Saturday, June 6, 2009

Ohrid, Macedonia

Ohrid is a city on the eastern shore of Lake Ohrid in the Republic of Macedonia. The city is the seat of Ohrid Municipality. Ohrid is notable for having once had 365 churches, one for each day of the year, and is referred to as the Macedonian Jerusalem. The city is rich in picturesque houses and monuments, and tourism is predominant. It is located southwest of Skopje, west of Resen and Bitola, and east of Elbasan and Tirana in Albania.

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Royal Park,- Fountain of the Dolphins, Italy


Italy-39, originally uploaded by Abhishek's Received Postcards.

The Royal Palace of Caserta, in Italian Reggia di Caserta, is a former royal residence in Caserta, constructed for the Bourbon kings of Naples. It was the largest palace and probably the largest building erected in Europe in the eighteenth century.
The garden, a typical example of the baroque extension of formal vistas, stretch for 120 ha, partly on hilly terrain. It is inspired by the park of Versailles, but it is commonly regarded as superior in beauty. The park starts from the back façade of the palace, flanking a long alley with artificial fountains and cascades.

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S. Vitale Basilica, Ravenna, Italy


Italy-38, originally uploaded by Abhishek's Received Postcards.

Ravenna is a city and comune in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. The city is inland, but is connected to the Adriatic Sea by a canal. Ravenna once served as the seat of the Western Roman Empire and later the Kingdom of the Ostrogoths and the Exarchate of Ravenna. It is presently the capital of the Province of Ravenna. At 652.89 km² (252.08 sq mi), Ravenna is the second-largest comune in land area in Italy, although it is only a little more than half the size of the largest, Rome.

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Pompeii , Italy


Italy-37, originally uploaded by Abhishek's Received Postcards.

Pompeii is a ruined and partially buried Roman town-city near modern Naples in the Italian region of Campania, in the territory of the comune of Pompei. Along with Herculaneum, its sister city, Pompeii was destroyed, and completely buried, during a long catastrophic eruption of the volcano Mount Vesuvius spanning two days in AD 79.
The volcano collapsed higher roof-lines and buried Pompeii under 60 feet of ash and pumice, and it was lost for nearly 1700 years before its accidental rediscovery in 1748. Since then, its excavation has provided an extraordinarily detailed insight into the life of a city at the height of the Roman Empire. Today, it is both one of the most popular tourist attractions of Italy, with 2,571,725 visitors in 2007,and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

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Parco del Delta del Po, Italy


Italy-35, originally uploaded by Abhishek's Received Postcards.

Parco del Delta del Po is a protected wetlands region in the Po delta consisting of four parcels of land on the right bank of the Po and to the south. In 1999 the park was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO and was added to "Ferrara, City of the Renaissance, and its Po Delta."

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Siamese Trullo, Alberobello, Italy


Italy-36, originally uploaded by Abhishek's Received Postcards.

Alberobello is a small town and comune in the province of Bari, in Puglia, Italy. The Trulli of Alberobello are part of the UNESCO World Heritage since 1996.

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The Baroque church of San Pietro Caveoso, Matera,Italy


Italy-34, originally uploaded by Abhishek's Received Postcards.

Matera is a town and a province in the region of Basilicata, in southern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Matera.

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Sunday, May 31, 2009

Roman amphitheatre of Carthage, Tunisia


Spain-9, originally uploaded by Abhishek's Received Postcards.

As per UNESCO WHS website:

Carthage was founded in the 9th century B.C. on the Gulf of Tunis. From the 6th century onwards, it developed into a great trading empire covering much of the Mediterranean and was home to a brilliant civilization. In the course of the long Punic wars, Carthage occupied territories belonging to Rome, which finally destroyed its rival in 146 B.C. A second – Roman – Carthage was then established on the ruins of the first.

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Tunis, Tunisia


Tunisia-1, originally uploaded by Abhishek's Received Postcards.

Tunis is the capital of the Republic of Tunisia and also the Tunis Governorate. It is Tunisia's largest city.
Situated on a large Mediterranean gulf, (the Gulf of Tunis), behind the Lake of Tunis and the port of La Goulette (Halq al Wadi), the city extends along the coastal plain and the hills that surround it. At the centre of more modern development (colonial era and post) lies the old medina. Beyond this section lie the suburbs of Carthage, La Marsa, and Sidi Bou Said.
The medina is found at the centre of the city: a dense agglomeration of alleys and covered passages, full of intense scents and colours, boisterous and active trade, a surfeit of goods on offer ranging from leather to plastic, tin to the finest filigree, tourist souvenirs to the works of tiny crafts-shops.

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Elephant Orphanage, Pinnawala, Sri Lanka

Pinnawala is a village in Kegalle district of Sri Lanka and is around 90 km from the capital, Colombo. It is well known for its elephant orphanage.
The Pinnewela Elephant Orphanage is situated northwest of the town of Kegalle, halfway between the present capital Colombo and the ancient royal residence Kandy in the hills of central Sri Lanka. It was established in 1975 by the Sri Lanka wildlife department in a 25-acre (100,000 m2) coconut property near the Maha Oya river. The orphanage was originally founded in order to afford care and protection to the many orphaned elephants found in the jungle. As of 2008, there are about 84 elephants.

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Arch and Tomb of Galerius, Greece


Greece-18, originally uploaded by Abhishek's Received Postcards.

The Arch of Galerius and the Tomb of Galerius are neighboring monuments in the city of Thessaloniki, in the province of Central Macedonia in northern Greece. The Tomb of Galerius is better known as the Rotunda, the Church of Agios Georgios or (in English) the Rotunda of St. George.

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Grand Place of Arras, France


France-5, originally uploaded by Abhishek's Received Postcards.

Arras is the capital of the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France. The historic centre of the Artois region, its local speech is characterized as a Picard dialect. Unlike many French words, the final "s" in the name should be pronounced.

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