stage hosts elaborate opera productions that are famous for their extraordinary set designs, for audiences of up to 7000. 

The open-air theater has become famous over the years for its artistic design and grand scale. Even if you’ve never been to the Bregenz Festival, you’ve already seen this stage if you caught the 2008 James Bond film, Quantum of Solace, which features a performance of Puccini’s Tosca on the Seebühne.

Want one of these for your next high budget event? Call the man himself David  Fielding .

David Fielding is both a stage director and stage designer. His work is unparalled and his genuis is nothing short of brilliant magic. If you have the budget and you want the best and you have a room big enough for his mastery call and see if he is free. 

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Ancient temple- Angkor Wat, Cambodia

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There’s no point of coming to Cambodia without visiting this marvel. The place has rare beauty and ambiance that attracts thousands of tourists all around the year.

The temple complex was made by King Suryavarman II, dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu and served as both capital city and royal temple; this explains the temples name (Angkor means city, and Wat or Vat means temple in Khmer).   

The constructed work started in the early 12th century and it continued for four centuries. For many centuries it was hidden by thick forests and was abandoned by the kings. It was rediscovered by a Frenchman and now it has gradually become one of the most exotic and artistic site on this earth.

Unlike other temples at Angkor, Ta Prohm has been left as it was found, preserved as an example of what a tropical forest will do to an architectural monument when the protective hands of humans are withdrawn. Ta Prohm’s walls, roofs, chambers and courtyards have been sufficiently repaired to stop further deterioration, and the inner sanctuary has been cleared of bushes and thick undergrowth, but the temple has been left in the stranglehold of trees. 

Architectural Style
This temple was dedicated to Hindu God, Vishnu, by the Khmer kings and it truly represents the classical and appealing Khmer architecture. Angkor Wat temple is highly renowned in Cambodia that is why it also appears on the national flag of this beautiful nation. The temple is constructed with mainly sandstone, laterite and other materials. Various famous archaeologists have also compared this temple to the famous castles of Europe.

Key Features of the Temple
The temple is designed keeping in mind the South Indian Hindu architecture. This complex has a temple mountain and other key features like the galleried temple and Jagati. The temple was made keeping in mind the Mount Meru which is believed to be the home of Hindu Gods.

Decorations
Angkor Wat is known all around the world for its classical decorations and descriptive structures. Inside the temple you will find most of the walls covered with scenes that depict some chapters from the great Hindu epics, The Ramayana and The Mahabharata. Various famous battle scenes are also depicted on the walls. One great scene is depicted on the eastern gallery wall of this temple. This scene shows the “Churning of the Sea of Milk” with 92 asuras on one side and 88 devas on the other side.

The Present Condition of The Temple
After being rediscovered, the temple has gained immense popularity all around the world. Conservation efforts are still going on in various parts of the temple. The temple areas which were in extremely poor condition due to deterioration and natural erosion are now being restored.

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10 Most Strange Looking Buildings

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1. Dancing Building, Prague, Czech Republic

The ‘Dancing Building’ is a nickname given to Nationale-Nederlanden building that is located in Prague’s downtown. Designed by Croatian-Czech architect Vlado Milunić in collaboration with Canadian Frank Gehry the building was completed in 1996. The building was built instead of the one that was destroyed during Bombing of Prague in 1945.  

2. The Basket Building (Ohio, United States)

Those crazy Americans! What will they think of next? Next you’ll be telling me they’ve designed a building in the shape of a wicker basket! What? They have? It’s the home of the Longaberger Basket Company, stands at 180,000-square-feet, cost $30 million and took two years to complete? Wow, now I’ve seen everything!

3. Forest Spiral Hundertwasser Building, Darmstadt, Germany

Forest Spiral Hundertwasser was built in 2000. Designed by Austrian architect and painter, Friedensreich Hundertwasser the building has 105 apartments and features colorful and organic design.

4. Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain

Built by Nervion River Guggenheim Museum of modern and contemporary art was designed by Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry. The building’s silhouette resembles the ship while the design was random, which helped it, according, to architect catch the light.

5. The Ufo House, Sanjhih, Taiwan

The Ufo House in Sanjhih, Taiwan is actually an deserted resort project. It earned this nickname from Taiwanese for its strange futuristic design.

6. Nautilus House (Mexico City, Mexico)

This amazing house was build in 2006 by Arquitectura Orgánica. A young couple with two children from Mexico City who after living in a conventional home wanted to change to one integrated to nature. The goal of this project was to make it feel like an internal inhabitant of a snail, like a mollusk moving from one chamber to another, like a symbiotic dweller of a huge fossil maternal cloister.

7. Wonderworks (Pigeon Forge, TN, United States)

WonderWorks is a family attraction focused on science exhibits with four locations in the United States. Each WonderWorks location features over 100 interactive exhibits covering space, physics, math, presented in a fun way. Educational programs are also available at all locations and some locations also offer a dinner magic show. The attraction is housed in a themed building designed to look as it it were picked up by severe weather and dropped upside down on an existing building.  All locations feature laser tag and a multi-story ropes course. The attraction's slogan is "Let Your Imagination Run Wild".

WonderWorks locations include International Drive in Orlando, Florida; Pigeon Forge, Tennessee; Panama City Beach, Florida; and Broadway at the Beach in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The Myrtle Beach location also added Soar and Explore, an outdoor ropes course and zip-line attraction.

8. Kansas City Public Library, Missouri, United-States

As an incentive to visit library the design in the downtown of Kansas city was made in shape of books that according to people of Kansas city represent Kansas.

9. Sagrada Família (Barcelona, Spain)

Designed by the legendary Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi, the Roman Catholic church is still incomplete despite work beginning in 1882. Regarded by many as Gaudi’s masterpiece, the architect sadly has not lived to see its progress having passed away in 1926. So much intricate gothic detail has been lavished on the exterior and interior, with the amazing high-rise towers reaching up to 170 metres. The Sagrada Família is not expected to be finished until 2026.

10. Stone Age home in Portugal

The Krzywy Domek is an irregularly-shaped building in Sopot, Poland. Its name translates in to English as the Crooked House. The Krzywy Domek was built in 2004. It is approximately 4,000 square meters in size and is part of the Rezydent shopping center. It was designed by Szotyńscy & Zaleski who were inspired by the fairytale illustrations and drawings of Jan Marcin Szancer and Per Dahlberg. It can be entered from either Monte Cassino or Morska Streets.

[Source]

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