The Pena Palace, São Pedro De Penaferrim, Municipality of Sintra, Portuguese Riviera.

The Pena Palace is a Romanticist castle in São Pedro de Penaferrim, in the municipality of Sintra, on the Portuguese Riviera. The castle stands on the top of a hill in the Sintra Mountains above the town of Sintra, and on a clear day it can be easily seen from Lisbon and much of its metropolitan area. It is a national monument and constitutes one of the major expressions of 19th-century Romanticism in the world. The palace is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the Seven Wonders of Portugal. It is also used for state occasions by the President of the Portuguese Republic and other government officials.

The castle's history started in the Middle Ages when a chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Pena was built on the top of the hill above Sintra. According to tradition, construction occurred after an apparition of the Virgin Mary.

In 1493, King John II, accompanied by his wife Queen Leonor, made a pilgrimage to the site to fulfill a vow. His successor, King Manuel I, was also very fond of this sanctuary, and ordered the construction of a monastery on this site which was donated to the Order of Saint Jerome. For centuries Pena was a small, quiet place for meditation, housing a maximum of eighteen monks.

In the 18th century the monastery was severely damaged by lightning. However, it was the Great Lisbon Earthquake of 1755, occurring shortly afterwards, that took the heaviest toll on the monastery, reducing it to ruins. Nonetheless, the chapel escaped without significant damage.

For many decades the ruins remained untouched, but they still astonished young prince Ferdinand. In 1838, as King consort Ferdinand II, he decided to acquire the old monastery, all of the surrounding lands, the nearby Castle of the Moors and a few other estates in the area. King Ferdinand then set out to transform the remains of the monastery into a palace that would serve as a summer residence for the Portuguese royal family. The commission for the Romantic style rebuilding was given to Lieutenant-General and mining engineer Wilhelm Ludwig von Eschwege. Eschwege, a German amateur architect, was much traveled and likely had knowledge of several castles along the Rhine river. The construction took place between 1842 and 1854, although it was almost completed in 1847: King Ferdinand and Queen Maria II intervened decisively on matters of decoration and symbolism. Among others, the King suggested vault arches, Medieval and Islamic elements be included, and he also designed an ornate window for the main façade.

After the death of Ferdinand the palace passed into the possession of his second wife Elisa Hensler, Countess of Edla. The latter then sold the palace to King Luís, who wanted to retrieve it for the royal family, and thereafter the palace was frequently used by the family. In 1889 it was purchased by the Portuguese State, and after the Republican Revolution of 1910 it was classified as a national monument and transformed into a museum. The last queen of Portugal, Queen Amélia, spent her last night at the palace before leaving the country in exile.

The palace quickly drew visitors and became one of Portugal's most visited monuments. Over time the colors of the red and yellow façades faded, and for many years the palace was visually identified as being entirely gray. By the end of the 20th century the palace was repainted and the original colors restored.

In 1995, the palace and the rest of the Cultural Landscape of Sintra were classified as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

The Pena Palace has a profusion of styles much in accordance with the exotic taste of the Romanticism. The intentional mixture of eclectic styles includes the Neo-Gothic, Neo-Manueline, Neo-Islamic and Neo-Renaissance. Much of this has been evident since major renovations in the 1840s. References to other prominent Portuguese buildings, such as the Belém Tower, are also present.

Almost the entire palace stands on rock in the Sintra Mountains. Structurally, it can be divided in four sections:

1) The foundations and its enveloping walls, with two gateways (one of which is protected by a drawbridge)

2) The restored structure of the old convent, and the clock tower

3) The Arches Yard in front of the chapel, with its wall of Moorish arches

4) The palatial zone and its cylindric bastion, with interiors decorated in the cathédrale style.

As many elements as possible were preserved of the remains of the Hieronymite convent including the cloister, the dining room, the sacristy, and the Manueline-Renaissance chapel. All were embedded in a new section that featured a wide terrace and a clock tower. The Queen's Terrace is perhaps the best spot for obtaining an overall picture of the architecture of the palace. The terrace features a sundial cannon that used to fire every day at noon. The clock tower was completed in 1843.

