Around the world, there are accommodation options to suit the needs of everyone.  From cheap hostels in which a bathroom needs to be shared, to luxury resorts where the staff cater to your every need, the following selection of hotels are considered to be some of the most weird and wonderful anywhere in the world.

Cappadocia, Turkey

Situated in central-west Turkey, Cappadocia dates back to the 6th century B.C and whilst once a popular Turkish settlement, is now a massively popular tourist attraction in the country.

The uniqueness about Cappadocia is that from a distance, it looks like a vast, mountainous region.  When close up, however, it is apparent that there are homes and rooms all over the region, many of which are some of the most peculiar but well adored hotel rooms in the world.

Capsule Hotels, Japan

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In the world of all things related to the paranormal, the world is generally divided into two separate groups – those who are scared and do not want to find out any more details about the ghost or unexplainable activity and those who whilst being somewhat scared, can not help but want to find every piece of information on the haunting.

The following places are said to be some of the most haunted places on the earth and have been researched extensively over the years.  Not only has their been many different sightings of ghosts, but there has been paranormal activity linked to real life events in the past that simply cannot be explained.

Tower of London, London, UK

Located on the banks of the River Thames, the Tower of London looks as prestigious and powerful today as it did when it was first built in 1078.

Used for various reasons throughout its illustrious history, there have been sightings and reports of numerous ghosts and unexplainable events, from Ann Boleyn, the wife of Henry VII who lived in the tower and was beheaded in 1536, to dozens of prisoners who were held in the prison and dungeons of the tower and left to die a slow and painful death.

Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London, UK

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Once considered to be establishments that were only frequented by rogues, drunks or criminals, casinos have evolved over the past century into places that can be enjoyed by everyone (even children, as although they are not allowed on the casino floor, a lot of the larger casinos have areas which are child-friendly).

With the extensive media coverage that many different casino games now receive, it is no wonder that casinos see millions upon millions of dollars being spent on their games continually, as well as their hotel suites, restaurants and other facilities, making them some of the richest and most prosperous businesses in the world.

As would be expected, all of the following casinos are located in Las Vegas, the gambling capital of the world and seen as some of – if not the – richest casinos anywhere on the globe.

Wynn Las Vegas

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I have always been charmed by the fascinating beauty of castles, especially those still existing only in ruins, with magnificent stones and countless secrets inside. You can almost smell the mystery and see the ghosts of the castle residents in their ancient dresses, knights on horses, and rich traders. You can see noble dukes in the old castles of England, Ireland, and Scotland and feel their souls in the ancient walls. I didn’t have a chance to visit all of the world’s most beautiful castles yet but when working on the photos for this post I felt almost like I was there and seeing them with my own eyes. Thanks to all photographers who took these beautiful photos — all of the photos are linked to photographers’ profiles on Flickr. Enjoy the article and share it with your friends!

Dunguaire Castle in Ireland

Dunguaire Castle was built in 1520 by the Hynes clan. Being almost 500 years old the castles still looks fabulous and you can see the terrific defensive walls almost like they were in the 16th century. In summer the castle is open to tourists, and it is the most photographed castle in Ireland.

Alhambra Palace in Granada, Spain

The Alhambra is a palace and fortress built in the mid 14th century. It is an amazing example of beautiful Islamic architecture and one of the most beautiful palaces I’ve ever seen. Do take a minute and look at the photos of Alhambra’s interior and you’ll be overwhelmed by its rich beauty.

Biltmore Estate in North Carolina

The beautiful Biltmore estate is not that old at all. It was built at the end of the 19th century and is the largest privately owned home in the USA at the moment. The estate was opened to the public in March of 1930 (the family it belonged to needed money), but still the members of the Vanderbilt family lived there till 1956, when it was permanently opened to the public as a house museum. It’s a truly beautiful place I must say, and it’s definitely worth a visit.

