Masjid al-Haram-Saudi Arabia

Al-Masjid al-Haram pronounced "The Sacred Mosque", is the largest mosque in the world. Located in the city of Mecca, it surrounds the Kaaba, the place which Muslims worldwide turn towards while performing daily prayers and is Islam's holiest place. The mosque is also known as the Grand Mosque. Expanding over an area in excess of 4,000,000 square metres within the city of Mecca, Masjid al-Haram was built in 638 AD and has the capacity to be able to accommodate up to 4,000,000 people.

The Haram was built in the 7th century and has been modified, rebuilt, and expanded on a regular basis ever since. Major expansions took place in the 1980s and further work is going on today. The beginnings of the Holy Mosque were established under Caliph Omar Ibn al-Khattab. The caliph ordered the demolition of houses surrounding the Kabba in order to accommodate the growing number of pilgrims, then built a 1.5-meter high wall to form an outdoor prayer area around the shrine. During the reign of Caliph Uthman Ibn Affan, the prayer area was enlarged and covered with a simple roof supported by wooden columns and arches.

read more

Sequoia National Park - California, USA

Sequoia National Park is a national park in the southern Sierra Nevada, east of Visalia, California, in the United States of America. It was established on September 25, 1890. The park spans 404,051 acres. Encompassing a vertical relief of nearly 13,000 feet, the park contains among its natural resources the highest point in the contiguous 48 United States, Mount Whitney, at 14,505 feet above sea level. The park is south of and contiguous with Kings Canyon National Park; the two are administered by the National Park Service together.

The park is famous for its Giant Sequoia trees, including the General Sherman tree, the largest tree on Earth. The General Sherman tree grows in the Giant Forest, which contains five out of the ten largest trees in the world, in terms of wood volume. The Giant Forest is connected by the park's Generals Highway to Kings Canyon National Park's General Grant Grove, home to the General Grant tree among other sequoias. The park's Giant Sequoia forests are part of 202,430 acres of old-growth forests shared by Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. Indeed, the parks preserve a landscape that still resembles the southern Sierra Nevada before Euro-American settlement.

Glen Coe-Scotland

Glen Coe is a glen in the Highlands of Scotland. It lies in the southern part of the Lochaber committee area of Highland Council, and was formerly part of the county of Argyll. It is often considered one of the most spectacular and beautiful places in Scotland, and is a part of the designated National Scenic Area of Ben Nevis and Glen Coe. The narrow glen shows a grim grandeur. The glen, approaching from the east on the main A82 road, is surrounded by wild and precipitous mountains. Further west at Invercoe, the landscape has a softer beauty before the main entrance to the glen. The main settlement is the village of Glencoe. In summer the centre offers mountain biking, archery, orienteering, hill-walking, climbing, chairlift rides, photography, trail building, guided walks and home cooked food in the log cabin cafe. In winter skiing, snowboarding, sledging and avalanche rescue training are available.

Glen Coe is a very popular tourist destination: partly because of its scenic qualities and historical associations, partly because it is on the main road north, and also because of its attraction for walkers and climbers. It is famous for the quality, and variety of its winter climbing, most of its routes being comparatively easy of access from the main road.

Many walkers come to Glen Coe on the West Highland Way following the old military "Wade road" over Rannoch Moor which crosses the River Etive at the Kings House Hotel. From there it is about 2 km to the head of the glen, then about 2 km into the glen the Way ascends the Devil's Staircase, a steep, boulder-strewn "cut" (352 m high) which is part of the old military road and drove road north across the hills to Kinlochleven.

Milford Sound-New Zealand

Milford Sound-Famously titled ‘the eighth wonder of the world’ by Rudyard Kipling, Milford Sound is a fjord on New Zealand’s South Island that is encompassed within the Fiordland National Park. Surrounded by mountainous areas that stand in excess of 1,200 feet above the Tasman Sea which flows through the sound, the area is known for its attractiveness to animals, with many different varieties of fish living in the water, as well as seals and dolphins.

Milford Sound is a fjord in the south west of New Zealand's South Island, within Fiordland National Park and the Te Wahipounamu World Heritage site. It has been judged the world's top travel destination in an international survey and is acclaimed as New Zealand's most famous tourist destination.

Sahara Desert-Africa

The Sahara is the world's largest hot desert. At over 9,400,000 square kilometres, it covers most of Northern Africa, making it almost as large as Europe or the United States. The only larger desert in the world is Antarctica, classified as such because of very low precipitation rates. The Sahara stretches from the Red Sea, including parts of the Mediterranean coasts, to the outskirts of the Atlantic Ocean. To the south, it is delimited by the Sahel, a belt of semi-arid tropical savanna that comprises the northern region of central and western Sub-Saharan Africa.

The Sahara covers parts of several African nations including Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Sudan and Tunisia. Most of the Sahara Desert is undeveloped and features a varied topography. Most of its landscape has been shaped over time by wind and includes sand dunes, sand seas called ergs, barren stone plateaus, gravel plains, dry valleys and salt flats. Around 25% of the desert is sand dunes, some of which reach over 500 ft (152 m) in height.

The Sahara has one of the harshest climates in the world. The prevailing north-easterly wind often causes sand storms and dust devils. When this wind reaches the Mediterranean, it is known as sirocco and often reaches hurricane speeds in North Africa and southern Europe. Half of the Sahara receives less than 20 mm of rain per year, and the rest receives up to 100 mm per year. The rainfall happens very rarely, but when it does it is usually torrential when it occurs after long dry periods.

read more

Meteora-Greece

The Metéora is one of the largest and most important complexes of Eastern Orthodox monasteries in Greece, second only to Mount Athos. The six monasteries are built on natural sandstone rock pillars, at the northwestern edge of the Plain of Thessaly near the Pineios river and Pindus Mountains, in central Greece. The nearest town is Kalambaka. The Metéora is included on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

U.N.E.S.C.O has characterized the Holy Meteora as a "monument of Humanity that has to be maintained". They don't belong only to Greece but also to the entire world. The same is valid for the Mount Athos, the Mistra, the Holy Monastery of Saint Lucas etc. So, the monasteries of the Meteora are included in the Monuments of world cultural Heritage, because they are a unique harmonious matching of Byzantine architecture and natural beauty.

read more