The interiors of the Pena Palace were adapted to serve as the Summer residence of the royal family. It has amazing stuccos, painted walls and various revetments in tile from the 19th century, forming part of the numerous royal collections.

The Pena Park is a vast forested area completely surrounding the Pena Palace, spreading for over 200 hectares of uneven terrain. The park was created at the same time as the palace by King Ferdinand II, who was assisted in the task by the Baron von Eschwege and the Baron von Kessler. The exotic taste of the Romanticism was applied to the park as it was to the palace. The king ordered trees from diverse, distant lands to be planted there. Those included North American sequoia, Lawson's cypress, magnolia and Western redcedar, Chinese ginkgo, Japanese Cryptomeria, and a wide variety of ferns and tree ferns from Australia and New Zealand, concentrated in the Queen's Fern Garden (Feteira da Rainha). The park has a labyrinthic system of paths and narrow roads, connecting the palace to the many points of interest throughout the park, as well as to its two gated exits.

Claude (World Rarest Albino Alligator), California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, CA, United States

Claude is an albino alligator  at the California Academy of Sciences. Claude lacks the pigment melanin, which results in his skin color. Claude was hatched on 15 September 1995 in Florida weighing 2 ounces (57 g). He weighs 222 pounds (101 kg) and is 9 feet 5 inches (2.87 m) long. He has 76 teeth. A returning favorite from the original Steinhart Aquarium, the Swamp is best known as the home of Claude, the startlingly white Alligator mississippiensis that's become one of the Academy's most-famous residents.

However, that isn't to say that there aren't albino alligators born in the wild. As of right now, the oldest albino alligator on record is Claude, a 22-year-old alligator at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco.

He was in danger in the wilderness owing to albinism which did not allow him to camouflage into his surroundings like other alligators. There are only a couple of dozen known albino alligators in the world, all in captivity. Claude was taken to the California Academy of Sciences in 2008. In 2009, a finger on Claude's right claw was amputated after developing an infection from being bitten by another alligator.

Claude appears completely white because he lacks the pigment melanin. He also has poor eye-sight due to his albinism. The California Academy of Science, in the Steinhart Aquarium, as of 2015, has on display an albino American alligator named "Claude". The alligator is partially blind because of lack of pigment in its eyes. The only known albino alligators are in captivity.

White alligators are not a separate species but are considered extremely rare. There have only been a few documented occurrences of leucistic alligators.

But at the California Academy of Sciences, Claude the albino alligator is a star. He gets three private training sessions a week, followed by 15 fish pellets. The food is tossed inches from his jaw, so he doesn't have to search. His favorite rock is heated to varying temperatures, from 78 degrees to 95 degrees.

Albino alligators are normally found in freshwater rivers, lakes, swamps and marshes in southeastern parts of the United States. Albino alligators are extremely rare. Biologists estimate there are only about 100 existing in the world. They are the offspring of parents that carry the recessive gene for albinism, meaning they do not have the ability to create melanin to color their skin or eyes.

Albino alligators lack the pigment melanin. They are the offspring of two normal-looking alligators that carry the recessive gene for albinism. Albino alligators have ivory-white skin and pinkish eyes. The leucistic alligator usually has blue eyes and patches of normally colored skin on its body.

Brøndby Haveby, Copenhagen, Denmark

Brøndby Haveby is a series urban spaces in the world that are so uniquely planned it leaves people speechless. Brøndby Haveby or Brøndby Garden City is located just outside Copenhagen, Denmark, this ‘garden city’ is a place of many community gardens that are known for their unique circular arrangement.The houses in Brøndby Haveby have large yards that provide a retreat from the noisy and densely populated city and also giving the opportunity to indulge in the hobby of growing plants and crops.

The curiously circular community of communities was built in 1964 to the design of “genius landscape architect Erik Mygind,” Brøndby Haveby mimics “the traditional patterns of the 18th century Danish villages, where people would use the middle as a focal point for hanging out, mingle and social interchange between neighbors.” 

This unusual form suits the long-established Danish cabin culture in which every city-dwelling Dane who can afford one buys a smaller second home in the countryside as a retreat.

