Lake Retba | Pink Lake of Senegal

Just like Lake Hillier in Australia, Lake Retba in Senegal has pink colored water. It is also called Lac Rose meaning  pink lake. Lake Retba or Lac Rose lies north of the Cap Vert peninsula of Senegal, north east of Dakar. This lake cover about 3 square kilometers.

It is so named for its pink waters, caused by Dunaliella salina algae in the water that produce a red pigment that uses sunlight to create more energy, turning the waters pink. Dunaliella salina is a salt-loving organism. Depending on the time of day, the lake changes color from a light purple to a deep scarlet pink. The color is particularly visible during the dry season.

The lake is also known for its high salt content, which, like that of the Dead Sea, allows people to float easily.

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Top Beautiful Ancient Cities of the World

1	Plovdiv Founded: Per 400 BC

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Plovdiv's history spans 6,000 years, with traces of a Neolithic settlement dating to roughly 4000 BC and ranking it among the world's oldest cities. Plovdiv is now the second-largest city in Bulgaria after the capital city Sofia. It is one of the most overlooked cities in the world, as it’s stunningly beautiful and packed full of historic artifacts and monuments.

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2	Damascus Founded: 1700 BC

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Damascus is the capital of Syria and home to over 2.6 million people. The nickname of this city is "City of Jasmine". This city is as crowded as it is old, and it’s believed to have been settled nearly 12,000 years ago! At that time, mankind was barely out of the Stone Age.

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3	Rome Founded: 753 BC

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Rome's history spans more than two and a half thousand years, since its legendary founding in 753 BC. It is one of the oldest cities in Europe. In the ancient world it was successively the capital city of the Roman Kingdom, the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, and is regarded as one of the birthplaces of western civilization.

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4	Delhi Founded: 300 BC

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The Indian capital city of Delhi has a long history, including a history as the capital of several empires. Delhi is generally considered a close to 5000-year old city,It is India's second-most-populous city after Mumbai, and the largest city in terms of area. With a population of 22 million in 2011, the city is the fourth-largest city in the world.

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5	Xi’an Founded: 1100 BC

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Xi'an is one of the Four Great Ancient Capitals of China, having held the position under several of the most important dynasties in Chinese history. The city is full of ancient ruins, monuments, and still contains the ancient wall built in the Ming Dynasty. It also holds the tomb of Qin Shi Huang which is most famous for the terracotta army.

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6	Jerusalem Founded: 2000 BC

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No other city in all of human history has ever been so hotly contested for such a long period of time. Jerusalem is one of the oldest cities in the world and it is considered a holy city by Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. It is capital city of Israel (though not all countries recognise this fact). It is located in the Judean Mountains, between the Mediterranean Sea and the northern edge of the Dead Sea. It is Israel's largest city in both population and area.

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7	Beirut Founded: 1900 BC

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Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coast, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport. Beirut has been a city of Man for at least 5,000 years, and theories suggest it could actually be more like 20,000, making it the oldest city on Earth.

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8	Istanbul Founded: 660 BC

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Istanbul Founded: 660 BC Istanbul (Turkish: İstanbul) is the largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. Founded on the Sarayburnu promontory around 660 BC as Byzantium, the city now known as Istanbul developed to become one of the most significant cities in history.

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9	Athens Founded: 1400 BC

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Athens it the capital city of Greece and it is also the largest city. Its 3,400 year history is a fascinating one and much of the culture and customs of the ancient Athenians found there way into many other cultures due to its dominance in the region as a vast city-state. The multitude of archeological sites make this the perfect city for visit for anyone with a passion for European history and culture.

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10	Lisbon Founded: 1200 BC

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Lisbon is the largest city and the capital of Portugal. Lisbon has been standing for roughly 3,200 years.Lisbon is recognised as a global city because of its importance in finance, commerce, media, entertainment, arts, international trade, education, and tourism

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Kolmanskop | Ghost town in world's oldest desert

Kolmanskop is a ghost town in the Namib desert in southern Namibia, a few kilometres inland from the port town of Lüderitz. It was named after a transport driver named Johnny Coleman. Once a small but very rich mining village, it is now a popular tourist destination run by the joint firm NamDeb (Namibia-De Beers).

