Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Dubai

Dubai is an emerging modern city in the United Arab Emirates. It includes many sights worth taking a look at, including an indoor ski resort, the world's tallest building (the Burj Khalifa), The World islands, the Palm islands, futuristic architecture, the Burj al Arab, and most certainly many more cool things.

Friday, January 14, 2011

San Antonio de Pichincha

The San Antonio parish is located north of Quito in the South American country Ecuador. It is visited quite often due to its various locations directly at the equator of the earth, exactly between the north and south poles. Destinations here I would like to see are the large equator monument Mitad del Mundo in the western part of the town, and the peak of Catequilla, which is equatorial but also has a nice view.

Dalton Highway

In Alaska, the Dalton Highway connects Fairbanks to a town called Deadhorse, which is within miles of the Arctic coast. The Dalton Highway passes along great wonders of Alaska; the enormous pipeline, the Brooks Range, the Arctic Circle, the Yukon River, and simply Alaskan scenery and wilderness itself. If a safe method of driving was established, this drive would certainly interest me greatly.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Churchill

I did a little browsing in a map of Canada while making up a story in which geography was highly prominent. Northern Manitoba was a key place in this plot, and a small label for Churchill caught my attention. I later did some research on this small town and it seems like a very charming village, though most likely very cold by the Hudson Bay, usually frozen in some form according to most pictures.

It appears that Churchill is not just a freezing settlement as many up there seem to be; it is also a major Arctic Ocean port location, and is nearby a historic fort by the Churchill River. It would certainly be a nice place to visit.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Tatev

This area in Armenia is home to quite a nice monastery in the hills, but this particular one stands out to me because of its position at the top of a huge beautiful gorge that is miles wide. The views from this old building must be spectacular, I imagine.

Nahuel Huapi

This enormous lake is like an inland Milford Sound of Argentina, but unique due to its different climate and Patagonian mountains. This national park (or "parque nacional") is apparently a popular location for newlyweds in the area, similar to Niagara Falls in the U.S.

The great mountains by the lake alone would be very beautiful, but even better are the extremely tall Andes mountains to the west. A place like this would most likely be amazing to visit.

English Harbour

English Harbour seems to be the most photographed place in Antigua. It must be quite a sight, however, due to the great amount of economic/naval activity that happens there, surrounded by all the natural beauty of the island and the surrounding sea.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Hoggar

The mountains and rock formations of Hoggar (or Ahaggar) in southern Algeria appear very unique, and for a location in the Sahara Desert it is quite intriguing from the photos I've seen.

Getting there would probably be a very memorable adventure as well.

Thethi

The Albanian Alps are awesome, and somehow I haven't been able to find any mountains like them anywhere but in Albania and nearby. This valley called Thethi has become a national park, and it is easy to see why. The area features these beautiful mountains, waterfalls, and also an old town in the middle of it all.

Ljubljana

Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, caught my attention by its unusually-spelled name (to an American, at least). I looked into the pronunciation of its name (LOO-blee-AW-nuh), and learned that saying it is quite fun. Ljubljana.

The city is located in quite a beautiful country, with the Kamniško-Savinjske Alpe mountains to the north and many others all around. Above the city is a castle with amazing views of the city. The city's main river is crossed by a few nice bridges, and the fact that the city is not as world-famous as others makes it a great place for random touring and enjoying.

Raas Caseyr

While visiting Somalia's coast may not be wise until the piracy threat in that area is calmed, I would like to see the point that sticks out furthest into the Indian Ocean from Africa, known as Raas Caseyr or Cape Guardafui.

From what little information there is available about this point, it can be concluded that there are many sand dunes nearby, along with tall cliffs at the end of the continent. It seems that a visit to this spot would be worth a trip if it could be made safely.

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Te Papa

The Museum of New Zealand, called "Te Papa" commonly, is quite a large collection of New Zealand's history and culture. It's located right by Wellington Harbour and is a uniquely built building itself.

While New Zealand is a beautiful country, it's history as one of the last colonized territories in the world makes it even more special. I'd love to see how Te Papa presents the nation's culture, especially that of the native Maoris.

Great Australian Bight cliffs

The cliffs located where South Australia and the Great Australian Bight meet appear spectacular. It makes me wonder why these are not yet considered natural wonders of the world. They are beautiful, and out in the middle of the long desert road these amazing views are less than a few miles away at some points.

I used to wonder if a trip to Australia would be worth the trouble, since Sydney, the Great Barrier Reef, and the Uluru area seem to be the only main attractions in the country, but after learning about these cliffs, it seems that visiting Australia should be a top traveling goal in this life.

Pólo Costa das Dunas

Pólo Costa das Dunas is basically the eastern coastal area of the Brazilian state Rio Grande do Norte. The main reason I'd like to visit this area is because of the amazing sand dunes in this area. The most famous of these dunes appear to be located by Natal.

Seeing the Atlantic from these dunes would be a pretty cool experience, considering that they're most definitely not the same old beaches you can find all along the coast.

La Moneda

The Palacio de La Moneda is the Chilean presidential palace in that country's capital Santiago. It is located in an area of the city with many tall buildings, and this makes its shorter size quite noticeable in comparison.

With so many large national flags outside, and the fact that it is such an influential place in the land makes this building possibly represent Chile quite well, almost screaming "Chile!" itself.

Bent Pyramid

Among the pyramids of Egypt, I just discovered that there are actually more than the famous three at Giza, and I'm disappointed that it was a surprise since that sort of indicates that quality that many Americans have, stereotyping and lack of information on foreign countries and cultures. Oh well; now I know.

Anyway, among the pyramids of Egypt I found this really cool one near Dahshur called the "Bent Pyramid". As you can see, if the picture hasn't been taken down yet, the pyramid's diagonal edges indeed appear bent. I find this really cool because it looks as if the structure is bulging out crazily, ready to burst.

Fès

After researching popular Moroccan destinations, it appears that the city Fès has plenty of interesting things to see.

Also called Fez (I use Fès since it's on the map I'm using), some interesting places to see there include:
  • The Bab Bou Jeloud is an impressive-looking gate, which appears to be a main entrance of the "old city".
  • The famous tannery in Fès is the setting of many photographs of the city's culture. Its method of coloring leather is depicted quite often.
  • The Tombeaux des Mèridines is a tall tomb overlooking the medina on a hill great for viewing below.

Saturday, January 1, 2011

La Ciotat

The main reason I'm interested in seeing this French city is because of two very large rock formations nearby it. One is the Bec de l'Aigle, which resembles the beak of an eagle (or so the title implies). The other is the Cap Canaille, which I do not know much about other than it appears to be quite popular among photographers.