Page 51 - Off the Tourist Trail - 1000 Unexpected Travel Alternatives (Part 1 of 2)

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ANCIENT AND HISTORICAL SIGHTS

ABOVE Locals harvesting below Thikse Monastery, Leh
LEFT The majestic wooden Church of the Transfiguration, Kizhi

CHURCH OF THE TRANSFIGURATION, KIZHI, RUSSIA Kizhi, an island in Lake Onega THIKSE MONASTERY, LEH, INDIA Spectacular both from a distance and at close quarters,
in northwest Russia, is known for its extraordinary collection of wooden buildings, several the 15th-century Thikse Monastery perches on top of a hillock high in the Himalayas. This
of which are 18th-century, multi-domed churches. The ensemble has come together is a gompa, a fortified monastery and education center for followers of the Dalai Lama’s
over a 250-year period, with many new additions since the 1950s. The highlight is Yellow Hat Sect (Gelugpa). The complex is a dozen stories high, comprises many temples,
the Church of the Transfiguration, built in 1714 out of pine wood. It has a string of onion and is considered an architectural highlight of Ladakh – this region of India, which is
domes and four apses, each of which faces a cardinal point. Wood is definitely the word sometimes called “little Tibet” after its neighbor. Inside the monastery is a fine collection
here, and fishermen and museum staff live in the island’s log-cabin villages. of paintings and a huge golden Buddha. Monks and nuns still live here.

CHÂTEAU D’AZAY-LE-RIDEAU, LOIRE, VISBY, SWEDEN Once a Viking trading post and later a member of the Hanseatic League
FRANCE One of the earliest Renaissance of trading cities, Visby is a fascinating place to visit. Set against the rugged coastline and
châteaux, Azay, with its fairytale turrets picturesque countryside of the island of Gotland, this once-thriving port retains the feel
and spires, displays the transition from of a flourishing community. With the remains of several medieval churches, a harbor, a
the Gothic to the Renaissance style. It towered boundary wall, and beautiful botanical gardens, this charming town – now a
was built by Philippa Lesbahy, wife of UNESCO World Heritage Site – certainly deserves the nickname “City of Roses and Ruins.” Its
Francois I’s corrupt advisor Gilles Berthelot. lively Medieval Week celebrations in summer draw costumed revelers from far and wide.

PERGAMUM, TURKEY The acropolis in SKELLIG MICHAEL, KERRY, IRELAND PLAIN OF JARS, XIENG KHOUANG, STARI MOST, MOSTAR, BOSNIA AND
the great Hellenistic city of Pergamum A brutal asceticism accompanied the LAOS Legend has it that a race of giants HERZEGOVINA This handsome bridge
sits atop a 985-ft (300-m) hill, and is one of lives of early monks, who clung to life in lived on the Xieng Khouang plain of the over the Neretva River is one of the most
the most dramatic sights in Turkey. Explore remote and inhospitable places. The Laos Highlands, which is no surprise given potent symbols of the 1990s Balkan War.
the 3rd-century-BC amphitheater, the island of Skellig Michael, off the west the huge stone pots that lie scattered Stari Most (Old Bridge) was built in the
few pillars of the white-marble Trajan’s coast of Ireland, is one such place. Here, across the landscape here. Nobody knows 16th century to replace its Roman
Temple, and the remains of the library, near the island’s craggy summit, early exactly how they were made, but it’s predecessor, and is an important
which once housed 200,000 parchment Christians built beehive-shaped stone believed the Mon-Khmer people made example of Ottoman architecture. It was
scrolls. Much of the city’s treasure is now huts that were inhabited by up to a them in the 1st to 5th centuries AD, destroyed, along with much of the Old
in Berlin’s Pergamonmuseum. dozen monks for some 600 years. either for storage or as funerary urns. Town, in 1993, but was rebuilt in 2004.

PALAZZO DUCALE, URBINO, ITALY SALAMIS, CYPRUS Salamis was the main BASILICA CISTERN, ISTANBUL, TURKEY
Though a little out of the way, this palace port and capital of Cyprus for 1,000 years, Built beneath the city’s main square
is a highlight on the Italian Renaissance and although most of the excavated during the reign of Justinian in the 6th
trail. Built for the enlightened Duke ruins are Roman, it was shaped by many century AD, this sumptuous Byzantine
Federico da Montefeltro, it displays the empires. In the Middle Ages, it was water cistern contains marble columns
full power and splendor of 15th-century largely covered by sand, which saved and two giant heads of Medusa, one
Italy. Its 250 rooms include a vast library. much of it from plunder and decay. The on its side and the other mysteriously,
Today it houses the Galleria Nazionale site includes a gymnasium, theater, and turned upside down. Visitors tread
delle Marche, which has one of Italy’s baths. Enjoy its spectacular shoreside walkways to the mixed sounds of
greatest collections of Renaissance art. location among mimosa and pines. classical music and dripping water.

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