In 1964 when the municipality of Brøndby agreed to dedicated space for allotments, thus the mesmerizing circles started to pop up in the area. The gardens were made known by photographers such as Henry Do who stumbled upon this captivating area.

Recently, a series of seriously visually stunning aerial shots of the Brøndby Garden City have circulated online and has completely captivated the world. And this curiously circular city has completely captivated people from all over the world.

While the gardens can be rented for around €130 per month, the homes in Brøndby Garden City can only be purchased by those who live in a 20 km radius.

Hoia Forest (Hotspot of Paranormal Phenomena), Cluj County, Transylvania, Romania

The Hoia Forest is a forest situated to the west of the city of Cluj-Napoca, near the open-air section of the Ethnographic Museum of Transylvania. The forest is used as a common recreation destination. In recent years a biking park has been added to the forest, along with areas for other sports such as paintball, airsoft and archery.

The forest covers an area of about 3 square kilometers. Its southern border begins on a ridge which runs east-west. It does not contain the steep southern slope of the hill, which rises from the Someșul Mic River. To the north, the forest ends on a smoother slope, which meets the Nadăș River.

The eastern end of the forest is bordered by the Tăietura Turcului, an artificial valley that divides the hill from north to south and contains a traffic road. The west end of the forest reaches the northeastern slope of the Dealul Melcilor, nearby the Mujai Forest, which extends further westward. The Bongar valley runs along the south end of this side, which contains a downy oak grove unique to the southern steppe. Part of the northeastern end of the forest is bordered by Valea Lungă (Long Valley), which passes through Eocene limestone and forms Cheile Baciului, a valley with asymmetric slopes. A small natural lake is located upstream from Cheile Baciului, at the border of the forest. There are several springs with potable water at the north edge of the forest, in Valea Lungă. 

The oldest Neolithic settlement in Romania (believed to have been established around 6500 BC) belonging to the Starčevo–Kőrös–Criș culture was discovered at the north of Valea Lungă. Tombs and houses from this settlement were uncovered between 1960 and 1994.

According to legend, the Hoia Forest is a hotspot of paranormal phenomena. Ghosts and spirits lurk among the crooked trees. One tale tells of a young girl who disappeared into the forest, only to reappear five years later unable to remember where she had been. Another legend speaks of a shepherd who, along with his sheep, vanished within the woods. And, with most places associated with the supernatural, there are also rumors of alien encounters. Many ghost stories and urban legends contribute to its popularity as a tourist attraction.Skeptics say these are just stories for entertainment and lack any testable evidence.The Hoia Forest has been featured in paranormal documentary TV shows, from Ghost Adventures to Destination Truth.

Today, visitors to the forest report strange symptoms – nausea, anxiety, the feeling of being watched and the failure of electronic devices. 

Many here grow in zig-zag patterns or in spirals, a phenomenon which has not been plausibly explained by any of the scientists who have come to investigate. What’s more, every single tree that spirals does so in a clockwise direction. 

Hase (Giant Stuffed Bunny on Top of a Hill), Colletto Fava, Northern Piedmont Region, Italy

Hase/ Hare is a 55-meter long, 5-meter thick knitted bunny constructed by Vienna art collective ‘Gelitin’ on top of a hill called Colletto Fava, with the purpose of making its audience feel as tiny as Gulliver did in his Travels.

Made completely of fabric and straw, the giant stuffed bunny has been left there till it completely decays with the help of weather and the occasional gnawing cattle, it’s expected to be completely degraded by 2025.

Colletto Fava is a 1,600 metres (5,200 ft) hill near the village and ski-station of Artesina in the commune of Frabosa Sottana in the northern Piedmont region of Italy. Hikers are encouraged to climb over Hase and relax after a long trek, as long as the giant stuffed toy is still intact. You can reach Hase from the town of Artesina, Piedmont, in Tuscany, Northern Italy, else you can visit it virtually through Google Maps.

