Take a hot air balloon ride over Cappadocia, Turkey with Vural Demircioglu, one of the region’s 200 hot air balloon pilots. Our unique aerial perspective allows us to look over these incredible capped pillars called “fairy chimneys” and discover the world’s most unusual high rise neighbourhood.
Tag Archives: Travel
Travel & Culture: ‘Life In The Torres Strait Islands’
It’s a remote paradise between Australia and Papua New Guinea. Only a few thousand people live on the islands in the Torres Strait. They depend on a supply ship that sails to their isolated archipelago once a week.
There are 274 islands in the Torres Strait between Australia and Papua New Guinea, their white coral-sand beaches rising from warm, shallow waters. Around 20 of the islands are inhabited, with many several kilometers apart. The main island, Thursday Island, sounds like it could have been lifted from the pages of Robinson Crusoe. Residents who want to visit family or friends must do so by boat, having to deal with unpredictable tidal currents. Cargo ships from the mainland supply the islands with everything from food and medicine to cars and spare parts – and they don’t always arrive on schedule. But Torres Strait Islanders have always used their great ingenuity to cope with the scarcity of resources. They include Ken, who’s currently working on a sculpture for the reopening of a local church, Paula, a midwife, and Sylvia, who reads the weather reports on local radio.
Village Walks: ‘Bassiano – Central Italy’ (Video)
Bassiano is a municipality in the Province of Latina in the Italian region Lazio, located about 60 kilometres southeast of Rome and about 14 kilometres northeast of Latina. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 1,664 and an area of 31.6 square kilometres.
𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 🔻 0:00 – [Drone intro] 1:30 – [Walking tour begins / Northern gate] 3:34 – [Via Manunzio] 10:28 – [“Gate of the Holy Souls” / Archangel Micheal – the angel is visible past the gate on the left] 15:00 – [Via Giulio Bernardini] 19:32 – [Gate “Decarcia Tower” – holes for the ancient door still visible. On a house nearby there is scupted the head of God Fauno] 21:20 – […tour continues…] 24:12 – [Beautiful view on stone stairs] 30:00 – [Beautiful little square] 31:28 – [St.Erasmus Square & Chrcuh (closd unfortunately)] 33:20 – […tour continues…] 34:34 – [Suggestive interior hallway] 35:20 – […tour continues…] 39:50 – [*Poem on Bassiano* – 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝗰𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀] 41:29 – [Via Manunzio] 43:04 – [Inside the town again] 46:25 – [Northern wall hallway] 49:05 – [Outside the Walls / Monument to the fallen soldiers of the town]
The history of Bassiano certainly begins around the 10th century and starts with a small group of shepherds and farmers forced to take refuge in this place completely covered by the view of the plain, due to the continuous barbarian raids. The first written records of Bassiano date back to 1169. In a document found in the archive of the collegiate church of Santa Maria in Sermoneta, reference is made to the recovery of the Castrum stolen by deception by a certain Gregorio Leonis from a Lord of Bassiano. 𝗠𝗶𝗱𝗱𝗹𝗲 𝗔𝗴𝗲𝘀 In 1240, Pope Gregory IX appointed Tasmondo Annibaldi as Lord of the Castles of Sermoneta and Bassiano, to thank him for the help received against the invasion attempts of Frederick II. The Annibaldi ruled the town until 1297 when the castle passed into the possession of the Caetani who ruled it until the fiefs were abolished, except for a decade (1492 – 1502) in which the Borgias ruled. The history of Bassiano is profoundly marked by the action of the spiritual movements of the 13th and 14th centuries, which were the promoters of a social renewal, also by the Knights Templar who, it is believed, have left the mark of their passage here. 𝗥𝗲𝗻𝗮𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 It was only at the beginning of the 16th century that the Caetani, with the construction of the Baronial palace, left an imprint of their dominion on the land of Bassiano. It was Bonifacio Caetani who in 1554 had an important palace built, as a refuge from the dangers of the swamp and a place of treatment for his ill health. The palace incorporates in its interior houses and medieval shops that the Caetani had bought in the 15th century in the “Porta salamandra” area which was the main access road to the Castrum. Important citizen of the town is the humanist typographer Aldo Manuzio.
Walks: ‘Brandenburg Gate, Berlin, Germany’ (4K Video)
The Brandenburg Gate is an 18th-century neoclassical monument in Berlin, built on the orders of Prussian king Frederick William II after the temporary restoration of order during the Batavian Revolution.
Berlin, Germany’s capital, dates to the 13th century. Reminders of the city’s turbulent 20th-century history include its Holocaust memorial and the Berlin Wall’s graffitied remains. Divided during the Cold War, its 18th-century Brandenburg Gate has become a symbol of reunification. The city’s also known for its art scene and modern landmarks like the gold-colored, swoop-roofed Berliner Philharmonie, built in 1963.
Tropical Views: ‘Akaka Falls – Hawai’i Island’ (8K)
Akaka Falls State Park is a state park on Hawaiʻi Island, in the U.S. state of Hawaii. The park is about 11 miles north of Hilo, west of Honomū off the Hawaii Belt Road at the end of Hawaii Route 220. It includes its namesake ʻAkaka Falls, a 442-foot tall waterfall.
Himalayan Views: ‘Motuo County – Eastern Tibet’
Mêdog, or Metok, or Motuo County, also known as Pemako, is a county as well as a traditional region of the prefecture-level city of Nyingchi in the Tibet Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China.
Walking Tours: ‘Antwerp – Northern Belgium’ (Video)
Antwerp is a port city on Belgium’s River Scheldt, with history dating to the Middle Ages. In its center, the centuries-old Diamond District houses thousands of diamond traders, cutters and polishers. Antwerp’s Flemish Renaissance architecture is typified by the Grote Markt, a central square in the old town. At the 17th-century Rubens House, period rooms display works by the Flemish Baroque painter Peter Paul Rubens.
Coastal Walks: ‘Bat Yam’ – Mediterranean Sea, Israel
Bat Yam is a city located on Israel’s Mediterranean Sea coast, on the central coastal strip just south of Tel Aviv. It is part of the Gush Dan metropolitan area and the Tel Aviv District. In 2020, it had a population of 160,000.
Aerial Mountain Views: ‘Swiss Alps’ (4K UHD Video)
The Alpine region of Switzerland, conventionally referred to as the Swiss Alps, represents a major natural feature of the country and is, along with the Swiss Plateau and the Swiss portion of the Jura Mountains, one of its three main physiographic regions.
Views: Best Of ‘Gorillas’ From BBC Earth (Video)
We’ve dug into the BBC Earth archives to bring you the best Gorilla moments released on the channel to date. Let us know in the comments below which is your favourite.
Boomers Daily 