Andorra is a small country, but an extremely interesting one. This tiny country has one of the most unique histories and cultures in Europe, and there are a surprising number of interesting tidbits you’d never guess from a first glance. Let’s dive into a new installment of Facts You Might Not Have Known: Andorra facts …
Saint Petersburg is one of the two biggest cities in Russia. Many people say it is one of the most attractive cities in the world—and I would agree with them. Even UNESCO called it the eighth most attractive city in the world. It was built for the tsar Peter the Great, who hired the best …
The Isle of Man (also known as the Isle of Mann) is one of the most unique bits of Europe and the British Isles. It’s culturally, historically, linguistically, and geographically different from all the other islands surrounding it and there are a lot of interesting facts many don’t know about it. Outside of the UK …
From the World Heritage inscription: The Lake Ohrid region, a mixed World Heritage property covering 83,350 ha, was inscribed for its natural values in 1979 and for its cultural values a year later. Lake Ohrid is a superlative natural phenomenon, providing refuge for numerous endemic and relict freshwater species of flora and fauna dating from …
From the World Heritage inscription: The Troodos mountain region of Cyprus contains one of the largest groups of churches and monasteries of the former Byzantine Empire. The ten monuments included on the World Heritage List, all richly decorated with murals, provide an overview of Byzantine and post-Byzantine painting in Cyprus and bear testimony to the …
From the World Heritage inscription: Because of their great antiquity, and because they are closely and directly related to the cult and legend of Aphrodite (Venus), who became the ideal of beauty and love, inspiring writers, poets, and artists throughout human history, Paphos is of outstanding universal value. Pre-Hellenic fertility deities were worshipped in Cyprus …
There are human artifacts older than the megaliths in Malta—cave paintings, pottery fragments, etc.—however, no structures on Earth (that we yet know of) are older than Malta’s impressive megalithic temples. That fact alone makes this an incredibly important world heritage site worth visiting. There are several monolithic structures around the islands of Malta and Gozo. …
From the World Heritage inscription: Valletta is pre-eminently an ideal creation of the late Renaissance with its uniform urban plan, inspired by neo-Platonic principles, its fortified and bastioned walls modeled around the natural site, and the voluntary implantation of great monuments in well-chosen locations. The capital of Malta is one of the rare urban inhabited …
From the World Heritage inscription: The culturo-historical region of Kotor has exerted considerable influence, over a span of time and within a cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture and human settlement. Kotor and its neighbors were main bridgeheads of Venice on the southern Adriatic coast. Its art, goldsmithing, and architecture schools had …