The giant pink bunny is property of the group of artists known as Gelitin. These four men come from Vienna, Austria and have made themselves famous by constructing absurd art projects. This bunny was five years in the making and was completed in 2005. The animal lays on its back and is about 200 feet long and six feet high on its sides. It is supposed to serve not only as a tourist attraction, but as a rest stop for hikers on the hill. The group predicts it will last until 2025, when "the pink puppet (made of straw-stuffed fabric) will be swallowed by the weather, devoured by cattle, completely erased by the weather and nature." This is how Gelitin describes what they have done here: "The things one finds wandering in a landscape: familiar things and utterly unknown, like a flower one has never seen before, or, as Columbus discovered, an inexplicable continent; and then, behind a hill, as if knitted by giant grandmothers, lies this vast rabbit, to make you feel as small as a daisy. The toilet-paper-pink creature lies on its back: a rabbit-mountain like Gulliver in Lilliput. Happy you feel as you climb up along its ears, almost falling into its cavernous mouth, to the belly-summit and look out over the pink woolen landscape of the rabbit's body, a country dropped from the sky; ears and limbs sneaking into the distance; from its side flowing heart, liver and intestines. Happily in love you step down the decaying corpse, through the wound, now small like a maggot, over woolen kidney and bowel. Happy you leave like the larva that gets its wings from an innocent carcass at the roadside. Such is the happiness which made this rabbit. I love the rabbit the rabbit loves me." 

On the Train - on the Turin route - Savona, Mondovì is the nearest train station.

On a Plane - The closests international airports are Turino - 2 hours away by car, Genova - 2 hours away by car, Nice - 3 hours away by car.

Rajmachi Fort, Sahyadri Mountain, Konkan Region, Maharashtra, India

Rajmachi Fort (Killa) is one of the many historical forts in the rugged hills of Sahyadri mountains (Western Ghats). It consists of two twin fortresses Shriwardhan and Manaranjan, with a wide machi (plateau) surrounding the two Balekillas. Udhewadi is a small village of about 60 households (as per 2011 census report) situated on the machi, at the southern foot of Manaranjan Balekilla of Rajmachi Fort.

The fort played a strategic role in the First Anglo-Maratha War. Rajmachi Fort has been declared as a protected monument.

Rajmachi Fort is a must-visit trekking destination in Maharashtra which allures tourists for an exquisite panoramic view from the Rajmachi Point and its association with the legendary Maratha emperor Shivaji. Trekking to Rajmachi Fort is never complete without taking a tour around the prominent places of interest near Rajmachi Fort. 

There are two approaches to Fort Rajmachi, (a) from Lonavala and (b) from Kondivde or Kondhane village in Karjat Taluka of Raigad District. Lonavala – Rajmachi distance is 15 km and it is almost a plain walk, though there are a few ups and downs on this path. It takes about three and a half hour to cover the distance on foot. From Kondivde or Kondhane village, it is a steep climb up to Rajmachi. An experienced trekker takes about two and a half hour to climb up on this route. In case a Trekkers’ Group is not familiar with the Trek Route, they should hire a local Route Guide During the dry season after rains, i.e. from November to May, a strong and sturdy utility vehicle like Tata Sumo, Mahindra Bolero, Qualis, etc. can be taken right up to Udhewdi (Fort Rajmachi). The route is via Khandala, Kune village, Della Adventure Resort, Patel Dam, Phanasrai and Jambhali Phata. The initial section of this route up to Della Adventure Resort is a good road, The further portion of this route is a very rough track and therefore not fit for driving ordinary passenger cars like Maruti 800, Wagon R, Indica, Swift, etc. Sturdy utility vehicle like Tata Sumo can be hired at Lonavla or Khandala for reaching Rajmachi Fort.

Rajmachi has seen many change of hands from Shivaji Maharaj, Emperor Aurangzeb, Shahu Maharaj and eventually the British reign. The fort of Rajmachi is famous among trekkers and adventure enthusiasts. The simple and clearly marked trail on both the paths make Rajmachi a very popular beginner's trek.

The best time to visit Rajmachi Fort is between the months of June- September when monsoon sets in full swing and the entire region takes on a mystic charm being drenched in rain. Monsoon sets in Rajmachi in June and continues through September. Temperature ranges between 24- 29 degrees Celsius and the entire landscape is covered under a blanket of greenery.