Johnstown Castle in Ireland

Johnstown Castle turned out to be a big surprise for me. Built somewhere in the early 1800s it’s situated in a large beautiful garden and is used now as a conference center and offices for an agricultural institute! There seem to be no tours of the castle but still this is a great place to visit if you plan on staying nearby.

Boldt Castle in the Thousand Islands, New York

There is a beautiful love story behind the Boldt Castle on Heart Island. George Boldt was spending a lot of summers with this wife Louise in a cottage on Heart Island when in 1900 he decided to build a huge mansion for them. The building began, but was stopped in 1904 after the death of Boldt’s wife. Silence covered the island for over 70 years. In 1977 the Thousand Islands Bridge Authority acquired Heart Island for one dollar (!) with the agreement that all the revenue from tourism would be spent on the castle restoration.

Prague Castle in the Hradcany

Prague Castle is one of the biggest castles in the world and its history dates back to the 9th century (!) when the first walled building of the castle, the Church of Our Lady, was built. It’s been a place of residence of the Kings of Bohemia, Holy Roman Emperors, and presidents of Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic. It’s a great place to visit, and if you come to be in the Czech Republic reserve a day for this beautiful piece of architecture.

Windsor Castle in England

The gorgeous Windsor Castle fills an area of 484,000 square feet and is the largest inhabited castle in the world. Together with Buckingham Palace in London and Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh, it is one of the principal official residences of the British monarch. Queen Elizabeth II spends many weekends of the year at the castle, using it for both state and private entertaining. I wish I had a castle for my private entertaining!

Edinburgh Castle in Scotland

Edinburgh Castle is the first in my list of castles to visit. This castle fortress stands on the volcanic Castle Rock and human habitation of the site is dated back as far as the 9th century BC. It has been a royal residence since the reign of David I in the 12th century, up to Union of the Crowns in 1603. From the later 17th century, the castle became a military base with a large garrison. Its importance as a historic monument was recognized in the 19th century, and various restoration programs have been carried out since.

Blarney Castle in Ireland

Blarney Castle is a medieval stronghold in Blarney built by the McCarthy clan sometime around 1446. Now it’s partially ruined but some rooms are accessible for tourists. At the top of the castle lies the legendary Stone of Eloquence and tourists may hang upside-down over a sheer drop to kiss the stone, which is said to give the gift of eloquence.

Chateau Gaillard in France

Château-Gaillard is a medieval castle located not far from Paris. The construction of the fortress began in 1196 by Richard the Lionheart and this huge massive building was completed in an unusually short time — 2 years. The castle consists of three enclosures separated by dry moats, with a keep in the inner enclosure. Significantly ruined, the Château-Gaillard is still very impressive and is open to the public all year round.

Frankenstein Castle in Germany

What a “romantic” name this castle has. The castle was built around 1250 by Lord Konrad who gave it the name Frankenstein (he then used this name for himself as well). In the 17th century it was used as a refuge and a hospital. Then it fell into ruins in the 18th century. The two towers we can see today are a historically inaccurate restoration of the mid-19th century. In 1970, a restaurant was built within the castle. In 1976, American soldiers founded an annual Halloween festival at the castle which became one of the biggest Halloween festivals in Europe.

The Big Apple, the City That Never Sleeps, NYC, my favourite holiday destination, a fantastic city – everyone refers to New York City as something different as this wonderful place actually means something different to everyone who visits.

With an event, parade, exhibition or attraction seemingly taking place each and every day of the year, New York City seems to be continually changing. However, regardless of when you may a make a visit throughout the year, one aspect never changes – New York City at night.

A Black and White Big Apple

There aren’t many words or phrases other than breathtaking and awe-inspiring that can do this image of New York justice. Stirring a complete mix of emotions, from confusion as to where and how it is has been taken to intrigue of whom the mystery figure is, this is a true replication of New York City – fascinating, captivating and astounding.

Normality In The City

This is actually one of my favourite New York City at night photographs, not for the fact it is instantly recognisable as New York (as the rest of the pictures are), but that it shows the city as being seemingly normal – something that not very many tourists get to see.