 

In 1908, when Namibia was still under German control, a railroad worker named Zacharias Lewala found a diamond while clearing the track of sand and showed it to his supervisor, the German railroad inspector August Stauch.Soon the region was beset by a diamond rush. Much like the California Gold Rush of the mid 19th century, fortune hunters from far and wide were drawn in by stories of diamonds so plentiful they could be scooped up off the ground. By the end of 1914, five million carats had been extracted from the area, roughly 1,000 kilograms. Driven by the enormous wealth of the first diamond miners, the residents built the village in the architectural style of a German town, with amenities and institutions including a hospital, ballroom, power station, school, skittle-alley, theater and sport-hall, casino, ice factory and the first x-ray-station in the southern hemisphere, as well as the first tram in Africa. It had a railway link to Lüderitz.

The town declined after World War I when the diamond-field slowly exhausted and was ultimately abandoned in 1954. Due to its location within the restricted area (Sperrgebiet) of the Namib desert, tourists need a permit to enter the town.

Christ of the Abyss

Christ of the Abyss is a submerged bronze statue of Jesus, of which the original is located in the Mediterranean Sea off San Fruttuoso between Camogli and Portofino on the Italian Riviera. This place has become one of the most famous and popular diving sites in the world. The statue was placed in the waters of San Fruttuoso di Camogli on 22nd Aug 1954 at a depth of about 18 meters by the Costa family.


The sculpture was created by Guido Galletti after an idea of Italian diver Duilio Marcante. The statue was placed near the spot where Dario Gonzatti, the first Italian to use SCUBA gear, died in 1947. The statue is meant as a reference point for divers in distress and it has become a symbol for all scuba divers.

Moravia | Historic Lands of Czech Republic.

Moravia is a historical region in Central Europe in the east of the Czech Republic and one of the historical Czech lands, together with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. Moravia is arguably the best preserved and most historic part of the country and the climate nourishes some of Central Europe's best agricultural land and a rich local cuisine. Sunny South Moravia has 97% of the country's vineyards and is one of Central Europe's most up-and-coming wine regions.

Angkor | Archaeological Park in Cambodia

Angkor, in Cambodia’s northern province of Siem Reap, is one of the most important archaeological sites of Southeast Asia. Stretching over some 400 square kilometres, including forested area, Angkor Archaeological Park contains the magnificent remains of several capitals of the Khmer Empire of the 9th to the 15th centuries, including the largest pre-industrial city in the world.

The word Angkor is derived from the Sanskrit nagara, meaning "city". The Angkorian period began in AD 802, when the Khmer Hindu monarch Jayavarman II declared himself a "universal monarch" and "god-king", until 1351, when Angkor first fell under Ayutthayan suzerainty, to 1431, when Ayutthaya put down a rebellion and sacked the Khmer capital, causing its population to migrate south to Longvek.

Angkor Archaeological Park was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1992. At the same time, it was also placed on the List of World Heritage in Danger due to looting, a declining water table, and unsustainable tourism. UNESCO has now set up a wide-ranging programs to safeguard this symbolic site and its surroundings. The most famous things in Angkor are the Temple of Angkor Wat and, at Angkor Thom, the Bayon Temple with its countless sculptural decorations.

Sigiriya | The Lion Mountain in Sri Lanka.

Sigiriya is famous for its 200 metre high red stone fortress and palace ruins which are surrounded by the remains of an extensive network of gardens, reservoirs and other structures. According to the ancient Sri Lankan chronicle the Culavamsa the site was selected by King Kasyapa (477 – 495 AD) for his new capital. He built his palace on the top of this rock and decorated its sides with colourful frescoes.

Sigiriya, Sri Lanka

Sigiriya, Sri Lanka

Sigiriya, Sri Lanka

On a small plateau about halfway up the side of this rock he built a gateway in the form of an enormous lion. The name of this place is derived from this structure —Sīhāgiri, the Lion Rock. The capital and the royal palace were abandoned after the king's death. It was used as a Buddhist monastery until the 14th century.

Sigiriya, Sri Lanka

Sigiriya is a city located in the Matale District in the Central Province of Sri Lanka. It is the most visited historic site in Sri Lanka. It is one of the best preserved examples of ancient urban planning. Sigiriya is a World Heritage Site.