The detail in the picture is immense (which can be truly appreciated when you click on the image to see the full version) and wherever you look, in whichever window or at the corner of whichever building, you can imagine a person carrying out normal, every day tasks in a city that can be considered anything but normal.

The City That Never Sleeps

Whilst this may only be a general photograph taken by an amateur photographer, it shows perfectly how beautiful of a city New York can be at night.

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There’s something not only solemn, but majestic, in the beauty of church architecture. Russian churches are some of the most beautiful in the world, as you’ll discover in this photostream. It features Russian churches, both those currently in-use and those long since abandoned.

Some Church in Russian Village

The Church in Usinks, Komi Republic, Russia

Stroganovskaya Church in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia
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The Interlace Project by Oma

Website: http://www.oma.eu
The Interlace house design in Singapore is a mind-blowing project by Oma (Office for Metropolitan Architecture), and they just unveiled the latest plans about a month ago. This giant six-story complex will consist of 31 stacked apartment blocks with 170,000sqm of gross floor area for 1,040 apartments.

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Thanks to all your comments for the first post we decided to present you the second part of Most Dangerous Roads In The World. Mostly it includes the roads that you have suggested as well as other well known and popular dangerous roads. Have a great time checking these!

Russian Siberian Road to Yakutsk

You might have seen photos of this road earlier. This is the only one road connection Yakutia to the Russian Federation and it’s length is about 1235 km. They also call this road “Lena” because of the river nearby. One can drive this road in winter only, starting spring and because of the rains the road becomes impossible to drive. The tragedy you see on pics below happened in September of 2006, when over 700 cars got stuck on the 10 kilometers segment of this road. People were left out of water, food and warm clothes for several days. This road was still not rebuilt and there’s a possibility the catastrophe will repeat.

Lysebotn Road – Norway

Lysebotn is a village of the municipality of Forsand at the Lysefjord in Rogaland county in the southwest of Norway. Nearby is the road Lysebotnvegen.

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In an earlier post, we have discussed some of the roads that are listed among the most dangerous in the world … for driving.  Today, we’d like to acquaint you with some of the world’s most dangerous bridges that are meant only for walking.  These are the so-called rope hanging bridges. You can find a wide variety of these bridges in countries like India, Malaysia, Philippines, New Zealand, Pakistan, Nepal, as well as in the interiors of some other countries.

A bridge can prove to be dangerous for a variety of reasons; either because it’s very old, narrow, too high up above the land, over a quick river or if the wooden “floor” goes missing.  What makes them dangerous is the fact that in spite of the condition of the bridge, they have to be used; as many a time, these pathways are the main or even the only way for the local inhabitants of a small village to reach a bigger city.   Among all the bridges, the most popular among tourists are the hanging bridges.  Let’s take a look at some of them.

Before we start, I’d like to make a small note that this post is not meant to be scientific or a historical fact-sheet.   The intention is to provide some entertainment in the form of a picturesque fun post that may even hold a surprise element.  If you have ever seen or been on any such bridges, let us know and we’ll add it to the post.  Enjoy the post!

Hussaini – Borit Lake, Pakistan

Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge, Northern Ireland

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Today we’ll speak about the tallest buildings in the world based on statistics prepared by About Architecture team. The buildings from today are really “buildings” not the towers and not just some other tall structures. These are visited daily by thousands of people and not only to look at the scenery. Lots of people work in numerous offices doing their daily job and don’t even pay attention to the magnificent view from above. But for me, all these building are “WOW”! I mean how can one calculate and build a structure that is so high? That’s amazing and that’s so thrilling.

With every new tall building we are getting closer to the sky…and say in several hundreds years the Earth from the space will look like tangle with threads

Taipei 101 Tower in Taiwan.

Built in 2004, 101 stories, height 509 meters.

Taipei 101 Tower is currently the world’s tallest building – if you count its massive 60-foot spire. Its design borrows heavily from Chinese culture. Both the building’s interior and exterior incorporate the Chinese pagoda form and the shape of bamboo flowers.

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